Budget Resource vs. Baseline Cost

I am just starting to configure MS Project 2007 and have a few questions.

What is the difference between a budget resource and the baseline cost? What
is the advantage of using the budget resource if you are entering baseline
costs?

What type of tasks do you assign fixed costs to? For example, rent. It is a
monthly recurring cost that is not dependent on task usage or schedule.
Should I create a seperate set of monthly tasks in order to incurr the cost
of rent in our project?

I appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks.

Mike
Wed Mar 19 11:31:48 CDT 2008

Hi Rachel,

Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup :)

The Baseline Cost field shows the cost of the project when the schedule has
just started (assuming you activate Baselining), based on the hours of Work
* Cost Rate for each of the assignments, plus any fixed cost - ie it is the
expected or planned cost. Whereas the Budget Resource is the amount of cash
that has been allocated for the project (hopefully a greater figure to allow
for cost escalation!). Try reading Help for Budget Resource.

Fixed costs are those that do not depend on the hours of work of the
resources. Yes, they would include rent and hire fees, possibly overheads
for the project, one-off payments for hire of plant (like a crane could have
a fixed cost £1000 for its use plus £100 per day). Another use could be for
where part of the project is contracted out for a fixed fee, in which case
you would not track individual resource costs. How you use fixed costs is a
matter of opinion. An advantage with creating a task for rent is that it
can be kept separate from the work. Make a milestone for the rent, or
insert a recurring task with nil work and assign the rent to it. Or you
could add the monthly rent to the tasks that creates its need.

FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
this web address: http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm

Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on :)

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for Project Tutorials



"Rachel" <Rachel@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:CA3DAFDD-BD07-404C-BBAA-7EDDD95128F3@microsoft.com...
>I am just starting to configure MS Project 2007 and have a few questions.
>
> What is the difference between a budget resource and the baseline cost?
> What
> is the advantage of using the budget resource if you are entering baseline
> costs?
>
> What type of tasks do you assign fixed costs to? For example, rent. It is
> a
> monthly recurring cost that is not dependent on task usage or schedule.
> Should I create a seperate set of monthly tasks in order to incurr the
> cost
> of rent in our project?
>
> I appreciate any suggestions.
>
> Thanks.

Steve
Thu Mar 20 07:42:27 CDT 2008

Adding a note to Mike's reply - Baseline Cost isn't entered, it's computed.
The Budget Resource is the amount you have been given to spend. The
Baseline Cost is the amount you predicted it would cost based on the
original schedule and resources. Cost is the amount you're forcasting it
finally will cost based on the current schedule and resources as adjusted to
reflect progress to date. Hopefully BR>=BC>=C. If it isn't, update your
resume because you're going to run out of money before you run out of
project <grin>.
--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs


"Rachel" <Rachel@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:CA3DAFDD-BD07-404C-BBAA-7EDDD95128F3@microsoft.com...
>I am just starting to configure MS Project 2007 and have a few questions.
>
> What is the difference between a budget resource and the baseline cost?
> What
> is the advantage of using the budget resource if you are entering baseline
> costs?
>
> What type of tasks do you assign fixed costs to? For example, rent. It is
> a
> monthly recurring cost that is not dependent on task usage or schedule.
> Should I create a seperate set of monthly tasks in order to incurr the
> cost
> of rent in our project?
>
> I appreciate any suggestions.
>
> Thanks.

Rachel
Thu Mar 20 18:30:00 CDT 2008

Thanks!

"Steve House" wrote:

> Adding a note to Mike's reply - Baseline Cost isn't entered, it's computed.
> The Budget Resource is the amount you have been given to spend. The
> Baseline Cost is the amount you predicted it would cost based on the
> original schedule and resources. Cost is the amount you're forcasting it
> finally will cost based on the current schedule and resources as adjusted to
> reflect progress to date. Hopefully BR>=BC>=C. If it isn't, update your
> resume because you're going to run out of money before you run out of
> project <grin>.
> --
> Steve House [Project MVP]
> MS Project Trainer & Consultant
> Visit http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm for the FAQs
>
>
> "Rachel" <Rachel@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:CA3DAFDD-BD07-404C-BBAA-7EDDD95128F3@microsoft.com...
> >I am just starting to configure MS Project 2007 and have a few questions.
> >
> > What is the difference between a budget resource and the baseline cost?
> > What
> > is the advantage of using the budget resource if you are entering baseline
> > costs?
> >
> > What type of tasks do you assign fixed costs to? For example, rent. It is
> > a
> > monthly recurring cost that is not dependent on task usage or schedule.
> > Should I create a seperate set of monthly tasks in order to incurr the
> > cost
> > of rent in our project?
> >
> > I appreciate any suggestions.
> >
> > Thanks.
>
>

Rachel
Thu Mar 20 18:30:03 CDT 2008

Thank you. That was very helpful.

"Mike Glen" wrote:

> Hi Rachel,
>
> Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup :)
>
> The Baseline Cost field shows the cost of the project when the schedule has
> just started (assuming you activate Baselining), based on the hours of Work
> * Cost Rate for each of the assignments, plus any fixed cost - ie it is the
> expected or planned cost. Whereas the Budget Resource is the amount of cash
> that has been allocated for the project (hopefully a greater figure to allow
> for cost escalation!). Try reading Help for Budget Resource.
>
> Fixed costs are those that do not depend on the hours of work of the
> resources. Yes, they would include rent and hire fees, possibly overheads
> for the project, one-off payments for hire of plant (like a crane could have
> a fixed cost £1000 for its use plus £100 per day). Another use could be for
> where part of the project is contracted out for a fixed fee, in which case
> you would not track individual resource costs. How you use fixed costs is a
> matter of opinion. An advantage with creating a task for rent is that it
> can be kept separate from the work. Make a milestone for the rent, or
> insert a recurring task with nil work and assign the rent to it. Or you
> could add the monthly rent to the tasks that creates its need.
>
> FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen at
> this web address: http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm
>
> Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on :)
>
> Mike Glen
> MS Project MVP
> See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for Project Tutorials
>
>
>
> "Rachel" <Rachel@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:CA3DAFDD-BD07-404C-BBAA-7EDDD95128F3@microsoft.com...
> >I am just starting to configure MS Project 2007 and have a few questions.
> >
> > What is the difference between a budget resource and the baseline cost?
> > What
> > is the advantage of using the budget resource if you are entering baseline
> > costs?
> >
> > What type of tasks do you assign fixed costs to? For example, rent. It is
> > a
> > monthly recurring cost that is not dependent on task usage or schedule.
> > Should I create a seperate set of monthly tasks in order to incurr the
> > cost
> > of rent in our project?
> >
> > I appreciate any suggestions.
> >
> > Thanks.
>
>
>

Mike
Fri Mar 21 09:47:04 CDT 2008

You're welcome, Rachel :-)

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP
See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for Project Tutorials


"Rachel" <Rachel@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:05812F7B-9EC7-4BFD-B01D-306C2CC04B55@microsoft.com...
> Thank you. That was very helpful.
>
> "Mike Glen" wrote:
>
>> Hi Rachel,
>>
>> Welcome to this Microsoft Project newsgroup :)
>>
>> The Baseline Cost field shows the cost of the project when the schedule
>> has
>> just started (assuming you activate Baselining), based on the hours of
>> Work
>> * Cost Rate for each of the assignments, plus any fixed cost - ie it is
>> the
>> expected or planned cost. Whereas the Budget Resource is the amount of
>> cash
>> that has been allocated for the project (hopefully a greater figure to
>> allow
>> for cost escalation!). Try reading Help for Budget Resource.
>>
>> Fixed costs are those that do not depend on the hours of work of the
>> resources. Yes, they would include rent and hire fees, possibly
>> overheads
>> for the project, one-off payments for hire of plant (like a crane could
>> have
>> a fixed cost £1000 for its use plus £100 per day). Another use could
>> be for
>> where part of the project is contracted out for a fixed fee, in which
>> case
>> you would not track individual resource costs. How you use fixed costs
>> is a
>> matter of opinion. An advantage with creating a task for rent is that it
>> can be kept separate from the work. Make a milestone for the rent, or
>> insert a recurring task with nil work and assign the rent to it. Or you
>> could add the monthly rent to the tasks that creates its need.
>>
>> FAQs, companion products and other useful Project information can be seen
>> at
>> this web address: http://project.mvps.org/faqs.htm
>>
>> Hope this helps - please let us know how you get on :)
>>
>> Mike Glen
>> MS Project MVP
>> See http://tinyurl.com/2xbhc for Project Tutorials
>>
>>
>>
>> "Rachel" <Rachel@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:CA3DAFDD-BD07-404C-BBAA-7EDDD95128F3@microsoft.com...
>> >I am just starting to configure MS Project 2007 and have a few
>> >questions.
>> >
>> > What is the difference between a budget resource and the baseline cost?
>> > What
>> > is the advantage of using the budget resource if you are entering
>> > baseline
>> > costs?
>> >
>> > What type of tasks do you assign fixed costs to? For example, rent. It
>> > is
>> > a
>> > monthly recurring cost that is not dependent on task usage or schedule.
>> > Should I create a seperate set of monthly tasks in order to incurr the
>> > cost
>> > of rent in our project?
>> >
>> > I appreciate any suggestions.
>> >
>> > Thanks.
>>
>>
>>