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  #1  
Old 05-06-2016, 06:46 AM
jkdiesel jkdiesel is offline Custom Formula help Windows 7 64bit Custom Formula help Office 2013
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Default Custom Formula help

I'm pretty new to MS project and by no means a MS Office expert of any kind. I know nothing about programming, but I've managed to create a basic project Gantt chart for my employees. Here's my current struggle:



I am trying to create a formula to calculate "actual cost" by taking my "duration" multiplied by my "manpower" (Number2) and multiplying that by my daily rate per person (lets say 100 dollars an hour times 8 hours= 800).

When I right click on my "actual cost" column and go to "custom fields", I click the formula button and enter in my custom formula ([Duration]*[Number2])*800. The $ amount in the "actual cost" column comes out in the millions...it should be in the thousands.

I'm not sure if somehow the "duration" field and custom "number2" field somehow don't mesh and cant create a good formula together? or maybe I'm missing something.

Hopefully somebody with some Project 2013 knowledge can help me out.

Much appreciated

Jason
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  #2  
Old 05-08-2016, 06:29 PM
JulieS JulieS is offline Custom Formula help Windows 7 64bit Custom Formula help Office 2013
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Duration is shown in minutes. Change the formula to:
[Duration]/[Minutes Per Day]*[Number2]*800
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  #3  
Old 05-11-2016, 06:36 AM
jkdiesel jkdiesel is offline Custom Formula help Windows 7 64bit Custom Formula help Office 2013
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Default Scheduling

Thanks Julie. My next issue is this: why does MS project automatically put Start dates in for summary tasks? I want to have manually scheduled dates for all my date fields - and I cant get my Projected Cost and Actual Cost to rollup all the way? If you look at the photo I attached, you'll see that my projected duration and actual duration, projected cost and actual cost formulas are finally right for the 5th line down (its a subtask), and I have those columns set to rollup using the sum. it appears that the actual cost column rolled up a little bit but not all the way to the top summary task.

Thanks for the help.
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  #4  
Old 05-11-2016, 07:51 AM
jkdiesel jkdiesel is offline Custom Formula help Windows 7 64bit Custom Formula help Office 2013
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Default Rollup

JulieS - please see the attached picture - I changed a few things with my project and now it appears that my only issue is being unable to rollup the Projected Cost and Actual Cost columns. It seems to rollup to the first summary task, but not the second or third. I'd like both columns to rollup all the way.

Thanks.
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  #5  
Old 05-12-2016, 05:05 AM
JulieS JulieS is offline Custom Formula help Windows 7 64bit Custom Formula help Office 2013
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Are Projected Costs and Actual Costs more custom fields? If so, you need to set the summary tasks to roll up. In the customize field dialog, select to either sum, min or max. But I have to ask - why all the custom calculations? If you save a baseline you'll have "projected costs" in baseline cost. If you apply tracking - you'll have actual costs.
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Old 05-12-2016, 05:18 AM
jkdiesel jkdiesel is offline Custom Formula help Windows 7 64bit Custom Formula help Office 2013
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Julie -
I did set the summary tasks to roll up - but I still receive errors. I used custom fields with formulas because I downloaded MS Project at work and I just wanted a simple project that showed me a simple timeline with lost time and money. Sofar I have that, all except the rollups. Still not sure why the sub tasks only roll up to one summary task. I also tried setting the baseline like you said, but it didn't change anything as far as the rollup.
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  #7  
Old 05-12-2016, 05:39 AM
JulieS JulieS is offline Custom Formula help Windows 7 64bit Custom Formula help Office 2013
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You are attempting to re-create the wheel. The costs are calculated by project if you assign costed resources to tasks. It's hard to tell what is going on. Post another shot with the left side of the view visible showing the indicator column, please.
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  #8  
Old 05-12-2016, 05:58 AM
jkdiesel jkdiesel is offline Custom Formula help Windows 7 64bit Custom Formula help Office 2013
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I don't have an indicator field. I hid it and the % complete column because I don't use them. I don't know if setting a baseline will help me because my manpower, resources and durations are different for each subtask. is there a way to set individual subtasks with specific resource information so that when I create a new one it automatically assigns manpower (number1) duration and projected cost?
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  #9  
Old 05-15-2016, 06:50 AM
JulieS JulieS is offline Custom Formula help Windows 7 64bit Custom Formula help Office 2013
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I'd start by creating resources on the resource sheet. You can create as many resources as you need and enter a cost for each resource. You can also have resources with maximum units over 100% if you are working with groups of resources.

Then assign resources. Project will calculate the work and the cost based upon the number of resources assigned and the cost for each resource. The work will automatically roll up to the summary task level as will the cost.

If you save a baseline you will have the original cost preserved and then you can start tracking and project will calculate actual costs.

From your posts, it sounds like you are attempting to create custom fields to perform the calculations that Project will do for you - if you add the information it needs to calculate.
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  #10  
Old 05-17-2016, 02:08 AM
miless2111s miless2111s is offline Custom Formula help Windows 7 32bit Custom Formula help Office 2007
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I agree with Julie - this feels like you're working way to hard on stuff that project can do for you.

Maybe you can explain the challenge that you've got and we can help solve it simply? There's always a place for custom fields (goodness knows I use enough of them) but using them to do something that project can do for you is just masochistic

Regards

Miles
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  #11  
Old 05-19-2016, 05:31 AM
jkdiesel jkdiesel is offline Custom Formula help Windows 7 64bit Custom Formula help Office 2013
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Okay so I simplified it a little bit like you both suggested - I'm very new to Project so I'm still learning how all of the automatic stuff works. one thing I cant figure out is why I don't have the option to display the "start" and "finish" on the gantt chart. I have the option to display the custom starts and finishes but not the standard ones.

any ideas?

Thanks
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  #12  
Old 05-19-2016, 05:42 AM
miless2111s miless2111s is offline Custom Formula help Windows 7 32bit Custom Formula help Office 2007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jkdiesel View Post
Okay so I simplified it a little bit like you both suggested - I'm very new to Project so I'm still learning how all of the automatic stuff works. one thing I cant figure out is why I don't have the option to display the "start" and "finish" on the gantt chart. I have the option to display the custom starts and finishes but not the standard ones.

any ideas?

Thanks
Double click on a blank area of the gantt chart and you have access to all the types of bar which display. Chose the one called "task" and then go down to the bottom where it says "text" and type start in the left and finish in the right box.
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Miles
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  #13  
Old 05-19-2016, 05:51 AM
jkdiesel jkdiesel is offline Custom Formula help Windows 7 64bit Custom Formula help Office 2013
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I don't really like that option - I don't want dates on my gantt chart- im wondering why it doesn't let me choose "start" and "finish" in the FROM and TO section of the Bar Styles.

Also - I have it selected to "manually scheduled" for "show for...tasks" - but I don't want it to display for anything that doesn't have start and finish dates - it seems to be doing that.
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  #14  
Old 05-20-2016, 08:08 AM
JulieS JulieS is offline Custom Formula help Windows 7 64bit Custom Formula help Office 2013
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I don't understand what you need. In one post you say you want to display dates but in your latest post you say you don't want dates.

The Bar Styles dialog box is where the bars are defined for each type (task, manually scheduled tasks, summary tasks, etc.)

If you want to draw a bar for tasks - there are already bars for "Tasks" and lower in the list Manually Scheduled. For both, the bar is drawn from "Task Start" and Task Finish"
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