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Peter_Wagner's avatar
Peter_Wagner
Copper Contributor
May 18, 2023

Cost resources are not settled

Hello,

At first, I have a problem with MS Project 365 and at second I hope I used the right names for fields etc. I'm using the german version.

 

When I assign a cost resource to a task and the task is 100% completed, the costs incurred are entered in Act. Costs.

However, if material or labor resources are still assigned to the task, after 100% completion, the costs incurred by the cost resource are always displayed under Hidden Costs/Remaining Costs.
The due date for all costs is set to "Proportional".
The order of resource allocation is not important. However, it is worth mentioning here that there have been cases where the costs were settled correctly if the cost resource was assigned first. But this is rather random and not reproducible.

The transaction type also has no effect on the behavior.


I am confused and looking forward to information/help/solutions.

 

Regards

PW

  • John-project's avatar
    John-project
    Silver Contributor
    May 18, 2023
    Peter_Wagner,
    Interesting, I don't know of any reason why cost type resource would be "settled" any different when other types of resources are also assigned to a task. I believe it is a bug.

    As an alternative, you might consider using a fixed cost on the task instead of a cost type resource when multiple resource types are assigned.

    John
  • Dale_HowardMVP's avatar
    Dale_HowardMVP
    MVP
    May 18, 2023
    Peter --

    If you assign an Expense Cost to a task and it is the ONLY resource assigned, and then you click the 100% Complete button, Microsoft Project will automatically set the Actual Cost value to the Cost value and the Remaining Cost value will be set to 0. If you assign one or more Work resources AND an Expense Cost resource to a task, and then you click the 100% Complete button, Microsoft Project will automatically set the Actual Cost value to the Cost value and the Remaining Cost value will be set to 0, but ONLY FOR THE WORK RESOURCES, and it will not enter any Actual Cost value for the Expense Cost resource. This is not a bug. It is simply how the software works. My personal recommendation is to always manually enter the Actual Cost values for your Expense Cost resources using the Task Usage view with the Cost table applied. Hope this helps.
    • John-project's avatar
      John-project
      Silver Contributor
      May 18, 2023
      Dale,
      Thanks for stepping in. I'm not sure why cost type resources would work differently when other resources are also assigned but thanks for clarifying.
      John
    • Peter_Wagner's avatar
      Peter_Wagner
      Copper Contributor
      May 19, 2023

      Dale_HowardMVP

      Thanks for your response, which sounds to me something like, "It's not a bug it's a feature." (no offense!!)

       

      I consider this behavior a bug. It can't be that I still have to worry about Expense Cost resource when completing an operation. And why does Project react differently (differently means, as it should be expected), if only the Expense Cost resource was assigned?

       

      I see a massive potential for error here. Especially because there have been situations, albeit not reproducible, where the program has reacted as would be expected. But maybe that was a bug 🙂

       

      • Dale_HowardMVP's avatar
        Dale_HowardMVP
        MVP
        May 19, 2023
        Peter --

        Well, it certainly is debatable whether to call this behavior a "bug" or a "feature." What is not debatable at this point is what you need to do to update progress for Expense Cost resources assigned to tasks that have at least one Work resource assigned as well. Hope this helps.

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