Hi,

as you remember in my last post created two new custom fields: Budget for Task, and Variance from Actual.  To use this two fields I have to put them in some table. The best approach for my example is to put them into the Cost table:

and then:

and I will get the screen with all fields in the Cost Table. I will put the cursor in the first blank row and I will pick up those two new custom fields:

and I will fill the other field attributes, as shown in the picture below:

and I will get:

Now I will fill the Task budget field for each Task:

OK. I will assign Resource 1 to the Task 1, Resource 2 to the Task 2, etc! After that I will get:

• Task 1 has 1 day duration, e.g. 8 hours, and Resource 1 has $100/hour and it means    8 * 100 = $800
• Task 2 has 2 days duration, e.g. 16hours, and Resource 2 has $200/hour and it means 16 * 200 = $3.200
• Task 3 has 3 days duration, e.g. 24 hours, and Resource 3 has $300/hour and it means 24 * 300 = $7.200
• Task 4 has 2 days duration, e.g. 16 hours, and Resource 4 has $400/hour and it means 16 * 400 = $6.400
• Total cost for the project is = $800 + $3.200 + $7.200 + $6.400 = $17.600

Now, suppose that work is done for all tasks. Task 1 is 100% completed, and it is on time:

Because budget for the Task 1 is $1000, and Actual cost is $800,  Budget – Actual = $1.000 – $800 = $200

Now I will full the Actuals for the Task 2:

and then:

Task 2 has 3 days duration instead of 2. I will get:

Actual cost for the Task 2 is: 3 days (3*8=24) hours * $200/hour for Resource 2= $4.800. Budget is $3.000, and the Budget – Actual is $3.000 – $4.800 = –$4.800.

Now I will say that Task 3 was finished 2 days earlier:

and I will get:

Actual cost for the Task 3 is: 1 day1 (1*8=8) hours * $300/hour for Resource 3= $2.400. Budget is $8.000, and the Budget – Actual is $8.000 – $2.400 = $5.600.

Finally, I will say that Task 4 was finished 5 days latter than planned:

and I will get:

Actual cost for the Task 4 is: 7 days (7*8=56) hours * $400/hour for Resource 4= $22.400. Budget is $4.000, and the Budget – Actual is $4.000 – $22.400 = –$18.400.

And in the Summary Task you can see the total value for the Project budget, and Project Actual cost, and the Budget – Actual = –$14.400

It wasn’t so complicated, was it?

Regards!