Configure Assignment Calculation Options

When an activity has resource and role assignments, the activity's costs are determined by the rates and units associated with its assignments. Each activity assignment has a Price/Unit rate value that is multiplied by the number of units on the assignment to determine the assignment's cost. All assignment units and costs roll up to the activity level. Activities without assignments use the default Price/Unit value set in the project settings to calculate activity costs.

There are a variety of options that you can configure to determine how an assignment's rate value is calculated. Because a single assignment can be associated with a resource, role, or both, you must choose which source the rate should come from. Because resources and roles can have multiple rates, you must also choose which rate type to use. The rate type selected for the assignment becomes the Price/Unit value. You can also choose to override the resource or role's defined rate and manually enter your own rate.

An additional option, Calculate Costs from Units, controls whether the assignment's costs should be calculated from its unit and rate values or whether units and costs should be calculated separately.

To configure assignment calculation options:

1. Navigate to the Activities page
   1. In the object selector, select ﱆ Project or  Program, and then select a project or a program from the list.
   2. From the  Main Menu, select  Schedule, and then select Activities.
2. In the table, select an activity.
3. On the Layout menu, select  Activity Details, and then select the Resource Assignments detail window.
4. Select a resource or role assignment, and then configure the following fields:
   • Rate Source: Identifies which of the assignment's rate types can be chosen as the Price/Unit value. If a resource or role with a defined availability period is directly assigned to the activity, the rate source will be either Resource or Role. If a resource is being used to staff an existing role assignment, or if you are replacing an existing resource assignment with a different resource, you will be prompted to use the resource's rate or keep the rate from the current assignment. Default options for this prompt can be configured in the user preferences.

     You can switch between Resource and Role at any time as long as a resource or role is associated with the assignment. You can also choose Override if you want to update the Price/Unit value directly.

   • Rate Type: Identifies which rate source rate, for the rate source's current availability period, to use as the assignment's Price/Unit value. If the rate source is Resource or Role, you can choose one of the rate source's five rate types. If the rate source is Override, the rate type value will be set to Custom Rate and the Price/Unit value must be updated directly.
   • Price/Unit: The rate source's current rate based on its current availability period and specified rate type. This value is used to calculate costs for the activity assignment when Calculate Costs from Units is enabled.

     If the rate source is Resource or Role, and a rate is not specified for the rate source's current availability period and rate type, or if the rate source's earliest start date falls before their earliest availability date, this value will be 0. If the rate source has multiple availability dates that fall within the assignment dates, an asterisk next to the Price/Unit value indicates that multiple rates will be applied during the duration of the activity.

     If the rate source is Override, you can modify the Price/Unit value directly. If the assignment does not have any availability periods defined, the value will default to the project's default Price/Unit value.

   • Calculate Costs from Units: When enabled, a change in activity units, assignment units, or assignment rates will be used to calculate the assignment's cost values, which will be read-only. When disabled, modifying units or rates will not affect assignment costs, and you will be able to modify assignment cost values directly.

     Notes:

     • Default Rate Type, Price/Unit, and Calculate Costs from Units values can be specified for all new assignments in the project settings.
     • Modifying the Rate Source or Rate Type values will recalculate costs if Calculate Costs from Units is enabled. Enabling Calculate Costs from Units will also recalculate costs. See Recalculate Costs Overview for more information on recalculating costs.
5. All changes made to this page are saved automatically.

Tips

• The configuration of resource and role availability periods and rate types are configured in the workspace or project where the resource or role is owned. See Resource List Overview and Role List Overview for more information.