Cost Item Details

 

The cost item detail slide out panel contains many different fields to edit and enter cost item-related information. To access this screen, select the cost item and right-click to open the menu.  Select Cost item details. There are four tabs to select from:

• Details tab

• Attributes tab

• Cost Categories tab

• Current Estimate Resources

• Forecast Resources tab

All editable cells in the cost item detail slide-out panel are single click.

Details Tab

The Details tab contains the values and settings related to the cost detail of the item.

Below is an explanation of some of the key settings on the Details tab.

Term	Function
Cost source	Indicates how costs are entered on the cost item. Detail – Resources and duration defined to determine costs Plug – Unit and total costs entered at the cost category level
Live Forecast method	Determines the Forecast Method for the cost item. (See Lesson 9 - Forecasting for more Forecast Method details).
Cost segment	Categorizes whether the cost item is a direct or indirect cost. Direct Cost – costs that directly pertain to the deliverables (pay items) of the job Job Overhead – Overhead costs associated with running and managing the job (e.g., management, jobsite facilities) Business Overhead – Overhead costs associated with running the business (not directly related to running the job) Subcontract – subcontract associated costs
Allow as-built	Determines whether you can enter actual costs and quantities for a cost item. None – Cost item does not accept cost or quantities. This is typically seen in Superior cost items All - Allows a cost item to accept both direct costs and quantities Quantities – Cost item only accepts quantities Cost – Cost item only accepts costs
Quantity driver	Superior cost item will have the Forecast T/O qty update when the superior cost item (parent cost item) receives an update. The change to the qty will be the original value multiplied by the same multiplier that was applied to the superior cost item.   For example: if the superior cost item qty doubles, the item with Superior CI will double as well. Cost items with Fixed as the selection will not be affected by changes to the parent cost item.
Cost item contribute quantity	Checked cost items will have the Forecast T/O qty roll-up to the parent cost item if the UoM on both of the items are the same.
Pay item contribute quantity	Checking this box lets you choose which cost items contribute to the Pay item's forecast (T/O) quantity and can affect earnings rules for the associated pay item. This field is only visible if you have the Enable Pay item Forecast (T/O) quantity rollups setting turned on in Settings > Control > Revenue.

Pay item contribute quantity

The Pay item contribute qty function works only when the Pay item Forecast (T/O) qty rollups toggle is set to On in Settings > Control > Revenue. If you have a unit price pay item, its forecast (T/O) quantity is the sum of all the contributing cost items forecast (T/O) quantities.

This function lets you define which cost items roll up their quantities to a pay ite

In the CBS, you can quickly modify the pay item contribute quantity either in bulk or by selecting a single cost item.

Selecting the Pay item contribute qty check box updates both the Current forecast (T/O) and the Update earning rules, only if Earnings rules are set to calculate based on Forecast (T/O) qty value in Pay items.

Deselecting the Pay item contribute qty check box in the CBS also updates both the Current forecast (T/O) and the Update earning rules.

Attributes Tab

The Attributes tab allows you to tag the new cost item with user-defined entries.

1. User-Defined Fields –free text fields that you can type values into manually

2. Tags – Many of these fields are validated fields (known as tags), meaning you can choose from options in a drop-down list

   

Some of these tags and their drop-down values are defined at the organizational level and others are customizable via the Project Settings under the Configure tag list value.

Cost Categories Tab

The Cost Categories tab allows you to view your current budget, actuals, live forecast and forecast remaining cost, broken down into more detailed cost categories (e.g., labor, construction equipment, supplies, materials, etc.).

The header in the Cost Categories tab shows the % Complete, Live forecast method, and the Latest actuals in forecast values.

If you have the correct permissions, you can change the Live forecast method. You can also change the view of the Cost Categories values to show either Total or Per Unit cost.

This is also where you enter the estimated cost into the different cost categories for the plug cost source.

You can expand the labor category and enter your cost at the appropriate level (e.g., Labor Base wages). You need to enter the cost under the appropriate level of the category.  For example, if you enter the cost at the Labor category level, the cost will appear in Undefined Labor level because you did not enter it at a specific sub-category level.

The following Step by Step walks you through adding costs to the Cost Categories tab of the Cost item details slide out panel.

Enter Costs in Cost Categories

Current Estimate Resources tab

The Current Estimate Resources tab is where you can view and manage the CE resources for terminal cost items.

From the Current Estimate Resources tab you can view and manage:

• Cost item details

• Current estimate resources

• Productivity and overall settings

• Resource details

When the cost item’s cost source is set to Plug, you will not use the Current Estimate Resources tab. Instead, costs are “plugged” or entered directly into cost categories on the Cost Categories tab of the cost item.

Cost Driver

Each type of resource has a default cost driver. For example, Labor resources are duration driven so their default cost driver is CI Duration, meaning their costs are driven by the duration of the cost item. If you want a resource to only be assigned to a specific cost item or work activity for half the time, you can change its quantity to .5 and it will be driven by half of the cost item’s hours.

Updating the total quantity of a resource with CI quantity as the cost driver will not auto-update the hours.

To enter work hours manually for the employed resource, you can change the Cost Driver option to CI Quantity or Fixed.

If you change the Cost Driver to CI Quantity, the fields below will not be editable. It causes the adjusted duration to become zero or read-only. However, it can be editable if it does make a cost impact.

With CI Quantity as your cost driver for your resources, you can adjust the Work Hours manually, where previously that column was read-only. For example, perhaps you want your Laborer to work specifically 80 hours.

The Forecast (T/O) Qty is very significant when it comes to quantity driven resources. It determines how the cost is driven and what affects the cost of that specific line item.

For example, perhaps there is a scope change and you need to change the Forecast (T/O) Qty from 700 to 350.

A screen appears to have you choose whether it will affect the C E-Final Unit Cost or CE-Final Cost. Typically, you will keep the Unit Cost constant and adjust the Final Cost.

Notice your Welder’s work hours adjusted from 80 to 40 because they are driven by the Forecast (T/O) Quantity of the cost item.

If the Cost Driver is set on Fixed, you can only update the resource’s hours by typing into the resource itself and updating the work hours directly.

Many of the numbers are tied to equations under the Productivity resources below.  If you edit the numbers, it will have an impact on the resources depending on the cost driver.

Forecast Resources tab

The Forecast Resources tab is where you can view and manage estimate resources assigned to a cost item.

From the Resources tab you can view and manage the:

• Forecast details live forecast method

• Add new resources and adjust duration-driven resources by changing their productivity

• View and adjust resource rates of assigned resources

Like the Details, Attributes, and Cost Categories tabs, you access the Forecast Resources tab from the Cost Item Details slide out panel.

The Forecast Resources tab shows as an accordion menu where you can select a specific drop down menu you want to view.

Productivity and overall settings

If the resource’s cost driver is set to CI Duration, you can change any of the values on the Productivity tab under Adjusting duration driven resources below, and it will change the work hours of your resources without you having to do the math yourself.

Resource Details

Resource Details shows the unit cost category breakdown of the selected resource listed above. The Resource rates tab expands to a unit breakdown on a selected item under resources. It is fully editable if you have the right permissions to do so.

Orphan Indicator

If you change the resource rate of one of the assigned resources, then a triangle   will appear.  The triangle is an orphan indicator.  This means a value associated with this resource does not match the resource’s value in the Estimated resources in the Project library. When you hover over the triangle, it will give you a summary of all the differences between the library value and the orphaned value. 

This is shown in case you want to change the values back to match the library. If you change the values back to match the library, the triangle will disappear.

Cost Item Man-Hours

Aside from on the Cost Estimate Resources tab, you can also define productivity on the CBS register page. The following steps walk you through how to add the planned man-hours for a cost item from the CBS register page.

Define Cost Item Man-Hours

Issue tagging in the CBS

You can associate an issue to a cost item in the CBS. Issue Ids in Change have a hierarchy of issues and subordinate issues. Associated an issue to a cost item applies to parent-level issues. Child issues take on the cost item of the parent issue.

When you click in the Issue column, the Assign issue dialog box is shown. The list of issues originates from the list of the issues in Change.

The Assign issue dialog box does not contain the full list of Issues that Change contains.

If a parent issue in Change becomes a subordinate while you already have that issue assigned to a cost item in the CBS, the cost item then changes Issue ID to match the parent item that the linked issue was then relocated under. For example, if the parent issue ID was a 2 in Change and it was moved under the parent issue ID 1, then the cost item previously linked to the parent 2 changes to the parent issue 1.