Contractors planning using material type resources in MS Project Pro

Contents:

1. Creating contractor companies in MS Project Pro
2. Assigning contractor resources in MS Project Pro
3. Detailed description of contractors costs in MS Project Pro
4. Chat

Creating contractor companies using material type resources in MS Project Pro

In MS Project Pro, you can use a material resource type to create a contractor companies resource. This method of describing costs of contractor companies will allow the use of the earned value method.

You can create separate resources for all contractors involved in the project. In doing so, you must assign contractors to their tasks and set their costs.

You can only describe important contractors and assign them to tasks. You can assign contractors gradually depending on the information available.

Steps to create contractor companies using material type resources in MS Project Pro:

1. Open the resource sheet view.
2. Add new contractor resources. (Read more "Add resources in MS Project").
3. Set the type "Material" in the "Type" column.
4. Set the "$" in the "Material Label" column.
5. Set the "1 $" in the "Std. Rate" column.
6. Set the contractor type in the "Group" column.
7. Or the create custom column (Reda more "Adding the custom fields in MS Project Pro") and set contractor type on this column.
8. You can set the default accrual type for cost resources in the "Accrue At" column.
9. For the convenience of analysis, you can select only costly resources in the "Filter" field in the "Data" block. (Read more "Filtering project data in MS Project Pro")
10. You can group resources by the "Group" column or custom column. (Read more "Grouping project data in MS Project Pro")

Assigning contractors using material type resources in MS Project Pro

We recommend first of all to describe those contractors that implement the tasks of the nearest periods.

Steps to assigne contractor resources in MS Project Pro:

1. Open the Gantt chart view.
2. Add the "Contract" custom column:
   1. Click the "Project" button in the top menu.
   2. Click the "Custom Fields" button in the "Properties" block.
   3. Click the "Task" box in the "Field" block.
   4. Select the "Text" type in the "Type:" field.
   5. Rename the empty field by clicking the "Rename ..." button (For example "Contract").
   6. Click the "Ok" button.
3. Add the "Contract" column.
4. Set the number and date of the contract in the "Contract" field.
5. Add the "Resource Names" button.
6. Assigning the contractor resource to tasks.(Read more "Assigning resources in MS Project")
   1. Click the item "Resource" in the top menu.
   2. Click the item "Assign Resources" in block "Assignments".
   3. Open the "Resource list options" block.
   4. Select the "Resources - Material" filter in the "Filter by:" field.
   5. Select the task in the table of the view.
   6. Select the resource and click the button "Assign".
   7. Enter costs values in the field 'Units".
7. You can filter tasks by the "Contract" field. (Read more "Filtering project data in MS Project Pro")
8. You can group tasks by the "Contract" field. (Read more "Grouping project data in MS Project Pro")

Detailed description of contractors costs using material type resources in MS Project Pro

In MS Project Pro you can detail contractor task costs by time period.

Steps to detailed description of contractors costs in the task usage view in MS Project Pro:

1. Open the "Task Usage" view.
2. Add the "Contract" custom column.
3. Group the tasks by "Contract" field.
4. Click the "Task Usage Format" item in the top menu.
5. In the "Details" block click boxs: "Cost" and "Work".
6. Set time period by month. (Read more "Timescale in MS Project Pro")
7. Correct the cost values by period in the "Work" field.

Steps to detailed description of contractors costs in the resource usage view in MS Project Pro:

1. Open the "Resource Usage" view.
2. Click the "Resource Usage Format" item in the top menu.
3. In the "Details" block click boxs: "Cost" and "Work".
4. Set time period by month. (Read more "Timescale in MS Project Pro")
5. Correct the cost values by period  in the "Work" field.