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From: Andrew on 7 May 2010 09:53
Hi there

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I have searched the forum and not
found an answer that fits. I have been tasked to produce a cashflow for a
construction project. I know how to put the money in as a fixed cost against
each activity. I also know that you can allocate costs against the start,
finish or pro rata against the duration. No problems so far. What I am
struggling with is how do I simulate payment delays, ie you complete the work
but do not get paid for say 3 weeks later?. Also, I know how to use the
analyze timescale data in excel button, but is there a better way, that keeps
the information live ie if the contract bars move etc, without having to re
export as I find that I have to do some work on the excel file after the
export in order that the information is more readable. VBA has been mentioned
to me but I am a real novice in this and do not have the resources inhouse to
explore this. I have linked excel and MSP before and have found that the
whole thing becomes ver cumbersome and loses the connection when you relocate
files.

Any help would be appreciated

Andrew
From: G�rard Ducouret on 7 May 2010 13:07
Andrew,

<<you complete the work but do not get paid for say 3 weeks later?>>
You could create a milestone linked to the end of the task with a FS+3w
link, and apply the cost to that milestone.

G�rard Ducouret

"Andrew" <Andrew(a)discussions.microsoft.com> a �crit dans le message de news:
1D433C53-231F-44A3-9F92-13174B062A56(a)microsoft.com...
> Hi there
>
> Sorry if this has been asked before, but I have searched the forum and not
> found an answer that fits. I have been tasked to produce a cashflow for a
> construction project. I know how to put the money in as a fixed cost
> against
> each activity. I also know that you can allocate costs against the start,
> finish or pro rata against the duration. No problems so far. What I am
> struggling with is how do I simulate payment delays, ie you complete the
> work
> but do not get paid for say 3 weeks later?. Also, I know how to use the
> analyze timescale data in excel button, but is there a better way, that
> keeps
> the information live ie if the contract bars move etc, without having to
> re
> export as I find that I have to do some work on the excel file after the
> export in order that the information is more readable. VBA has been
> mentioned
> to me but I am a real novice in this and do not have the resources inhouse
> to
> explore this. I have linked excel and MSP before and have found that the
> whole thing becomes ver cumbersome and loses the connection when you
> relocate
> files.
>
> Any help would be appreciated
>
> Andrew



From: Trevor Rabey on 7 May 2010 10:27
This depends on what flavour of cash flow you want to plot.
Cost side only?
Income side only?
Net?
Usually, progress payments for construction projects depend on certain
recognised tasks being finished and these tasks are predecessors of a
progress payment milestone, and this milestone is in turn a predecessor to a
milestone which represents the payment. You can assign a negative Fixed Cost
to this last milestone.
Negative Cost is income. the last two milestones can be linked FS with
positive lag, or (some say it is better) the lag can be represented by a
dummy task, and all links are FS0. The duration of this waiting task can be
measured in edays rather than working days.

....tasks
progress milestone 0
waiting for payment, 20ed

payment milestone (ie get paid) 0

All of the other tasks have a cost associated with them which arises from
the costs of the resources assigned to them, or Fixed Cost or both.
The "Analyze timescale data in excel" button in MSP2003 works a treat and is
only a few clicks and a small cleanup/adjustment.
There is nothing much to be gained by anything more automated and live. I
have done a lot of this and never saw a need.
What is it that you have to do to it that is so tricky/tedious?
BTW, don't assign any costs to summaries because the analyze timescale data
in excel macro thingy doesn't find them.

You recognise the cost of a task as incurred at the start or finish of a
task or pro-rata. Choosing the start is a more conservative estimate.
--
Trevor Rabey
0407213955
61 8 92727485
PERFECT PROJECT PLANNING
www.perfectproject.com.au

"Andrew" <Andrew(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1D433C53-231F-44A3-9F92-13174B062A56(a)microsoft.com...
> Hi there
>
> Sorry if this has been asked before, but I have searched the forum and not
> found an answer that fits. I have been tasked to produce a cashflow for a
> construction project. I know how to put the money in as a fixed cost
> against
> each activity. I also know that you can allocate costs against the start,
> finish or pro rata against the duration. No problems so far. What I am
> struggling with is how do I simulate payment delays, ie you complete the
> work
> but do not get paid for say 3 weeks later?. Also, I know how to use the
> analyze timescale data in excel button, but is there a better way, that
> keeps
> the information live ie if the contract bars move etc, without having to
> re
> export as I find that I have to do some work on the excel file after the
> export in order that the information is more readable. VBA has been
> mentioned
> to me but I am a real novice in this and do not have the resources inhouse
> to
> explore this. I have linked excel and MSP before and have found that the
> whole thing becomes ver cumbersome and loses the connection when you
> relocate
> files.
>
> Any help would be appreciated
>
> Andrew


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