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Invoicing through CPM schedule

18 replies [Last post]
Mon, 2006-08-07 05:41
Dinesh Kumar
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Dear All
A multimillion project has to be monitored with Primavera Project Management software. Rel (4.1). The resource histograms and monthly cash flow have to be submitted first.
Monthly invoicing is strictly based on progress recorded on CPM. Breakdown of Payment Milestone Schedule is already given by the client. What is the best method cost loading, updating & monitoring of the program?

I’m thinking to

-Define resources without cost and assign to activities.
-Define ‘Expenses’ (uniform over period). Set all Activity % complete type as Physical.
-Schedule and report Monthly cash flows, resource histograms and BL schedule. Budgeted Total Cost must equal contract value.
-When updating every month Earned Value can be invoiced accordingly.
Will that work? Please comment.
Regards
Dinesh
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Replies

Thu, 2006-09-14 05:11
#1
Dinesh Kumar
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Mario Sanvitile, Means these Est Weights has no role in calculating the earned values. Is that right? Dinesh
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Thu, 2006-09-14 05:03
#2
Mario Sanvitale
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WBS weighted milestones are entered under the "Earned Value" tab.
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Thu, 2006-09-14 05:01
#3
Mario Sanvitale
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The expression Est Weights relates to "Estimation Weights" which are used for top-down or function point estimating. "The top-down estimation feature uses assigned estimation weights to calculate the number of units that each WBS element receives in relation to other elements in the WBS hierarchy. For example, if 1,000 days of labor are applied top down to three WBS elements with estimation weights of 30, 30, and 40, then the WBS elements receive 300 days, 300 days, and 400 days, respectively. Estimation weights are relative values between elements in the WBS hierarchy; the absolute values of the estimation weights have no meaning."
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Thu, 2006-09-14 03:30
#4
Dinesh Kumar
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Hi all,
If we go to Project menu >WBS(in Primavera Project management)we can assign ’Est Weight’ to WBS code/name. Can somebody tell how PM uses this weights in Calculations? My intention is to cost load with WBS milestone weights in a new Project coming up.
Dinesh
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Mon, 2006-09-11 06:33
#5
Tu Huynh Van
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Dinesh,

- For Global Calendar, in Activities layout, select Enterprise/Calendars/Global, and choice 7-day Calendar.
- For activities under it, The calendar will be assigned for each activity. To assign, select General tab in Activity detail, and choice the correct calendar for each activity in "Activity calendar".

Tu,
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Mon, 2006-09-11 06:21
#6
Dinesh Kumar
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Tu Huynh Van
Is there any method to assign a 7-day global calender to WBS heading & a 6-day calender for activities under it?
Dinesh
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Mon, 2006-09-11 04:10
#7
Tu Huynh Van
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Dinesh

- Duration in the WBS heading depend on What are the Global Calendar when you Schedule, so if you want to display 730 days where start is 01.Jan.07 and finish is 31.Dec.08, you have to set The Global Calendar is: 7 days Workweek.
_ The Global calendar in Primavera Project Management in your PC may be set is 6 days Workweek Calendar, so WBS heading Original duration is 627 days, this is logical!

Cheers,
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Sat, 2006-09-09 06:34
#8
Dinesh Kumar
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Hi Friends
How can I get the calender duration in the WBS heading if I define a 5 or 6 day calender for activities under it? For example I want to display 730 days (od) where start is 1-jan-07 and end date is 31-dec-08; now Primavera Project management is showing original duration in WBS heading as 627 days!!
Dinesh
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Thu, 2006-08-10 05:09
#9
Dinesh Kumar
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Thanks Karim I got it...
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Thu, 2006-08-10 04:36
#10
Karim Mounir
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yes it is very simple actually, when u are in Tracking mode u see a window that shows the resources in the project and in it there is "Resource ID & Resource Name" columns.

To select multi resources u press "ctrl" while clicking on the desired resoucre, note also that u can make a graphical report for multi WBS showing multi resources using the prevouis method.
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Thu, 2006-08-10 04:25
#11
Dinesh Kumar
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Hi
Thanks for the response. Slightly differing from the subject - I’d like to know the technique to print Resource histogram department-vise. If I create a resource breakdown structure as shown below
Company
Company.Civil
Company.Civil.Mason
Company.Civil.JCB Operator
Company.Mechanical
Company.Mechanical.Welder
Company.Mechanical.Fitter
Can I print histogram for Civil dept? (not individual Mason & JCB oprator histograms but together)
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Wed, 2006-08-09 20:55
#12
Armando Moriles
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Dinesh,

Karim’s point is very logical on various reasons.I had that experience of a unit rate project where the engineer required an invoice with documentations both using excel and Primavera. Both had to be perfect and to be reported on a regular weekly & monthly basis.Excel is coming from the QS department and Primavera from the Planning dept.It came out to be a huge challenge to demonstrate the capabilities of Primavera software and the people who used it as well.

Regards,
Arman
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Wed, 2006-08-09 04:15
#13
Karim Mounir
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Actually it depends on the project’s type (whether it is Lumpsum or Unit Rate), mainly we use Excel sheets for invoicing in Unit Rate Projects and Primavera progress for invoicing in Lumpsum projects.
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Wed, 2006-08-09 01:36
#14
Dinesh Kumar
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Friends
Do you completely depend on Primavera for cost monitoring and billing or keep a parallel database in Excel sheet? I’d like to know please..
Dinesh
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Tue, 2006-08-08 05:34
#15
Armando Moriles
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Dinesh,

I think your method should work already with what you need for the time being. However, you might have limited capabilities in generating other reports like answering a question, How much is the material,labor and equipment components of your current earned value?

In my opinion, defining resources with cost is very important as it gives you so much protection for claims, among other purposes. However, care must be given into account if you have more than one currency used in the contract BOQ. It will give you a little difficulty in deriving the exact contract amount due to convertion factors and updating the earned values as it is possible that a variance will occur if you do it in excel.

Being new in using V5, I hope that my comments make sense to you and to all.

Regards,

Arman
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Tue, 2006-08-08 01:53
#16
Karim Mounir
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Dinesh,

if u get me correctly, When u apply actual qty. of the BOQ items on their relevant activities then the report (tabular / graphical) will show u the actual cost which have been obtained from the actual qty. multiplied by the unit rate of the BOQ item.

so when u print the histogram , actually it will show u the actual cost (money unit), and if u print in P3 e/c it won’t show u anything at all on the top of the histogram !

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Mon, 2006-08-07 07:41
#17
Dinesh Kumar
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Mr. Karim
Thanks for the reply. I’ve a one more doubt that while printing histograms out how can I hide this dummy resource.
Regards
Dinesh
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Mon, 2006-08-07 06:56
#18
Karim Mounir
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u can make a dummy resoucre (for example u define all of the BOQ items complete with their unit rates), then you assign each activity with the budgeted qty. of the resource (from tender).

Then when u make an update and apply actual qty. you can make a tabular report which shows the actual cost (even weekly or monthly).
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