Example of the Easy Cost Planning of a Project 

Initial Situation

Your company frequently handles projects in which supply ditches are dug, pipes laid, and the ditches filled in again. These projects vary according to the size of the ditch and the diameter of the pipe.

Prerequisites

For this example, the following data must be available in the system in controlling area 1000:

Creating the costing model

You can gain an overview of creating a costing model under Editing Costing Models and Assigning Attributes.

Choose Logistics ® Project System ® Basic Data ® Templates ® Models for Easy Cost Planning. Choose on the right hand side of the screen. Create costing model DITCH_A with the description Ditch of category A.

Assign characteristics to the model. To do this enter the respective name under Characteristic name in the table in the bottom right of the screen, and choose Continue. This way you access the transaction for creating the characteristics. Once you have created a characteristic save it and then create the next one.

Create the following characteristics and attributes:

Name

Description

Data type

No. of

chars

Decimal

places

Unit of

measure

Temp-

late

DITCH LENGTH

Length of

ditch

Numeric

format

4

1

M

__,_

DITCH WIDTH

Width of

ditch

Numeric

format

2

1

M

_,_

DITCH DEPTH

Depth of

ditch

Numeric

format

2

1

M

_,_

DURATION

No. of

days

required

Numeric

format

2

0

required

  

FLAT RATE

Travel costs

flat rate

Currency

format

4

  

EUR

  

PIPE

Supply

pipe

Character format

20

      

You can only define and change the attributes when you maintain the characteristics. To change a characteristic, choose in the table.

For all characteristics, choose Characteristic group Banks.

Set the indicator Entry required for all characteristics. If you also want to use the model for projects that do not involve the laying of a pipe, do not set the indicator for the characteristic PIPE. The cost planner should not select a value and no costs will be calculated.

Define the following values for the characteristic PIPE:

Characteristic value

Description

1

Diameter 10 cm

2

Diameter 20 cm

For more information, see Creating and Assigning Characteristics.

The entry screen appears in the cost estimate as below:

Click on the node Define the derivation rules (template). Select WBS element under Reference object. Enter the following lines in the template:

In the Type column, select the item category for the template using the input help. Use the input help also in the Object column and call the formula editor in the Quantity and Activation columns by double-clicking in the cell, if characteristics are being used.

Type

Name

Object

Quantity

Activation

Price

Cost center/

activity type

Labor costs

for the

digging of the

ditch

4298 / 1421

DITCH LENGTH

* DITCH WIDTH

* DITCH DEPTH

/ 10

    

Cost center/

activity type

Machine

costs for the

digging of the

ditch

4298 / 1420

DITCH LENGTH

* DITCH WIDTH

* DITCH DEPTH

/ 10

    

Material

Supply

pipe

0001 / PIPE-10

DITCH LENGTH

PIPE =

‘Diameter 10 cm‘

  

Material

Supply

pipe

0001 / PIPE-20

DITCH LENGTH

PIPE =

‘Diameter 20.cm‘

  

Cost center/

activity type

Labor costs

for the

laying of the

pipe

4298 / 1421

DITCH LENGTH

/ 5

PIPE =

‘Diameter 10 cm‘ OR

PIPE =

‘Diameter 20. cm‘

  

Cost center/

activity type

Labor costs

for the

filling in of the

ditch

4298 / 1421

DITCH LENGTH

* DITCH WIDTH

* (DITCH DEPTH -0.1) / 10

PIPE =

‘Diameter 10 cm‘

  

Cost center/

activity type

Machine

costs for the

filling in of the

ditch

4298 / 1420

DITCH LENGTH

* DITCH WIDTH

* (DITCH DEPTH -0.1) / 10

PIPE =

‘Diameter 10 cm‘

  

Cost center/

activity type

Labor costs

for the

filling in of the

ditch

4298 / 1421

DITCH LENGTH

* DITCH WIDTH

* (DITCH DEPTH -0.2) / 10

PIPE =

‘Diameter 20.cm‘

  

Cost center/

activity type

Machine

costs for the

filling in of the

ditch

4298 / 1420

DITCH LENGTH

* DITCH WIDTH

* (DITCH DEPTH -0.2) / 10

PIPE =

‘Diameter 20.cm‘

  

Variable

item

Travel costs

420000 / H

DURATION

  

FLAT

RATE

For further information, see Defining Derivation Rules.

Result

You can now use the costing model to plan the costs for WBS elements. Assume that you have a project to develop a residential area and one of the WBS elements for the project is Lay supply pipe in Tony Benn Street. You can call Easy Cost Planning for the project, select the WBS element node and then select the planning form DITCH_A. After you have entered the data for Tony Benn Street and chosen Confirm, the costing results are displayed in the Costing Structure screen area. For more information, see Using Easy Cost Planning and Easy Cost Planning in the Project System.