Finance | Project Operations, Human Resources, ...

Project Categories, Category Groups and Project Costs

(0) Share

Report

Posted on by HectorM

Hello,

I'm quite confused with the concepts of Categories, Category Groups and Costs on Project Management and Accounting functionality.

As I understand, Categories and Category Groups are used to classify costs-prices of transactions and to define the ledger posting rules. In a project's WBS, each Leaf Node shall be associated with a Category. Category and Category Groups shall have always the same transaction type (i.e.: Hour); so, in a Category Group and/or Category, there cannot be more than one transaction type:

I mean, a Category Group shall be composed of one or more Categories, but all those Categories shall have the same Transaction Type. It cannot be possible to have a Category Group called "Development" composed of a Category "Cat_X" with Transaction Type "Hour" and, a second Category "Cat_Y" with Transaction Type "Item". Am I right?

Another concept I don't fully understand is the relationship between Category and Costs on a WBS Leaf node. What's its relationship?

Example: I've got a WBS Line called "Development" which has Category "Cat_X" (Cat_X has a transaction type "Hour"). On the Cost View ("Cost Estimates") I have different costs natures for this activity: I've got some Hours owned to workers of "Cat_X", some other hours owned by workers of "Cat_Y", some items procured and some expenses. How WBS Line Category is related with this detailed cost estimates?

Thanks in advance for your help!

I have the same question (0)

All responses (10)

Answers (0)

Suggested answer

Ludwig Reinhard Microsoft Employee on at

Like (1)

Report

Hello HectorM,

Some notes that might help:

* You are right with your first statement. A category group can only hold categories that belong to the same type.

* The WBS line that you call development simply summarizes the costs of the different lines beneath. This WBS line is not a category or category group but simply an element that summarizes everything below; similar to what you have in MS project.

Best regards,

Ludwig

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
HectorM 15 on at

Like (0)

Report

Hello Ludwig,

Thanks a lot for your answer.

So, if I understood you well, there is no relationship between the Categories set in the WBS line through the "Scheduling view", in my example "Development" with "Cat_X", and the lines of the "Cost Estimate view", in my example hours of "Cat_X" and "Cat_Y" and items of "Cat_Z" and expenses of "Cat_T".

From a cost perspective, the WBS line will sum up all the costs set up in the WBS Line's "Cost Estimate" view and, those costs, will be posted in the ledger following the rules set in their correspondent categories (in my example "Cat_X", "Cat_Y", "Cat_Z" and "Cat_T").

To me, it's a little bit confusing the use of the categories in the Project Management and Accounting module, especially its categories relationship between the "Scheduling" and "Cost Estimate" views of a same WBS line.

KR,

Héctor

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Suggested answer

Ludwig Reinhard Microsoft Employee on at

Like (1)

Report

Hello Hector,

Not exactly.

I attached you two screenprints from a WBS.

In the first one you see the scheduling view that has a reference to the AppDev category.

This category is then shown on the costing view where you can identify the expected costs and revenues for this category.

What I referred to was the line no 2, which is just a summary line that has no effect on costs and revenues but only summarizes the others.

Hope that helps and clarifies things.

Best regards,

Ludwig

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
HectorM 15 on at

Like (0)

Report

Hello,

Still confused about it... I've built a test WBS as shown:

In the "Scheduling" view I've set up the "Prj_Managt (Hour Transaction)" category and, in the "Cost Estimate" view I've got a cost of "Prj_Managt (Hour Transaction)" category plus an additional costs of "Hardware (Item Transaction)" category.

So my WBS Line "My 1st Task" has the costs of Project Management, following the posting rules of "Prj_Managt" category, plus the costs of Item Procurement, following the posting rules of "Hardware" category. Am I right?

If so, how can I create a blended category with two or more transaction types (i.e.: hours plus items) to classify both in the same category. I mean, I want to define all the costs of Dpt. A (Hours + Items + Expenses) and Dpt. B (Hours + Items + Expenses), so my Project's WBS will have lines owned by Dpt. A and Dpt. B, and for analysis and reporting purposes, I need to be able to split costs/revenues by both customers or by Items of Dpt. A or by Hours of Dpt. B...

Héctor

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Suggested answer

Rahul Mohta 21,032 on at

Like (0)

Report

Project categories based on shared categories and are the lowest unit to classify project transactions

they are mostly grouped together in project category groups

they are also used in WBS and project forecast and project budget as they can control and track monetary impact to project

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Suggested answer

Ludwig Reinhard Microsoft Employee on at

Like (1)

Report

[quote user="HectorM"]So my WBS Line "My 1st Task" has the costs of Project Management, following the posting rules of "Prj_Managt" category, plus the costs of Item Procurement, following the posting rules of "Hardware" category. Am I right? [/quote]
Exactly.

About the second part of your question:

What is a blended category?

Do you want to split 'My 1st task' by department A and Department B?

If so, can't you simply setup 'My 1st task - department A' and 'My 1st task - department B'?

Best regards,

Ludwig

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
HectorM 15 on at

Like (0)

Report

Thanks a lot for your help!!!

For Blended Category I mean a Category or Category Group with more than one Transaction Type.

For example, in a Project I need to classify all the Project Management Costs (i.e.: Hours + Items + Expenses) and, separately, all the Development Costs (i.e.: Hours + Items).

After it, I'd like to analyze the Costs by:

* Overall costs (hrs+items+expenses) of Project Management vs Development

* Hours of PM vs Development

* Items of PM vs Development

* Expenses of PM vs Development

Taking into account that a single WBS may have different cost types (i.e.: hrs & items).

Kind regards,

Héctor

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Suggested answer

Ludwig Reinhard Microsoft Employee on at

Like (1)

Report

Hello Hector,

The cost analysis is something that you can do in PowerBI and PowerBI is probably the best tool to do the comparison that you mentioned.

That is also where I would see your blended categories that you summarize and analyze in the way you like.

In D365FO a category group is limited to a single transaction type, which is a limitation that you can overcome with PowerBI in my opinion.

Does that help and answer your question?

Best regards,

Ludwig

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
HectorM 15 on at

Like (0)

Report

Yes! Thanks a lot Ludwig and Rahul!!!

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Suggested answer

Ludwig Reinhard Microsoft Employee on at

Like (0)

Report

Hello Hector,

You are welcome.

Please let us know if you questions are answered by verifying them or letting us know if there is anything else that is still unclear and for which you need some support.

Many thanks and best regards,

Ludwig

Was this reply helpful? Yes No