MS Project Proposal Pricing
There isn't a faster way to build a ROM (Rough Order of Magnitude) estimate or full proposal price that is cost/schedule integrated, has the ability be broken down by any code field (often a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)), and contain elements of cost (Labor, Material, ODC, Fringe,Overhead, GANDA, etc.) than the ItMakesSense MS Project add-in.
Most of this page will contain links to other pages that describe how to perform a specific step in the process. The primary desired takeaway is that it isn't difficult to do. Hopefully, you also takeaway the advantages of it all being self contained within MS Project. This avoids the system to system integration loops that increase the time it takes to make changes on the fly. (Ex. MS Project to ProPricer).
Resources and Rates
We're going to assume you know how to build a schedule and have one you want to apply resources. We're also going to assume the project is effort driven. (Many of the utilities in this add-in assume you're effort driven [Staffing the program is analyzed and manipulated after dates are modeled])
There are several ways to apply resources. Please visit the Cost page to see the many ways to do so (starts at the Task Level Pivot Data section). For this example we're going to chose the Assignment Level Pivot option but keep the resource standard rate at $0 and max units will be set to 1,000,000% to help avoid the possibility of MS Project changing durations on us based on resource availability (over-allocation).
How do you get cost if the rate is $0? That's easy, check out the Rates page. If you use Deltek Cobra you can use the Excel add-in to generate a rate file in less than 5 minutes. This turns three dimensional data (Resources, Rates, and Calculations) to two dimensional (Resources and a combination of Rates/Calculations).
Once resources and rates are set up you can put the direct hours/dollars in any MS Project field to define the work. You might be used to using Work/Cost, BaselineWork/Cost, Baseline1Work/Cost but any text or number field will also work. Curves can be applied if you don't use standard MS Project Assignments fields (text or number fields). MS Project Work Contours are an option for curving if you do.
Drill-down analysis and time-phased data
Please check out the EV page for more information. This currently only works if you use Baseline Cost/Work for your baseline and Work/Cost for your ETC.