Entering Material Resource Consumption Rates

The short film project includes one material resource: 16-mm film. If you completed Chapter 4, “Assigning Resources to Tasks,” you assigned a material resource with a fixed amount, or fixed consumption rate, to a task. Another way to use material resources is to assign them with a variable consumption rate. Here is the difference between the two rates:

• A fixed consumption rate means that regardless of the duration of the task to which the material resource is assigned, an absolute quantity of the resource will be used. For example, pouring concrete for a house foundation requires a fixed amount of concrete, no matter how long it takes to pour it.

• A variable consumption rate means that the quantity of the material resource consumed depends on the duration of the task. When shooting film, for example, you will shoot more film in four hours than in two, and you can determine an hourly rate at which you shoot (or consume) film. After you enter a variable consumption rate for a material resource’s assignment, Project calculates the total quantity of the material resource consumed, based on the task’s duration. The advantage of using a variable rate of consumption is that the rate is tied to the task’s duration. If the duration changes, the calculated quantity and cost of the material resource will change as well.

In either case, after you enter a standard pay rate for one unit of the material resource, Project calculates the total cost of the assignment. For example, we will assume that a 100-foot spool of 16-mm film costs $20 to purchase and process.

In this exercise, you enter an hourly variable consumption rate for a task that requires shooting (or consuming) film. Then you look at the resulting quantity or number of units of film required by the duration of the task, as well as the cost of the material resource assignment.

1. On the View menu, click Gantt Chart.

   The Gantt Chart view appears.

2. On the Edit menu, click Go To, enter 27 in the ID box, and then click OK.

   Project displays task 27, Scene 7 shoot. This is the first of several tasks that require film to be shot. Next you will assign the material resource 16-mm Film to this task.

3. On the Standard toolbar, click the Assign Resources button.

   The Assign Resources dialog box appears.

4. In the Units field for 16-mm Film in the Assign Resources dialog box, type 5/h and then click the Assign button.

   Note

   Be sure to select 16-mm Film and not 16-mm Camera in the Assign Resources dialog box.

   Project assigns the film to the task, at a consumption rate of five 100-foot spools per hour:

   

   Because this task currently has an eight-hour duration, the total film assignment should be 40 spools of film. To verify this and see the resulting cost of the material resource assignment, you will change views.

5. In the Assign Resources dialog box, click the Close button.

6. On the View menu, click Task Usage.

   Next you will view the cost and work values of the 16-mm Film assignment to task 27 via the Assignment Information dialog box.

7. Click the 16-mm Film assignment under task 27, Scene 7 shoot.

8. On the Standard toolbar, click the Assignment Information button.

   The Assignment Information dialog box appears.

9. If the General tab is not already active, select it.

   

   Here you can see the cost and work values of the 16-mm Film assignment. The calculated cost of the assignment, $800, is the 40 units of this material resource for this assignment multiplied by the $20 per unit cost entered for this material resource. (This value is recorded in the Std. Rate field for the resource.) Should the duration of the task change, the number of units of film consumed and its total cost would change correspondingly. In the Work box, you can see that the 16-mm Film assignment to task 27 is currently 40 100-foot spools of film.

CLOSE: the Short Film Project 8 file.