Actual Cost Preferences

Use this dialog box to select the options for the loading of actual costs against a project.

Contents

Field	Description
Allow posting actual costs to a planned Control Account or Work Package	Selecting this option allows actual costs to be entered against a control account or work package that has a status of Planned. Planned control accounts or work packages do not have an actual start date. Selecting the Secure check box for this option while the Selected check box is cleared also selects the Secure check box for the Use the status date as the actual start date when posting values option. Selecting the Secure check box for this option while the Selected check box is selected does not affect the Secure check box for the Use the status date as the actual start date when posting values option. Clearing the Selected check box for this option while the Secure check box is cleared does not affect the Secure check box for the Use the status date as the actual start date when posting values option. Clearing the Selected check box for this option while the Secure check box is selected also selects the Secure check box for the Use the status date as the actual start date when posting values option.
Use the status date as the actual start date when posting values	Selecting this option enables Cobra to automatically set the status of planned control accounts and work packages to In-Progress during the load actuals process. If the forecast start date is later than the status date, Cobra will change the start date to the day before the status date and open the control account or work package. If the forecast start date is earlier than the status date, Cobra will change the start date to the forecast start date. This option is available only if you selected the Allow posting actual costs to a planned Control Account or Work Package option. Selecting the Secure check box for this option also selects the Secure check box for the Allow posting actual costs to a planed Control Account or Work Package option. Clearing the Allow posting actual costs to a planned Control Account or Work Package option also clears this option, except if this option is disabled in the EPM Security Administrator (EPM SA).
Allow posting actual costs to a completed Control Account or Work Package	Selecting this option allows entry of actual costs against control accounts or work packages with a status of Complete. If this option cleared, Cobra will not load actuals for completed control accounts and work packages and will list them as warnings in the process log.
Prevent loading historical actual cost	Selecting this option allows you to load only the actual costs with cost date values that fall between the start and finish dates of the current status period during the load actuals process. By default, this option is cleared. This option only applies if you selected Period Costs on the Included Costs page of the Integration wizard.
Selected	Selecting the Selected check box for any of the options makes the option selected by default in the process wizard where it is located.
Secure	Select the this check box for any of the options to prevent users from changing the setting for that particular option in process wizards where these options are also located. Cobra uses this feature to secure certain options while users run processes against projects. If this check box is selected, this option cannot be modified on the options pages of the Cobra process wizards. Select this option to ensure that all users are using the same settings when running Cobra processes.