Apportionment Setup Steps

You need to perform several steps to set up apportionment for a project.

You do not need to perform the steps in the order below, but this order works well.

Step Related Topics

Select the Resources to be Used in the Project

Use the Apportionment Definition dialog box to select resources from the Resource file.

For example, if you budget IT Support as a percentage of Engineering, define the source resource (Engineering), and select the apportioned resource (IT Support).

Apportionment Definition Tab of the Resource View

Create Rates for Apportionment

Apportioned budgets are created by multiplying a result from the source resource by a rate, to get the first result of the apportioned resource.

Using our IT Support example, if your IT Support resource uses DIRECT as the first result, you can multiply the Engineering DIRECT by a rate to get the DIRECT for IT Support. The remaining derived costs for IT Support are calculated using the IT Support resource definition. Thus, if IT Support is 10% of Engineering DIRECT, you need to create a rate set with the rate of 10%.

Resource Components

Examples of Resources

Create the Apportionment Definition

Because you are setting up resources and rates before you create your project, it makes sense to define the apportioned resources. However, you can wait until after the budget has been created. Apportionment Definition is the step where you specify how apportioned resources are calculated. Then, specify which result to use in the calculation, and what resources the apportionment is based on.

For example, if Travel is based on Engineering DIRECT dollars, you create an apportionment definition for the resource Travel and specify that the calculation is based on DIRECT. Then select the Engineering resource as the source resource.

If you are importing a large amount of apportionment definition data file, use the Integration Wizard — Apportionment Definition and Mapping Data.

Create the Apportionment Definition

Apportionment Definition Tab of the Resource View

Define Resource Apportionment

Data Import — Apportionment Definition

Create the Source Budget

Now that you have created rates and resources, you can enter the budget for the source resource (in our example, Engineering). Control accounts, work packages, and the budget spread are entered manually or loaded from a schedule for all of the Engineering work.

Note: You can create project data before creating the apportionment definition.

Define Resource Apportionment

Create the Target Work Package or Control Account

You have two options when you create apportioned data: you can create the data in a specific work package or control account to be used for your apportioned resources, or you can make new resources in existing work packages.

For example, assume that Quality Assurance is an apportioned budget code created from the Engineering resource. You have these options:

  • You can create an apportioned budget for Quality Assurance in a new work package so that the budget will roll up into a different organizational code of the OBS and can be statused separately. If you are apportioning into a new work package, you can use the Apportioned progress technique. This progress technique calculates earned value based on the formula Earned Value/Budget At Complete of the source resources.
  • You can create Quality Assurance as another resource in the same work package as the Engineering budget element. It will not require a different charge number.
Note: This step is only necessary if you do not intend to use the Same as Source option on the Add Apportionment Target dialog box.

Add Apportionment Target Dialog Box

Add Apportionment Source Dialog Box

Set Up Apportionment Mapping

Now that you have a budget and a place to put the apportioned budget, you are ready to set up the mapping. First, you define where the apportioned resource is going to go and the rate to be used for the apportionment. Then you define the source control account that you are going to use for the apportionment.

If you are importing a large amount of apportionment mapping data from a file, use the Integration Wizard — Apportionment Definition and Mapping Data.

Apportionment Mapping

Data Import — Apportionment Mapping

Calculate Apportioned Budget and Forecast

Now you are ready to calculate the apportioned budget. You will select multiple classes to calculate both budget and forecast at the same time. This operation generates time-phase budget and forecast data based on the apportionment mapping and updates the status for apportioned work packages.

Earned value for the apportioned effort is calculated when you run the Calculate Progress utility. Once the apportioned data is in the project, you will need to rerun Apportionment Calculations if the source budget is changed.

Calculate Progress

Apportionment Calculations