Expenses Plan Settings

Use the Expenses options on the Plan Settings dialog box to specify the planning level, rates, and multipliers for planned expenses on your plans.

This dialog box automatically displays when you create a new Navigator plan or you convert a Vision plan to a Navigator plan.

You can establish the Expenses Plan Settings under the following conditions:

• The Expenses planning tab is enabled on the General tab in Vision > Configuration > Planning > Plan Settings. If you do not have the Vision Resource Planning module, the option is on the main Plan Settings form.
  Note: If you are using Vision Multicompany, the system checks the option's setting in the Vision Plan Settings for your project's company.
• Your role has access to the Expenses planning tab on the Navigator tab in Vision > Configuration > Security > Roles.
• Your role has the Allow changes to rate/method tables option selected on the Planning tab in Vision > Configuration > Security > Roles if you need to change reimbursable expenses rate calculations. If you do not have the Vision Resource Planning module, the Allow changes to rate/method tables option is on the Navigator tab.

Location

To display the Expenses Plan Settings, complete the following steps:

1. Select a project.
2. Click and select Plan Settings. The Plan Settings option does not display if the plan is a Vision plan or if you do not have appropriate access rights.
3. Navigator automatically checks out the plan when the Plan Settings option is selected, you have appropriate access rights, and no one else has the plan checked out.
4. Select the Expenses option. The Expenses Plan Settings fields display.

Contents

Field	Description
Planning Level	Use this drop-down list to select the default WBS level that will be used to plan expenses for the project: Project: Select this option to plan expenses at the Project level. Phase: Select this option to plan expenses at the Phase level, if the project has phases. Otherwise, expenses are planned at the Project level. Lowest Level: Select this option to plan expenses at the lowest level of the WBS. Note: The options in this list are based on the WBS settings that are defined in Vision > Utilities > Key Formats. For example, if the Phase length is set to zero, then Project is the only option that displays in the Planning Level list. Changing the planning level has multiple implications if the existing plan includes resource rows that are planned under a level that is different than the new level: Any planned resource rows under a WBS level that does not match the new planning level are removed. If any of the planned resource rows to be removed are included in the baseline and you have access rights to change the baseline, the rows will be removed from the baseline. If your access rights don't allow you to change the baseline, you cannot change the planning level. Any planned resource rows already at the new planning level remain. Resource rows with JTD will be shown at the new planning level once the change is finished. If the plan is not balanced (where some phases have tasks and some do not) and you select Lowest Level, Navigator will remove the resource rows that are lower than the selected level. Changing the level to a lower one and the project has the lower level and there are resource rows under a higher level. All the resource rows are removed.
Reimbursable Expenses	Use these fields to define the settings for reimbursable expense planned amounts on Regular projects.
Recalculate	Select this option to apply the current settings and recalculate the planned bill amounts for reimbursable expenses. You must click Finish for the recalculation to occur.
Rate Method	Select one of the following Rate Method options: Multiplier Only: The planned billing amount will be calculated as Planned Cost x Multiplier. From Account Rate Table: The planned billing amount will be calculated using the rate for the expense account from the specified table. If no rate is found, Planned Cost x Multiplier will be used. From Category Rate Table: The planned billing amount will be calculated using the rate for the expense category from the specified table. If no rate is found, Planned Cost x Multiplier is used. None: The planned billing amount will be set equal to the planned cost. The Rate Method is initially set to the default value that is defined in Vision > Configuration > Planning > Plan Settings. If Rate Method is set to None, the Bill/Cost toggle is not shown for the plan and only bill amounts are visible. All direct and reimbursable expense planned amounts are entered using the bill value. If the Rate Method is set to Multiplier Only, From Account Rate Table, or From Category Rate Table, the direct and reimbursable expense planned amounts are entered using the cost value and the planned bill value is calculated.
Rate Table	This option is available if you specify From Account Rate Table or From Category Rate Table as the Rate Method. Use this field to specify the rate table that you want to use. This list contains either Expense Account Tables or Expense Category Tables, depending on the selected Rate Method. Only the tables you have access to display in the list, and they must also be marked as Available for planning in the Vision Billing application.
Multiplier	Enter a multiplier to apply to all reimbursable expense entries when the Rate Method is set to Multiplier Only. If the Rate Method is set to From Account Rate Table or From Category Rate Table, the multiplier is applied to any account that is not found in the selected table.
Direct Expenses - Multiplier	The multiplier is displayed for informational purposes only on Regular projects. The value is always 1.000 and cannot be changed. The planned cost and planned bill amounts for direct expenses are always equal to one another.
Indirect Expenses - Multiplier	The multiplier is displayed for informational purposes only on Overhead and Promotional projects. The value is always 1.000 and cannot be changed.
Finish	Click Finish to save your entries on all Plan Settings pages. A dynamic confirmation dialog box displays. Follow the prompts to confirm your changes. Some of these changes include: If plan hours already exist and the scale is changed, the resource's ETC hours are spread evenly across the given range. If labor rate settings are changed and the Recalculate option is selected, Navigator retroactively calculates the planned cost and/or billing values for employees and/or generic resources. If labor rate settings are changed but the Recalculate option is not selected, Navigator leaves the existing planned amounts as they were. The new rate settings will be applied for planned values as new entries are created. If consultant rate settings are changed and the recalculate option is selected, Navigator retroactively calculates the planned bill amount for reimbursable consultants. If expense rate settings are changed and the recalculate option is selected, Navigator retroactively calculates the planned bill amount for reimbursable expenses. If you published the plan prior to making changes and decide that you are not happy with the changes, you can revert the current plan back to the published plan if you have not published since making the changes.