Use the Consultant planning grid to establish the consulting budget for your plan. You can assign consultants to the plan, by account. You can also copy and paste existing rows as you assign consultants. Right-click the small arrow to the left of a row to access the pop-up menu and select the copy or paste options.
To change the columns that display on this grid, use the Consultants Tab of Planning Grid Configuration.
To collapse the start and end dates on the grid rows for the periods that contain planned data, select the
Collapse Start/End Dates before Save from the Planning Options menu. The start and end dates collapse before the plan is saved so you do not need to manually set the dates for each row. When you select this option, Vision automatically changes the start and end dates to match the minimum and maximum dates set on the top-level task row.
Field | Description |
Plus sign or Minus sign
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The + (plus) and - (minus) signs follow standard Windows User Interface Conventions. The + sign in a grid row indicates the task is a parent task that contains related child units. Click the
+ to view the child units. The + changes to a - when the child units are open. Click the - to close the child units.
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Description
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Enter an identifier for the WBS element.
This is also the field in which you
assign consultants. Click
Insert to open a new row and then enter a consultant account in this field or click
Search to display the Accounts lookup and select an account. The consultant account that you specify is assigned to the WBS element in the row directly preceding it on this grid.
Text color indicates the account type:
- Brown text = reimbursable account
- Green text = direct account
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Overflow
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When the accordion calendar is outside the plan's date range, an
Overflow column is added to the beginning of the calendar's grid. This column holds the amounts that apply to the dates that are outside of the range.
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WBS Level
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This field displays the level of the WBS element, as specified on the Labor tab.
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Project
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This field displays the project identifier, as specified on the Labor tab.
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Phase
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This field displays the phase identifier, as specified on the Labor tab.
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Task
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This field displays the task identifier, as specified on the Labor tab.
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Account
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This field displays the account number of the consultant account specified in the
Description field. Click
and select an account from the Account lookup to assign a different account to the consultant, if necessary.
If the account is a reimbursable or a direct billing account, Vision automatically calculates the billing amount.
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Vendor
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This field displays the name of the vendor associated with this consultant expense.
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Start
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This field displays the start date for the consultant expense.
If you created the plan from an Opportunity template, the start date displays the start date that originated with the opportunity.
If the
Start date does not align with the start date of the child WBS level task, the date displays in blue. You must select the
Collapse Parent Dates option to collapse the dates before you can use the Schedule tab of Project Planning to schedule task dependencies.
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Finish
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This field displays the finish date for the consultant expense.
Right-click to select
Set finish date by duration. The Duration dialog box displays. Enter the number of business days to use to set the finish date. Vision automatically adds the number of business days to the Start date.
If you created the plan from an Opportunity template, the finish date automatically displays the end date that originated with the opportunity.
If the
Finish
date does not align with the end date of the child WBS level task, the date displays in blue. You must select the
Collapse Parent Dates option to collapse the dates before you can use the Schedule tab of Project Planning to schedule task dependencies. See the Collapse Parent Dates field description for additional information.
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Planned Cost
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Enter the estimated or forecast cost amount by expense account (and vendor). You can also right-click this cell to access the options for spreading amounts across the grid.
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Planned Bill
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Enter the estimated or forecast billing amount by expense account (and vendor). You can also right-click on this cell to access the options for spreading amounts across the grid.
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Percent Complete Cost
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This field displays the percent complete of consultant expense costs for the WBS element in this row.
If the
Percent Complete Formula option on the General tab is set to
User-Entered Percent Complete, you can enter a percent complete here. For any other setting, Vision calculates the value for you.
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Percent Complete Bill
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This field displays the percent complete of consultant expense billing for the WBS element in this row.
If the
Percent Complete Formula option on the General tab is set to
User-Entered Percent Complete, you can enter a percent complete here. For any other setting, Vision calculates the value for you.
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Job to Date Cost
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This field displays the job-to-date actual cost for the current consultant expense, resulting from consultant expense postings. You see a value in this field only if the current plan is mapped to the Info Center.
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Job to Date Bill
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This field displays the job-to-date actual billed amount for the current consultant expense, resulting from consultant expense postings. You see a value in this field only if the current plan is mapped to the Info Center.
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Estimate to Complete Cost
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This field displays the Estimate to Complete cost amount for the consultant expense. The ETC is calculated based on the application, Vision or iAccess for Vision, in which the plan was created. See the How Planning Calculates ETC online help topic for additional information.
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Estimate to Complete Bill
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This field displays the Estimate to Complete billing amount for the consultant expense. The ETC is calculated based on the application, Vision or iAccess for Vision, in which the plan was created. See the How Planning Calculates ETC online help topic for additional information.
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Estimate at Completion Cost
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This field displays the Estimate at Completion cost amount for the current WBS element.
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Estimate at Completion Bill
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This field displays the Estimate at Completion bill amount for the current WBS element.
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Plan - Estimate at Completion
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This field displays the variance between the planned consultant expense cost amount and the Estimate at Completion consultant expense cost amount for the current WBS element.
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Plan - Estimate at Completion Bill
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This field displays the variance between the planned consultant expense billing amount and the Estimate at Completion consultant expense billing amount for the current WBS element.
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Planned Revenue
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This field displays the revenue amount expected for the current WBS element.
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