Consultants Tab of the Plan Settings Dialog Box

If planning is enabled for consultants, use the Consultants tab on the Plan Settings dialog box to specify the planning level for consultants and the billing rate methods, tables, and multipliers for consultants.

If you create a plan for a promotional or overhead project (charge type is Promotional or Overhead), this tab does not display. You cannot enter planning information for consultants for those types of projects.

Contents: General

Field	Description
Planning Level	Use this drop-down list to select the work breakdown structure (WBS) levels at which you will plan consultants for the project: Plan Level 1, Plan Level 2,...: Plan consultants at the specific level of the WBS that you select. Lower numbers are higher in the plan structure. For example, if you select Plan Level 2, you plan consultants at the phase level of the WBS. If the plan structure has branches that do not extend down to the selected WBS level, you can plan consultants at the lowest level in those branches. Lowest Level: Plan consultants at the lowest level of each branch of the plan structure. For example, if the lowest level is the phase level for one branch and task level for another, you enter consultant plan data for the first branch at the phase level and for the second branch at the task level. If you later change the planning level and planned consultant amounts exist at a level lower than the new planning level, Vantagepoint notifies you that those planned amounts must be removed before the change can occur.
Planning Level	Use this drop-down list to select the work breakdown structure (WBS) levels at which you will plan consultants for the project: Project, Phase, Task: Plan consultants at the specific level of the WBS that you select. For example, if you select Phase, you plan consultants at the phase level of the WBS. If the plan structure has branches that do not extend down to the selected WBS level, you can plan consultants at the lowest level in those branches. Lowest Level: Plan consultants at the lowest level of each branch of the plan structure. For example, if the lowest level is the phase level for one branch and task level for another, you enter consultants plan data for the first branch at the phase level and for the second branch at the task level. If you later change the planning level and planned consultant amounts exist at a level lower than the new planning level, Vantagepoint notifies you that those planned amounts must be removed before the change can occur.

Contents: Reimb. Consultant Billing Markup

Use these fields to define the settings for reimbursable consultant planned amounts on Regular projects.

If you select Cost in Budget Type on the General tab of this dialog box, or the Use Billing Currency not Project Currency option is selected in Settings > Accounting > Labor Options and the project currency is not the same as the billing currency, Billing Rate Method automatically defaults to None and Expense Rate Method, Rate Table, Recalculate Planned Billing, and Billing Multiplier fields are display-only.

Field	Description
Recalculate Planned Billing	Under normal circumstances, you never need to select this check box. Each time you save settings for a plan, all plan assignments are automatically recalculated based on the current settings. The exception is if the plan was converted from iAccess to Vantagepoint. Converted assignments may have rate information that was saved for specific calendar periods while in iAccess. Following conversion, those plan amounts, by default, are not automatically recalculated when you save plan settings in Vantagepoint. If you converted the plan from iAccess and you want all reimbursable consultants billing amounts in the plan to be recalculated automatically, select this check box and then save the plan settings. You only need to do this once; from that point forward the reimbursable consultants billing amounts will be recalculated automatically each time you save settings.
Consultants Rate Method	Select one of the following as the consultant billing rate method for the plan: Multiplier Only: Use a multiplier without a rate table: Planned cost x Billing multiplier. From Account Rate Table: Use the rate for the consultant expense account from an expense account rate table. If no rate is found, use Planned cost x Billing multiplier. From Category Rate Table: Use the rate for the consultant expense category from an expense category rate table. If no rate is found, use Planned cost x Billing multiplier. None: The planned billing amount is set to the planned cost.
Rate Table	If you selected a consultant billing rate method other than Multiplier Only or None, select a consultant billing rate table for the plan. The only rate tables displayed for selection are those that match the rate method you selected (expense account tables or expense category tables) and that are marked as available for planning.
Billing Multiplier	If you selected Multiplier Only in Consultants Rate Method, enter a multiplier for calculating billing amounts for reimbursable consultants (1.2500, for example). If you selected From Account Rate Table or From Category Rate Table in Expenses Rate Method, enter a multiplier to use for calculating billing amounts if the specified rate table does not include a rate for the expense account or expense category.

Contents: Direct Consultants

Field	Description
Direct Expenses: Billing Multiplier	The multiplier is displayed for informational purposes only on Regular projects. The value is always 1.0000 and cannot be changed. The planned cost and planned bill amounts for direct consultants are always the same.