One of the values of using a Project Portfolio Management system like Primavera is being able to display time phased distribution of budgetary data. Knowing how much and when a budget is consumed over the life of a project is valuable information. In a world that is becoming increasingly drawn in to frequent monitoring of project performance, the need for budgetary information like this is eagerly desired. However, the accuracy of that information is just as important.

Depending on the software used there are multiple ways of recording cost whether it is budgeted, actual, at completion, or other types. That cost data can also further be broken down into Material, Labor, Equipment, and others depending on the application used. Realizing the relationship between all those components of cost is important to how data is represented.

An example of the importance in understanding the relationships between cost components was realized in a report I created that returned value on At Completion Cost and Budgeted Cost.  The problem initially noticed was that my Budgeted Cost did not equal my At Completion Cost for the Project, when they should have.  When the budget was contractually modified on an activity I obviously knew that the budgeted cost for that activity had to be changed. However, depending on the settings it is important to note that the At Completion Cost may or may not change to be the same as your budgeted cost. If your settings permit you to change one while not changing the other you can quickly get into accuracy issues, like what was happening in my case.

An immediate solution is to make sure your reports pass the sanity test. A more long term solution is to educate yourself in your particular application or find somebody who is.