How to Calculate Planned Labor Costs in Project Insight

Project Insight allows teams to track a project’s internal budget, billable budget, planned labor costs, and actual time in one place. Teams can begin with a high-level budget and then use task assignments, planned work, work rates, and time entries to understand how much of that budget has been allocated or used.

Best for: Project managers, implementation teams, professional services teams, and administrators who need to compare a project’s available budget with its planned and actual labor costs.

What are the different ways to track a project budget in Project Insight?

Project Insight supports several levels of project budget tracking:

• A general internal budget representing the amount available to spend on the project
• A billable budget representing the amount that may be billed to a customer
• Date-based budget amounts for projects that receive funding in stages
• Planned labor costs calculated from task assignments, planned work, and applicable work rates
• Actual labor values based on time entered against project tasks

Project Insight does this by connecting project budgets with the tasks, people, planned hours, rates, and time entries that affect those budgets. This gives teams both a high-level financial view and a more detailed view of where planned project costs come from.

How do I create a project for budget tracking?

Begin by opening the project add/edit form and entering the basic project information:

1. Enter the project name.
2. Select the project status.
3. Enter the project start date.
4. Complete any additional fields your organization uses to categorize or track the project.

A company or client value is not required unless your organization needs to associate the project with that information.

How do I enter an internal project budget?

If the general budget tools are enabled, enter the total amount available for the project in the budget area of the project form. For example, a project may have an internal budget of $100,000.

This creates a high-level budget bucket for the project. As people log time against the project, the corresponding values can be tracked against that budget.

How do I track a billable budget separately?

Use the billable budget when the amount billed to the customer is different from the amount available for internal project spending.

For example, the project could have:

• An internal budget of $100,000
• A billable budget of $150,000

Keeping these values separate helps the team distinguish internal project costs from the project’s customer-facing billable value.

Can I divide a project budget by date?

Yes. Project Insight allows the internal and billable budget amounts to be separated by date.

For example, if 50% of a project’s budget becomes available at the beginning of the project and the remainder becomes available at the end, enter separate budget amounts with their applicable dates.

Project Insight does this by preserving each dated budget amount within the project instead of treating all funding as one undated total.

How do tasks create a more detailed project budget?

A high-level budget shows how much money is available. Tasks provide a more detailed view of how the team plans to use it.

For each task, enter the applicable planning information:

1. Create the task.
2. Enter its duration.
3. Enter the planned work hours.
4. Assign the appropriate team member.

Project Insight uses the task duration to calculate the task’s start and end dates. The planned work identifies how many hours the assigned resource is expected to spend during that period.

For example, one task might require 100 hours from one team member over a month, while another requires 50 hours from a different team member over 20 days.

How does Project Insight calculate the value of planned work?

Project Insight can calculate the work time value associated with the hours planned for each task. This calculated field shows what those planned labor hours are worth.

The applicable rate may be based on:

• The individual resource
• The resource’s role or skill
• The time entered
• A generic rate
• Other configured rate-card options

In the video example, the planned tasks represent $22,500 in labor value. This provides a more detailed budget calculation based on the people, hours, and dates included in the project plan.

In short: The project budget records how much is available, while task-level labor values show how much of that budget the current plan is expected to require.

How can I budget for work that repeats each month?

Project Insight provides two ways shown in the video to plan work that repeats during an engagement.

Can I copy a group of tasks?

Yes. Place related tasks under a summary task and copy the summary task. Project Insight copies the individual tasks contained underneath it, allowing the copied group to be moved into another month.

This can be useful when the same set of activities must be completed during each month of a client engagement.

How do I create a recurring monthly task?

To create a recurring task from the task’s full form:

1. Create the task and assign its owner.
2. Enter the starting date.
3. Enter the task duration and planned work hours.
4. Open Advanced.
5. Open the recurrence options.
6. Select a monthly recurrence.
7. Choose when during the month the task should begin.
8. Enter the number of occurrences.
9. Save the task.

In the video example, the task begins on the first day of each month and ends after three occurrences. When the task is saved, Project Insight automatically creates a summary task with three individual monthly tasks beneath it.

Team members can log time against the individual tasks, allowing the project manager to compare planned and actual values for each occurrence.

Where can I review the project’s overall budget?

Open the project overview to see the project’s budget information together. The overview can show:

• The internal project budget
• The amount currently allocated through planned work
• The billable budget
• The billable value of the planned work, when included
• The amount remaining for continued planning or execution

In the video example, the overview shows a $100,000 internal budget, $31,500 currently allocated, and a $150,000 billable budget. These values help the project manager understand what remains available and plan or execute the project accordingly.

What should I check when using project budgets?

• Confirm that the general budget tools are enabled. The high-level internal and billable budget fields depend on the applicable budget tools being available.
• Do not confuse the internal budget with the billable budget. The internal budget represents available project spending, while the billable budget represents the amount that may be billed to the customer.
• Check the rates used to value planned work. Work values may be based on a generic rate, resource, role, skill, time entry, or another configured rate-card option.
• Enter planned work as well as duration. Duration determines the task’s schedule, while planned work identifies how many hours the resource is expected to spend.
• Log time against the correct tasks. Time entries provide the actual values needed to compare planned work with completed work.
• Review recurring tasks after saving. Confirm that the recurrence dates and number of occurrences match the project plan.

What outcomes does project budget tracking support?

Tracking project budgets in Project Insight helps teams:

• Centralize internal and billable budget information
• Understand the planned labor value of a project
• Compare available funding with currently allocated work
• Track planned and actual values for recurring activities
• Make informed decisions about continued project planning and execution

Project Insight does this by connecting the financial limits of the project with the schedule, task assignments, planned hours, labor rates, and actual time that determine project costs.

Related questions

Can Project Insight track an internal budget and a customer billable budget?

Yes. Project Insight can store an internal budget for project spending and a separate billable budget for the amount that may be billed to the customer.

Can a project budget be divided into dated amounts?

Yes. Internal and billable budget amounts can be separated by date when funding becomes available at different points in the project.

Can Project Insight calculate planned labor costs?

Yes. Project Insight can calculate the value of planned work using task hours and the applicable configured work rates.

Can recurring tasks be included in the project’s planned labor value?

Yes. Recurring tasks can include durations, planned hours, owners, and applicable work values. Time can also be logged against each occurrence to support planned-versus-actual comparisons.

Where can I see how much of the project budget remains?

Review the project overview to compare the project budget with the value currently allocated through the project plan.

For additional assistance with project budgeting, contact Project Insight Support.