Resource breakdown structures provide another method for viewing planned and actual cost and revenue for a project by resource, resource type, and other resource groupings. The resource breakdown structure consists of one or more hierarchies of resource elements. An element is a resource type, such as job or organization, or a combination of a resource type and a specified resource, such as the job of Principal Consultant or a person named Amy Marlin.
In regard to the types of resources described in the topic Resource Types, you can also use another resource type called Role exclusively in a resource breakdown structure. A role is an actual, assigned resource, such as a developer or a project manager.
The following table demonstrates an example of a resource breakdown structure:
| Outline Number | Resource Type | Resource |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Organization | Consulting – East |
| 1.1 | Job | Principal Consultant |
| 1.2 | Named Person | Amy Marlin |
| 2 | Expenditure Type | Computers |
| 2.1 | Project Non-Labor Resource | Network |
| 2.2 | Project Non-Labor Resource | Server |
Viewing Amounts with a Resource Breakdown Structure
You use the resource breakdown structure to view actual and planned amounts for both effort and cost against financial plans and workplans. The resource breakdown structure defines how the financial and work information is aggregated and reported for a project.
For example, you can track the cost impact of every resource that has been assigned to a project task and use the resource breakdown structure to view the breakdown of these costs. Oracle Projects associates the costs of the resources used for tasks with levels in the resource breakdown structure as they are entered. The process for determining the correct association is managed by predefined precedence rules.
Precedence Rules
Oracle Projects uses predefined precedence rules to determine how to associate amounts with resources in the resource breakdown structure. The following table identifies the precedence levels associated with each resource type for each resource class:
| No. | Resource Type | People Resource Class | Equipment Resource Class | Material Items Resource Class | Financial Elements Resource Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Named Person | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | BOM Labor | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | Projects Non-Labor Resource | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | BOM Equipment | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 5 | Item | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 6 | Job | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| 7 | Role | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| 8 | Item Category | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| 9 | Expenditure Type | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| 10 | Event Type | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| 11 | Expenditure Category | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| 12 | Revenue Category | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| 13 | Organization | 13 | 13 | 15 | 15 |
| 14 | Person Type | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 |
| 15 | Supplier | 15 | 15 | 13 | 13 |
| 16 | Resource Class | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| 17 | User Defined Resource | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
Note: You can enter free text for a user-defined resource.
Oracle Projects uses the following rules to associate amounts with resources:
- Select the deepest level in the resource breakdown structure to which a transaction can map.
- If there is only one level to which the transaction maps, then the amounts are mapped to this level.
- If the transaction maps to more than one level, then Oracle Projects selects the element with the highest rolled-up precedence value. The precedence value is calculated by summing the precedence values for all resource types in the branch of the hierarchy
- If there is same precedence at a level, then Oracle Projects uses the precedence of the next level up.
- For branches that roll up to identical precedence values:
- Select the branch with the higher precedence value at the lowest level (see Example 2 below).
- If one branch is using the User Defined resource type, then give the other branch higher precedence.
Example 1
The following table shows an example resource breakdown structure.
| Outline Number | Resource Type | Resource |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Organization | Consulting – East |
| 1.1 | Job | Principal Consultant |
| 1.2 | Named Person | Amy Marlin |
You can track labor expenses for Amy Marlin based on the predefined precedence rules. In the above structure, the labor expenses will be associated with level 1.2 – Named Person – Amy Marlin.
Example 2
In a resource breakdown structure hierarchy, if the precedence rolls up to the same number at any specific level, then the amounts are associated to the resource having the highest precedence value.
In the table below, the precedence level rolls up to 20 for both level 1 and level 2. For a timecard, the costs are mapped to the level 1.1 – Job because in the People resource class, the resource type Job has higher precedence (6) than the resource type of Expenditure Type (9).
| Outline Number | Resource Type | Resource | Precedence Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Person Type | Employee | 14 |
| 1.1 | Job | Principal Consultant | 6 |
| 2 | Expenditure Category | Expenses | 11 |
| 2.1 | Expenditure Type | Travel | 9 |
Associating a Resource Breakdown Structure with a Project
You can associate a resource breakdown structure with the workplan and financial plan of a project. You can use either the same resource breakdown structure or apply different structures. The structure applied to the workplan will provide a breakdown of cost and effort for the task assignments. The structure applied to the financial plan provides a different view of the project data based on budget and costs. You can also add additional resource breakdown structures to a project to provide alternate views of project data in the Reporting tab.
Note: If you copy a project to create a new project, the resource breakdown structure associations are also copied.
To attach a resource breakdown structure to a workplan or a financial plan:
- Select the project to which you want to associate the resource breakdown structure.
- Use one of the following navigation paths to associate the resource breakdown structure with the workplan, financial plan, or overall project:
- Workplan > Setup > Plan Settings
- Financial > Setup > Plan Settings
- Project > Setup > Resource Breakdown Structures
- Select and apply a resource breakdown structure.
Related Topics
Resource Breakdown Structure, Oracle Projects Implementation Guide
Project Performance Reporting, Oracle Project Management User Guide
Project Team Definition
This chapter discusses the functionality behind project team definition, including the definition of scheduled and nonscheduled team members and the definition of organization roles, and the definition and management of scheduled team roles.
This chapter covers the following topics:
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