How to Use Budget Cost Resources in Microsoft Project

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If you need to track budgetary costs in your Microsoft Project schedules, you definitely need to know how to create and assign Budget Cost resources. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the steps to do just that!

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Step 1: Create Budget Cost Resources

To budget for different types of expenses in your project, you’ll need to create Budget Cost resources. In my example, I want to enter the budget for three types of expenses:

Labor Budget
Hardware Budget
Travel Budget

Here’s how to create Budget Cost resources:

Apply the Resource Sheet view.
Type in the names of the Budget Cost resources you want to track. Using my example, I would need to enter the names of the three Budget Cost resources, which I would call Labor Budget, Hardware Budget, and Travel Budget.
For each resource, click the “Type” pick list and select the “Cost” item.
In the Initials column, add the dollar sign character ($) at the end of the initials for each resource to indicate these are cost resources, such as LB$ for the Labor Budget resource.
Double-click each Budget Cost resource individually. In the Resource Information dialog, select the “Budget” checkbox, and then click the OK button.

Step 2: Assign Budget Cost Resources to Your Project

Once your Budget Cost resources are set up, it’s time to assign them to the project. It’s not obvious how to assign Budget Cost resources in Microsoft, so here’s the secret:

Apply to the Task Usage view.
Make sure the Project Summary Task is displayed, as this is mandatory for using Budget Cost resources. If you don’t see it, click the Task Usage Format ribbon tab and then select the “Project Summary Task” checkbox in the “Show/Hide” section of the ribbon.
Right-click on the “Work” column header and select the “Insert Column” item on the shortcut menu.
From the list of available task fields, select “Budget Cost” item.
Widen the Budget Cost column, if needed.
Select the Project Summary Task and then display the Assign Resources dialog.
Assign each of your Budget Cost resources to the Project Summary Task.
Close the Assign Resources dialog when finished.

Step 3: Enter Budget Cost Amounts

The final step is to enter the budgetary amounts in the Budget Cost column for each Budget Cost resource. Using my example, I might enter the following budgetary costs:

Labor Budget: $775,000
Hardware Budget: $25,000
Travel Budget: $10,000

Wrapping Up

And that’s it! You’ve successfully created and assigned Budget Cost resources in your Microsoft Project schedule.

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