Depending on the budget characteristics specified in the budget setting and information screens, specific columns are enabled (available) or disabled (hidden) for data entry.

For this reason, you must make basic budget decisions before beginning the project budget process. First, go to the Configure Project Budget Settings screen and establish global settings that affect the creation and maintenance of both baseline and workplan budgets (refer to the documentation for this screen for more detailed information). These selections act as the default attributes for all project budgets.

You create workforce or material budgets using system-generated cost rates or billing rates (T&M for labor, Price for units/materials) for the labor categories (GLC or PLC) and unit classifications (Price Catalog or CLIN). You must build these tables before getting started with the budget process. Refer to the documentation for the Labor and Units subtasks of the Manage Project Budgets and ETC screen. The cost or bill/price rates automatically default on the Info tab when you select a labor category (PLC or GLC), a CLIN, or a price catalog.

To include overhead rates that apply to labor and direct (ODC) costs, create a burden template. For more information, refer to the Manage Burden Templates screen. Select a burden template for a project budget in the Info tab of the Manage Project Budgets and ETC screen. The composite rate defaults for each row in the Labor and Direct subtasks.

You can use T&M rates for workforce budgeting and Costpoint automatically creates a labor cost budget (for reports) if the average cost rate tables are complete. The T&M/Bill rate selection automatically follows the T&M sequencing process.

You can use unit price rates for material budgeting and Costpoint automatically creates a unit cost budget (for reports) if the cost rate portion of the rate tables is complete.