Incorrect cost plan in Project post migration of next exp RM

JayanthiHCL
Tera Contributor

3 weeks ago - last edited 3 weeks ago

Incorrect cost plan in Project post migration of next exp RM - cost is different. this will impact financial reporting 

what is the mitigation or any setup or update need to reflect correctly. 

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2 REPLIES 2

Marcos Gianoni
Giga Expert

3 weeks ago

Why the cost plan is now “wrong”

  1. After migrating to Next Experience Resource Management:

    • Financials are driven by resource assignments (not classic resource_plan).

    • Labor cost plans are now attribute-based (role, employee type, expense type, etc.) and use rate models/rate cards.

  2. If planning attributes, employee profiles, and rate models were not correctly configured before migration, the platform falls back to defaults → cost amounts differ from the old model.

  3. You may also have double cost data:

    • Old cost plans from resource plans

    • New attribute-based labor cost plans from resource assignments
      → Both included in reports will distort financials.

What you should do (mitigation)

  1. Filter and clean cost plans

    • In project financials, clearly separate:

      • Legacy cost plans vs new attribute-based labor cost plans.

    • For reporting, use only one source per period (legacy or new), so you don’t double count.

  2. Validate configuration

    • Check Planning attributes: active, enabled for financials, mapped to cost plan fields.

    • Check Employee profiles: correct role/employee type and other financial attributes.

    • Check Rate model / labor rates: correct rate model or labor rate cards/group rates/default rate.

    • Check default expense type (Capex/Opex) property.

  3. Check migration execution

    • Confirm the migration from classic RM to Next Experience was done after configuration was correct.

    • In sub-prod, rerun migration for a sample of projects and compare totals to validate the approach.

  4. Regenerate cost plans where needed

    • For specific projects:

      • Fix resource assignments and rates.

      • Delete only the incorrect labor cost plans for that project.

      • Re-run Generate labor costs to recreate them correctly.

  5. Protect financial reporting

    • Use baselines to protect historical figures.

    • Make sure all reports clearly filter:

      • By cost type (Labor vs Non-labor), and

      • By cost source (legacy vs attribute-based).

    • If, after this, totals still don’t make sense, raise a ServiceNow Support ticket with one concrete project example and all related screenshots.

What you might want next

  • A step-by-step checklist to configure planning attributes and rate models from scratch.

  • A recommended reporting pattern for mixing legacy and new financials during the transition.

  • Guidance on designing attributes (role, location, employee type) so Finance gets the right breakdowns.

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MaxMixali
Kilo Sage

3 weeks ago

Questions to answer:

  1. Scope Assessment:
    • Are ALL projects affected or only some?
    • Only new projects created post-migration, or historical ones too?
    • Specific project types, departments, or cost centers affected?
  2. Type of Discrepancy:
    • Is planned cost wrong, actual cost wrong, or both?
    • Are labor costs affected, material costs, or both?
    • Is the total wrong, or are individual line items wrong?
  3. Magnitude:
    • Are costs consistently higher or lower than expected?
    • By what percentage (rough estimate)?
    • Same percentage across all projects or varies?

Phase 2: Verify Configuration

Check these areas in the UI:

  1. Rate Cards Configuration:
    • Navigate to: Resource Management > Rate Management > Rate Cards
    • Verify: Are there active rate cards?
    • Check: Do they have validity dates that cover your project periods?
    • Confirm: Are rates populated for all relevant roles/skills?
  2. Resource to Rate Card Mapping:
    • Navigate to: Resource Management > Resources
    • Select a few resources assigned to affected projects
    • Check: Does each resource have a rate card assigned?
    • Verify: Is the rate card the correct one for their role?
  3. Project Financial Settings:
    • Open an affected project
    • Check the "Financial" or "Cost" tab
    • Verify: Currency is correct
    • Check: Cost calculation method matches your business rules
    • Confirm: Cost plans are in the correct state (usually "Approved")
  4. Resource Allocations:
    • Open an affected project
    • Go to Related Lists > Resource Allocations
    • For each allocation, verify:
      • Daily/hourly rate is populated (not zero or blank)
      • Allocated hours are correct
      • Total allocated cost = hours × rate (roughly)

Phase 3: Compare Pre and Post Migration

If you have access to pre-migration data:

  1. Compare a Sample Project:
    • Find a project that existed before migration
    • Document its costs from pre-migration (from reports or backups)
    • Compare with current costs
    • Note: What specifically is different?
  2. Check Migration Logs:
    • Navigate to: System Update Sets > Retrieved Update Sets
    • Look for Next Experience RM related update sets
    • Check if there were any errors or warnings during commit
    • Review: Any skipped or failed updates related to costs

Mitigation Strategies

Immediate Actions (Days 1-3)

1. Freeze Financial Reporting

  • Communicate to stakeholders that current cost data is under review
  • Put a temporary hold on financial reports that use project cost data
  • Document the known variance (if you can quantify it)
  • Set expectations for resolution timeline

2. Create a Workaround for Critical Reports

  • If you have pre-migration cost data, use that temporarily
  • Or manually adjust reports with known correction factors
  • Document all manual adjustments for audit trail
  • Mark reports as "preliminary" or "adjusted"

3. Identify Critical Projects

  • List projects where accurate costs are mission-critical (active bids, invoicing, board reports)
  • Manually verify and correct costs for these first
  • Use the project cost plan interface to manually adjust if needed

Short-term Fix (Week 1-2)

1. Rate Card Setup/Correction

This is likely your primary issue. You need to:

Option A: If rate cards weren't created during migration

  • Create rate cards for each role/department/skill set
  • Populate them with the correct rates (use your pre-migration rates as reference)
  • Set appropriate validity periods
  • Assign resources to their correct rate cards

Option B: If rate cards exist but are incorrect

  • Review each rate card
  • Update rates to match pre-migration values
  • Check validity dates (they must cover project periods)
  • Verify rate card assignments on resources

How to do this:

  • Navigate to: Resource Management > Rate Management > Rate Cards
  • Click "New" to create a rate card
  • Give it a meaningful name (e.g., "Senior Developers - 2024")
  • Set valid from/to dates
  • In the Rates related list, add rates for each role
  • Save the rate card
  • Go to Resources and assign this rate card to appropriate resources

2. Recalculate Project Costs

After fixing rate cards:

  • Open each affected project
  • Go to the cost plan
  • If there's a "Recalculate" button/action, use it
  • Or edit and save resource allocations to trigger recalculation
  • Verify the new cost matches expectations

3. Bulk Correction for Multiple Projects

If you have many affected projects:

  • Export list of affected projects
  • For each project, determine correct cost (from backup data or manual calculation)
  • Update project cost fields directly through the UI
  • Or use data import/update with Excel
  • Document what was changed and why

Long-term Solution (Weeks 3-4)

1. Validation Rules

Set up data quality checks to prevent this in the future:

  • Create a report or dashboard that flags:
    • Projects with no cost plans
    • Cost plans with zero costs
    • Resource allocations without rates
    • Mismatches between project cost and sum of cost plans
  • Schedule this report to run daily/weekly
  • Assign someone to monitor and address exceptions

2. Process Documentation

Document the correct process going forward:

  • How to create and approve cost plans in Next Experience
  • How to assign rate cards to resources
  • How to handle rate changes mid-project
  • When and how costs should be recalculated
  • Financial close process for projects

3. Training

Train your team on:

  • New Next Experience RM interface and workflows
  • Rate card management
  • How to verify cost calculations
  • What to do if costs look wrong

4. Regular Reconciliation

Establish a process:

  • Monthly reconciliation between PM costs and Finance actuals
  • Quarterly audit of rate cards and resource assignments
  • Review and update rate cards annually or when roles change
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