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MS Project 2021 — 1099 engagement cost/time tracking reference

Reference for building a month-by-month income/cost tracking .mpp (pattern established with sp_achu_time_tracking.mpp, Sep 2026).

Structure​

  • One summary task per year (1 2026, 2 2027), one child task per month (1.1 Aug…).
  • One Work resource (Std Rate $/hr, Max Units 100%, Accrue: Prorated), assigned at 100% to every month.
  • Cost column per month = expected income; summary rows roll up year/project totals.

Task settings​

  • Task Mode: Manually Scheduled — dates are taken literally and never move.
  • Task Type: Fixed Duration, Effort Driven off. Work = working days × 8h; Cost = Work × rate.
  • Start = first working day of the month, Finish = last working day (never a weekend/holiday — a manual task puts 8h on it and flags overallocation).
  • If duration changes after a calendar edit, Project keeps Work and lowers Units → retype Work (days × 8) or set Units back to 100%.
  • Force a recalc after calendar changes by retyping the Finish date (or F9). Options → Schedule → Calculate after each edit: On.

Calendar​

  • All holidays and vacations live on the Standard project calendar only (Project → Change Working Time → Exceptions).
  • Recurring holidays: Details → Yearly → "On <date>" or "The <nth> <weekday> of <month>", End by 12/31/2030.
    • New Year's: Jan 1 · MLK: 3rd Mon Jan · Memorial: last Mon May · Independence: Jul 4 · Labor: 1st Mon Sep · Thanksgiving: 4th Thu Nov · Day after: 4th Fri Nov (end 2029; one-off Fri 11/29/2030) · Christmas Eve: Dec 24 · Christmas: Dec 25.
    • One-offs for observed dates: 7/3/2026, 7/5/2027, 12/31/2027 (NY 2028). Check policy for Christmas 2027 (Sat) and Christmas Eve 2028 (Sun).
  • Resource calendar: no exceptions of its own, Base Calendar = Standard. Manual tasks ignore resource calendars; a mismatch shows as overallocation, not a schedule change.
  • Diagnose a suspicious day: Change Working Time → click the date → "Based on:" names the exception and calendar.
  • Vacation = calendar exception (Nonworking). Duration and Work drop; dates stay.
  • Copy the calendar to Global.MPT via File → Info → Organizer → Calendars for reuse.

Baseline​

  • Set once, after the plan is clean: Project → Set Baseline → Entire project.
  • Columns: Cost, Baseline Cost, Cost Variance, Actual Cost, Remaining Cost.
  • Adding future months: select new rows → Set Baseline → Selected tasks (roll up to summaries). Never re-baseline the entire project.

Weekly tracking​

  • View → Task Usage; timescale = Weeks; Detail Styles → show Work + Actual Work.
  • Each week: type hours in the Actual Work cell of the assignment row under the current month. Split a straddling week across the two month rows.
  • Month end: set the task's Remaining Work = 0 so Work = Actual Work and Cost = Actual Cost.
  • Optional: Project → Status Date; Report → Costs → Cash Flow for month-by-month income.