Clarity PPM: WIP Reversal did not update Task Assignment Actuals correctly

Products

• Clarity PPM On Premise

Issue/Introduction

The Project Task Assignment Actual Units is not updated correctly after we 'reversed' a transaction from WIP; the 'Actual Cost' amount on the task is correctly set to zero in PPM (Clarity). Differences in amount of actuals can also be noticed when comparing Team actuals versus WIP.

We reversed a financial transaction for a non-labor resource and the Project Actual Units field is not updated; we are expecting to see zero (0) actual units, but instead see a positive amount.  We do not see the record in the 'Posted Transaction Review' nor do we see it in the Create WIP page as expected.  The record has been successfully reversed.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Create a Voucher Transaction for an Expense Resource : Quantity = 1, Cost/Rate = (-25,345)
2. Post to WIP
3. Import Financial Actuals job
4. Go to Project, Task Assignment page - Actual Units = 0, Actual Cost = (-25,345)
5. Create WIP Adjustment to 'Reverse' the transaction and approve the adjustment
6. Import Financial Actuals job
7. Go to Project, Task Assignment page - Actual Units = 25,345, Actual Cost = 0

So now WIP and the Project Actual Units are out of sync.  The WIP reversal removed the transaction and updated the cost, but the Project Actual Units has a positive value.  There is no way to synchronize this value.  Any further adjustments will either put the WIP side or the Project side off balance.

Cause

An Expense, Non-Labor Voucher Transaction was created with a Quantity = 1 and Cost/Rate = (-25,345) .

When the transaction is imported into the Project, because it is a Non-Labor resource, the Actual Units is computed as (Quantity * Cost). 

For this scenario, this would compute to a negative amount.  Within the current design of the application, the 'Import Financial Actuals' job allows this transaction to be posted to the project without any error and because the Project Actual Units does not allow a negative value, the Project Actual Units is now set to zero (0) and the Project Task Actual Cost = (-25,345)

Subsequently, the user wants to remove this transaction which will now cause a mismatch between WIP and Project Actual Units.

When the user 'reverses' or 'adjusts' the transaction, and it is imported back into the project, the Project Task Actual Units becomes +25,345 and the Actual Cost becomes zero (0).  It was expected that both values should be zero.  But because the Actual Units is set to zero from the original transaction, the 'reversal' or 'adjustment' transaction is computing the amount as [0 - (-25345)] = +25345  (simple math: subtracting a negative value becomes positive result)

Resolution

Due to the current design of the application, there will always be a mismatch for this scenario.

At this point the user will need to decide where the correct amount is to reside, on the project side or on the WIP side. 

1. If the WIP side is to remain correct with the transaction reversed, then do nothing.
2. If the Project side is to be corrected a new voucher transaction can be created.  The user can create a new voucher transaction with the SAME details as the original transaction with Quantity = 1, Cost =(-25,345) and import back to the project.  The project will be updated showing a new Actual Units = 0 and Actual Cost = (-25,345) and WIP will have Actual Quantity = 1 and Cost/Rate = (-25,345).  It should be noted on the WIP transaction that it should not be reversed or adjusted or you end up with the same issue.  Still, there would still be a mismatch.

Steps to Update Project Actual Units:

1. Go to Project, Task Assignment page - Find out the Details for Date, Actual Units = 25,345, Actual Cost = 0 from steps above  
2. Create Voucher Transaction Entry - create the SAME EXACT details from the original transaction for all fields, especially the Date, Quantity = 1 and Cost/Rate = (-25,345) and enter a NOTE on the transaction this is to correct the Project Task Assignment Actual Units due to a negative transaction adjustment  
3. The following fields should match the original transaction details:  
   • Transaction Date  
   • Investment ID 
   • Task 
   • Cost Type 
   • Charge Code 
   • Resource ID 
   • Role 
   • Transaction Class 
   • Input Type Code 
   • Quantity 
   • Cost 
   • Rate 
4. Post to WIP 
5. Import Financial Actuals job 

Additional Information

Negative Quantity Transaction Entry/Manual Transactions

Clarity PPM: Can negative transactions be entered?

Reference Import Financial Actuals job does negative transactions that can cause Project actuals to be out of sync  
Reference PPM and OWB: Negative Transaction adjustment will cause bad data on assignment Actual Cost field.