# The Kinds of Costs You Can Display

Before devising a strategy for cutting costs, find out which factors cost the most and which of those costs can be reduced. The way to determine the various costs involved is to display the cost of each contributing factor. You can display:

- The total project cost.
- The total cost of an individual task.
- The total cost of a resource.
- The total cost of an assignment.
- Costs distributed over a task’s duration.

The total cost is the calculated cost of the project, task, resource, or assignment over the life of the project. Microsoft Project calculates the costs it displays based on the fixed costs and the rate costs you enter. A fixed cost is a specific cost that does not rely on how much time or work is done to complete a task. Rate costs result from hourly, weekly, monthly, or annual rates paid to resources.

A cost distributed over a task’s duration can be a baseline cost, cumulative cost, or actual cost that’s apportioned over time. For example, the total cost of a 3-day task is $45. Broken down by day, the distributed cost might be $20 on the first day, $10 on the second day, and $15 on the third day.

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