Base cost can be assigned to Project, Group or an Activity. When "Base Cost" is closed in the Inspector, you can enter the total cost as a single entry. If you expand the disclosure triangle, you will be able to allocate multiple costs. If more than one amount is entered in the Base Cost, the combined base costs cannot be changed. This behavior applies to every Project, Group or Activity.

You can also determine the cost accrual. Your options are Start, Prorated, Immediate or End.

These costs are calculated either out of the standard resource costs (which you can allocate in the project settings), or from the costs of the assigned resources (which you can allocate in the Resource view, or in the resources' inspector). These costs are subtracted from the approved budget of the relevant activity.

The groups located above this add up these amounts so that in the topmost group (the project) has a sum of all planned resource costs.

The Element costs are displayed as a sum of all attached Elements to an activity. These are also added to the groups located above the relevant activity. All groups are then added to the next higher group.

The costs of the elements attached to an activity and the costs for all the Elements located below this activity are added here. If an activity does not have any lower level activities (is therefore not a group), the Element costs are the same as the sum of the Element costs.

The balance is derived from the approved budget, the planned resource (base and work costs) and the sum of the Elements costs.