Follow cost, forecast, profit and revenue recognition
Read the cost summary, revise the forecast, check earned value and cash flow, and post unbilled revenue and loss provisions.
Before you begin
These pages are under the project's Costs tab. Cost pages need project.cost.view. The Project P&L and revenue recognition need project.margin.view. Revising a forecast needs project.budget.edit; posting recognition needs project.billing.create and the Project revenue recognition feature.
Read the cost summary
Open Costs > Cost summary. Actual cost is the sum of:
- Journals and documents on the project's dimension value (vendor bills, for example).
- Approved time and expenses, even before posting.
- Certified subcontract claims, until their vendor bill posts (then the bill counts once).
You see Actual cost, Committed, Hours, Vendor bills and Bills paid, then bars by category and by month, and a table by cost code. Example: a posted vendor bill of 40,000, approved time of 600 and a certified, unbilled subcontract claim of 50,000 give actual cost of 90,600.
Revise the forecast
- Open Costs > Forecast. You see Budget, Actual, Committed, ETC (estimate to complete), EAC (estimate at completion) and VAC (variance at completion).
- In the Revise ETC column enter the remaining cost you now expect for a cost code. Enter at least one value.
- Add a reason (for example "Steel price increase") and press Save forecast.
Example: Material actual 100,000 and system remaining 180,000. You revise ETC to 50,000, so EAC is 150,000. The history list records the change and the project manager receives a notice.
Project P&L
Open Costs > Project P&L. It shows revenue (contract, approved variations, recognised, invoiced, unbilled), direct cost by category, gross profit, overhead and project profit, using the project's revenue recognition method.
| Method | Recognised revenue |
|---|---|
| On invoice | What has been invoiced |
| Milestone | Contract incl. variations x billing % of completed milestones |
| Percentage of completion | Contract incl. variations x project progress |
| Cost to cost | Contract incl. variations x actual cost / estimate at completion |
Example: contract 1,000,000 plus an approved variation of 12,000, progress 40%. Recognised revenue is 1,012,000 x 40% = 404,800. Direct cost 300,000 gives gross profit 104,800. Overhead at 8% of direct cost is 24,000, so project profit is 80,800.
Post unbilled revenue and the loss provision
- In the recognition card, choose Recognise to (today or earlier).
- Check Recognised to date, Invoiced and Unbilled revenue (should be, and in the ledger).
- Press Post with the shown amount.
With recognised 400,000 and invoiced 300,000, posting 100,000 debits Unbilled revenue and credits Project revenue. If the forecast cost is above the contract, the loss provision is posted too. Posting again when nothing differs shows: 'Nothing to recognise: the ledger already matches the project.'
Earned value and cash flow
Earned value shows BAC, PV, EV, AC, CPI, SPI, CV, SV, EAC, ETC and VAC as of today. An index under 1.00 is red. Example: BAC 100,000, half the time elapsed, 40% done, actual cost 45,000. PV 50,000, EV 40,000, CPI 0.89, SPI 0.80, EAC 112,500.
Cash flow lists planned and actual revenue and cost by month, cash in and out, net and cumulative. Undated budget lines are spread evenly over the project months.
Good to know
- Without cost or margin permissions, these figures show as dashes or are removed.
- Reports under Projects > Reports (27 in all, grouped into Portfolio and delivery, Financial and commercial, and Construction) use the same figures, and every report can be exported or printed.
- The overhead rate set in Project Settings is applied to direct cost in the P&L.