Finance workspace

The Finance workspace provides all the finance-related information for the selected project(s).

Important

The Finance workspace Budget is expressed in terms of Cost Centers, whose budget can be defined in terms of Cost and/or Effort, depending on the options set by the Administrator (System Settings workspace, Budget/Finance Settings folder). The article focuses mainly on the "Cost" Budget Type views.

Home Page view

The Home Page view has two main purposes:

  • Providing the main finance-related information of the selected project(s)

  • Providing access to the detailed project information through the More, Edit, and Details buttons.

Navigation

Navigation.png

In the screenshot above, each tile’s button provides access to the following views:

  1. Budget dialog box

  2. Dashboards full screen view, Costs tab

  3. Forecast dialog box

  4. Savings dialog box

  5. Cost Transactions dialog box

  6. Work Packages dialog box

  7. Contracts dialog box

  8. Dashboards full screen view

  9. Snapshot History dialog box

Detailed Indicators section

The Detailed Indicators section provides the key indicators for assessing the financial health of the project.

When in multiple project selection, the financial KPI are computed as follows:

  • ROI (Return on Investment) – Average ROI of the selected project(s). If the ROI is under 100%, the value will be displayed in red.

  • NPV (Net Present Value) – Sum of the NPV of the selected project(s).

  • Payback – Average Payback of the selected project(s).

In addition, the consolidated values of Actual Cost, Remaining Cost, and Baseline Cost will be displayed.

If the Baseline Cost is under the Total Cost, the value will be displayed in red.

Overall Project Cost & Budget graph

The Overall Project Cost & Budget graph allows the user to review the evolution of the Total Cost (or Adjusted Total Cost), Forecast Cost (if any), Budget, and Savings over time.

HomePageChartMono.png

Financial Components

Budget tile

BudgetTile.png

The Budget tile displays the Total Budget of the selected project(s) (i.e., Direct Budget + Indirect Budget - Delegated Budget).

Clicking on the Edit button opens the Budget dialog box.

Costs tile

CostsTile.png

The Costs tile displays the Adjusted Total Cost of the selected project(s) (i.e., Total Cost + Inbound Cost - Outbound Cost).

The tile provides the following indicators:

  • Green down arrow: Indicates that the Total Cost is under the Total Budget.

  • Green checkmark: Indicates that the Total Cost is equal to the Total Budget.

  • Red up arrow: Indicates that the Total Cost is over the Total Budget.

Clicking on the Details button opens the Dashboards full screen view, Costs tab.

Forecast tile

ForecastTile.png

The Forecast tile displays the Forecast Cost of the selected project(s) (i.e., Labor Forecast + Cost Items Forecast + Transactions Forecast).

The tile provides the following indicators:

  • Green down arrow: Indicates that the Forecast Cost is under the Total Budget.

  • Green checkmark: Indicates that the Forecast Cost is equal to the Total Budget.

  • Red up arrow: Indicates that the Forecast Cost is over the Total Budget.

Clicking on the Edit button opens the Forecast dialog box.

Savings tile

SavingsTile.png

The Savings tile displays the Total Savings of the selected project(s) (i.e., Total Revenues + Project Savings + (non-billable) Transaction Savings).

Clicking on the Edit button displays the Savings dialog box.

Left panel

Cost Transactions tile

The Cost Transactions tile displays the number of Cost Transactions for the selected project(s) as well as the corresponding Total Transaction Cost.

CostTransactions.png

If at least one Transaction of the selected project(s) encounters an issue (Overdue Transaction, Transaction Outside Boundaries, or Transaction Outside Task Boundaries), the number of Transactions will be displayed with a red dot.

Upon clicking on the More (MoreHorizontal) button, the Cost Transactions dialog box is displayed.

Work Packages tile

This tile is only displayed if at least one Work Package exists for the project.

WorkPackages.png

The number of Work Packages is displayed, along with the corresponding Budget and Cost.

Clicking on the More (MoreHorizontal) button displays the Work Packages dialog box.

Contracts tile

This tile is only displayed if there is at least one hierarchy connection with an existing Contract for the selected project.

Contracts.png

The number of existing contracts is displayed, as well as the Budget and Cost that have been pushed through these contracts.

Clicking on the More (MoreHorizontal) button displays the Contracts dialog box.

Alerts section

The Alerts section provides all the information the user should be aware of.

Alerts.png

The following critical alerts (ArrowUpRed.png) can be displayed:

  • Total Cost is over Total Budget, followed by the corresponding % shift.

  • Total Forecast Cost is over Total Budget, followed by the corresponding % shift.

  • Overdue Transactions, followed by the number of Transactions encountering the issue.

The following warnings (ExclaOrangeBackground.png) can be displayed:

  • Total Cost is over Last Snapshot, followed by the corresponding % shift.

  • Total Forecast Cost is over Last Snapshot, followed by the corresponding % shift.

  • Some elements are not related to Cost Center, followed by the corresponding amount. Upon clicking on the Details (ZoomGrey) icon, the Cost Center Overview popup is displayed.

  • Total Work Package Cost is over Last Snapshot, followed by the corresponding % shift.

  • Transactions outside boundaries, followed by the number of Transactions encountering the issue.

  • Transactions outside Task boundaries, followed by the number of Transactions encountering the issue.

Dashboards view

Budget tab

The Budget tab allows the user to review at a glance the potential shifts between the project's Budget and Cost values.

The user can take advantage of the Time Navigation toolbar available in the top of the view to change the time period and intervals displayed.

Budget spreadsheet

This spreadsheet allows the user to easily estimate whether he/she is within budget or not.

ProjectBriefBudgetSpreadsheet.png

It shows the different types of budgets for the selected project (Direct, Indirect, Delegated, and Total) along with the corresponding costs (Project Cost, Outbound Cost, Inbound Cost, and Total Cost/Adjusted Total Cost).

Tip

Available budgets will differ depending on the project’s Nature and connections.

Upon activating the Cost Centers (CostGrey) display option, the spreadsheet displays the Direct Budget breakdown by Cost Center.

Once activating the cost center breakdown, if both Effort and Cost Cost Centers are allowed, the Effort Display (Layers) display option becomes available, allowing the user to display the Effort values as entered by the user (“As Defined”) or as Monetized Amount (“As Costs”).

Colored indicators are also provided to highlight the shift between the budget and the corresponding cost values. The user can access the legend for the colored indicators by clicking on the Legend (Legend) button available in the bottom right corner.

Settings

Colored Indicators are defined by the Administrator in the System Settings workspace, General Settings folder, Colored Indicators tab, Cost Preferences.

Budget chart

When the Charts (Charts) display option is activated, the following chart is displayed.

ProjectBriefBudgetChart.png

The histogram displayed in the upper part of the view shows the following values over time: Direct Budget, Indirect Budget (if any), Delegated Budget (if any), Total Cost (or Adjusted Total Cost), and Forecast Cost (if any).

Costs tab

The Costs tab provides a different display depending on whether or not the Cost Centers (CostGrey) display option is activated.

  • Cost Centers Off – The spreadsheet will provide a view whereby the user can easily compare the Budget with the Project Cost and the Forecast Cost.

  • Cost Centers On – The spreadsheet will be broken down by Cost Centers.

The user can take advantage of the Time Navigation toolbar available in the top of the view to change the time period and intervals displayed.

Costs spreadsheet (Cost Centers off)

When the Cost Centers (CostGrey) display option is turned off, the spreadsheet allows the user to compare the Total Budget of the selected project(s) with the corresponding Total Cost (or Adjusted Total Cost) and Total Forecast (Labor Forecast + Cost Item Forecast + Transaction Forecast).

DashboardsCostSpreadsheetCCOff.png

The Total column displays the Total values for the selected time period. Upon expanding the Labor Cost, Cost Item Cost, and Transaction Cost rows, the user can review the Actual and Remaining values.

Note

When the Contract Type feature is enabled, the Labor Cost is broken down into External Resources Cost and Internal Resources Cost.

Colored Indicators are provided to:

  • Highlight the shift between the Total Cost and the Budget values in the Total Cost row.

  • Highlight the shift between the Total Cost and the Forecast values in the Total Forecast row.

The user can access the legend of the colored indicators by clicking on the Legend (Legend) button located in the bottom right corner of the spreadsheet section.

Settings

Colored Indicators are defined by the Administrator in the System Settings workspace, General Settings folder, Colored Indicators tab, Cost Preferences.

Costs spreadsheet (Cost Centers on)

When the Cost Centers (CostGrey) display option is turned on, the spreadsheet allows the user to compare the Direct Budget of the selected project(s) with the corresponding Costs and Forecast Costs broken down by Cost Centers.

DashboardsCostSpreadsheetCCOn.png

The Total column displays the Total values for the selected time period.

Colored Indicators are provided to:

  • Highlight the shift between the Project Cost Center Cost and the Direct Budget values in the Project Cost Center Total Cost row.

  • Highlight the shift between the Total Cost and the Forecast values in the Total Forecast row.

The user can access the legend of the colored indicators by clicking on the Legend (Legend) button located in the bottom right corner of the spreadsheet section.

Settings

Colored Indicators are defined by the Administrator in the System Settings workspace, General Settings folder, Colored Indicators tab, Cost Preferences.

Costs chart

When the Charts (Charts) display option is activated and the Cost Centers are deactivated, the following chart will be displayed:

DashboardsCostsChartNoCC.png

This chart allows the user to compare the evolution of the Total Cost (or Adjusted Total Cost), Forecast Cost (if any), and Budget (if any) over time.

When the Charts (Charts) display option is activated and the Cost Centers are activated, the following chart will be displayed:

DashboardsCostsChartCC.png

This chart allows the user to compare the Total Cost (or Adjusted Total Cost), Forecast Cost( if any), and Budget (if any) by Cost Centers.

Finance workspace (multi-project)

When in multiple-project selection, the Finance workspace provides two modes:

viewmode_activetaskdetails22_md.png

Overview

Provides the main Finance-related information of each selected project.

viewmode_activegridgeneric22_md.png

Home Page

Provides the cumulative Finance-related information of the selected projects.

Overview mode

The Overview mode displays each project in the form of a card.

MultiOverview.png

Each card provides the following information:

  • The project's Nature and Name,

  • The Financial Components values and indicators (identical to the single-project Home Page view),

  • The number of Critical Alerts and Warnings the project encounters, and

  • The Focus button, allowing the user to drill-down to the corresponding project Focus Mode view.

Home Page mode

The multi-project Home Page mode provides the same view as the single-project Home Page view, except for the following:

  • The view displays the cumulative values for all the selected project(s),

  • The Snapshot History dialog box is not available,

  • The Forecast is not editable,

  • The Work Packages and Contracts tiles are not available, and

  • Some commands are not available in the Budget dialog box.