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Cost Forecasting
Cost Forecasting

Manage unanticipated costs.

Noelle Van Eynde avatar
Written by Noelle Van Eynde
Updated over a week ago

Objective

Provide instruction on how to manually enter Forecasted Costs in a Project to better manage project risks. Providing the ability to log/record "unknown costs" as Forecasted Costs related to Object Codes will enable a more holistic view of project health by taking into account and comparing the sum of "known" and "unknown" costs to the project (and object code) budget.

Audience

Costs Forecasts are managed by Project and Program Managers. Finance Managers will be able to view when Costs Forecasts are added and which Forecasting Method is active, but will not be able to take any action.

Cost Forecasting Methods

Forecast Projected Costs (default)

This method will forecast only the projected costs of the project, including approved and pending commitment items and change events as well as the manual Cost Forecasts. This forecast will be reflected in the Estimate to Completion as Projected Costs + Cost Forecasts minus Expenses.

Forecast Budget to Estimate to Completion

This method will forecast the entirety of the project’s revised budget to the Estimate to Completion. This will be reflected in the Estimate to Completion as the maximum of either the Projected Budget or the sum of Projected Costs + manual Cost Forecasts, minus Expenses.

The methods can be changed at anytime to accommodate specific Project/reporting goals.

Create a Cost Forecast

Costs Forecasts can be applied once a Project has been created, and can be created from numerous locations within FSP:

Cost Forecast Modal

From the Budget Overview

  1. Hover cursor in the Cost Forecasts column, on a Project or Object Code row

  2. Click the + that displays in the column (the Cost Forecast modal displays)

  3. Enter the Cost Forecast information and click Save (if the modal is initiated from an Object Code row, then the Object Code field will auto-fill with that Object Code)

  4. The Cost Forecast amount will display in the Cost Forecasts column (and related to the Project and Object Code)

From the Project Side Drawer or the Project Entity

  1. Click the Forecasting tab

  2. Choose the Forecasting Method (Forecast Projected Costs will be selected by default and can be changed at any time)

  3. Click Add Cost Forecast (or the +) in the Cost Forecasts section (the Cost Forecast modal displays)

  4. Enter the Cost Forecast information and click Save

  5. The Cost Forecast will display in the Cost Forecasts section (on both the Active and All tabs)

Edit a Cost Forecast

From either the Project Side Drawer or the Project Entity

  1. Click the Forecasting tab

  2. Hover over any Cost Forecast row (the actions icons will display)

  3. Click the Pencil icon (the Cost Forecast modal displays)

  4. Update the Cost Forecast information and click Save

  5. The updated Cost Forecast will display in the Cost Forecasts section

Archive a Cost Forecast

Archiving Cost Forecasts will retain the records for reporting purposes.

From either the Project Side Drawer or the Project Entity

  1. Click the Forecasting tab

  2. On the Active or All tab, hover over an active Cost Forecast row (the actions icons will display)

  3. Click the File Box icon (the Archive this cost forecast? modal displays)

  4. Select a Cost Outcome and click Archive

  5. The archived Cost Forecast will display in the Cost Forecasts section (on both the Archived and All tabs)

Unarchive a Cost Forecast

From either the Project Side Drawer or the Project Entity

  1. Click the Forecasting tab

  2. On the Archived or All tab, hover over an archived Cost Forecast row (the actions icons will display)

  3. Click the File Box icon (the Unarchive this cost forecast? modal displays)

  4. Click Unarchive

  5. The unarchived Cost Forecast will display in the Cost Forecasts section (on both the Active and All tabs)

Delete a Cost Forecast

From either the Project Side Drawer or the Project Entity

  1. Click the Forecasting tab

  2. Hover over a Cost Forecast row (the actions icons will display)

  3. Click the Trash icon (the Cost Forecast modal displays)

  4. Click Delete

  5. The Cost Forecast will no longer display in the Cost Forecasts section

Change the Forecasting Method

From the Budget Overview

If the Forecast Budget to ETC method is active:

  1. Click the Lightening icon on the Project row of the Estimate to Completion column (the Forecasting Method pop-up will display)

  2. Choose Forecast Projected Costs (the lightening icon will disable)

  3. Click outside of the pop-up to close it

  4. The chosen Forecasting Method will (potentially) alter the amounts for the Estimate to Completion, Estimate at Completion and Variance calculations

If the Forecast Projected Costs method is active:

  1. Hover cursor in the Estimate to Completion column, on a Project row

  2. Click the Lightening icon that appears (the Forecasting Method pop-up will display)

  3. Choose Forecast Budget to ETC (the lightening icon will enable)

  4. The chosen Forecasting Method will (potentially) alter the amounts for the Estimate to Completion, Estimate at Completion and Variance calculations (calculations not available in the Project side drawer)

From the Project Entity

  1. Click the Forecasting tab

  2. Choose the Forecasting Method not currently chosen (the chosen Forecasting Method will be highlighted)

  3. The chosen Forecasting Method will (potentially) alter the amounts for the Estimate to Completion, Estimate at Completion and Variance calculations (calculations not available in the Project side drawer)

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