Access

Information

  • In the Budget module, the budget of a project can be planned and edited.
  • The calculated effort and costs are visualized here and can be used to plan the budget.
  • Costs, budget, and budget planning are visualized in cost type groups.

Notes

  • The editing of budget values in the Budget module depends on the global Edit project budget setting. It controls how the budget data is recorded and edited, e.g. whether you can record and edit at annual or project level only or at both levels. Furthermore it controls whether the budgets are automatically adopted from the baseline or from the Approved values. This setting should be made once upfront and should not be change afterwards since otherwise the plausibility and correctness of the data may be affected.
  • It is also possible to record costs manually in this module. To do so, you have to make the appropriate setting in the Manual cost input model parameter. However, PLANTA recommends that you work with automatic costs. If you want to record costs manually, please contact your PLANTA consultant.
  • The (w/o SP) extension in the column headings (e.g. Budget (w/o SP), Total (w/o SP) implies that the values in the respective columns are the values of an individual project without consideration of its possibly existing subprojects. The values summarized via the project structure are visualized in the columns the headings of which contain no extension (e.g. Budget, Total, etc.).

Module Variants

BaseOnly the values of the selected project are displayed. The values of possibly existing subprojects are not considered.
With structure summarizationThe values summarized across the project structure are displayed here. If there is no structure, the values displayed here are identical to the values in the base variant.
Overall view (with and without structure summarization)Both the values of individual projects and the summarized values of the project structure are displayed here. If there is no structure, the values of individual projects and the summarized values of the project structure are identical.

Module Structure and Representation

Header Area

Information

  • Apart from the project specifications, the following information is shown in the header of the module:
    • Recalculate button. This button serves to refresh the calculation of all data used in the Budget module, e.g. if the data of the subprojects has changed, new subprojects have been created, or existing values have changed.
    • Line with the listbox and the button for inserting new yearly tranches as well as baseline specifications on the right hand side.
      • Empty yearly tranches are deleted automatically upon recalculation. If you do not want to carry out a recalculation, you can also delete the yearly tranches manually via the Delete yearly tranche context menu command.
    • Line with the arrows of the transfer function for adopting values from different sources. For further information, see Tip: Transfer Arrows.

Costs Block

Information

  • The calculation of cost values is based on the planning of resources in the schedule. The costs of the resources calculated at the lowest planning level (load level) are allocated to different cost type groups per year and are thus displayed cost type group-related in the Budget module.

Vertical Display

The Costs block consists of

  • a project total level and
  • a yearly tranche level

Summarization

  • The lowest level is formed by cost type group lines of yearly tranches. From here,
    • the values of all cost type groups of a yearly tranche are summarized in the sum line of this yearly tranche (summed up) on one hand,
    • the values of individual cost type groups of all yearly tranches are summarized (summed up) to project total level on the other hand.
  • The top level forms the sum line at project total level. It represents the summarized values from all cost type group lines of all yearly tranches.
  • If the selected project is also a structured project, all subprojects of the project are displayed with the same yearly tranches and cost type groups as displayed in the Budget module in the main project, and their data is summarized to main project level.

Yearly Tranches

  • The yearly tranches are
    • either created automatically according to the time scheduling of the resources in the Schedule module
    • or manually by clicking on the plus button on the header bar and selecting one or more years in the Create Yearly Tranche dialog module and clicking on the Assign selected button.
  • If particular yearly tranches are emptied retrospectively due to the replannings in the Schedule module (for the respective year, no plannings and hence no costs and/or budgets exist), they will not be deleted automatically in the Budget module. If you do not want to see them any longer, you have to delete them manually. To do so, right-click on the top line of the yearly tranche and select the Delete yearly tranche command from the context menu.

Horizontal Display

In the Costs block, the following columns and column groups are to be distinguished according to their function:

Budget Column Group
    • Budget (w/o SP) / Budget / Budget (SP)
      • The values of these columns represent the actual, final budget of the project.
      • The Budget (w/o SP) column only contains the values of the selected project without considering its possibly existing subprojects. At which level (project or yearly tranche) input and editing are possible and whether the column is filled automatically depends on the settings of the global Edit project budget project parameter.
      • The Budget column contains the values of the selected project and of all of its subprojects. The values are automatically calculated as a sum of Budget (w/o SP) of the project and of individual subprojects. Manual input not possible.
      • The Budget (SP) column contains values of all subprojects of the selected project without considering the project itself. The values are automatically calculated as a sum of Budget (w/o SP) of the subprojects. Manual input not possible.
    • Requested (w/o SP) / Requested
      • The values of these columns represent the requested budget of the project.
      • The Requested (w/o SP) column contains the values of the selected project without considering its subprojects. At which level (project or yearly tranche) input and editing are possible depends on the settings of the global Edit project budget parameter.
      • The Requested column contains the values of the selected project and of all of its subprojects. No editing possible. The column is automatically filled with the sum value from Requested (w/o SP) of the project and Requested (w/o SP) of all of its subprojects.
    • Approved (without SP) / Approved
      • The values in the Approved (w/o SP) column represent the approved budget or the budget to be approved, depending on whether or not the annual budget has been approved. Manual input and editing are only possible on yearly tranches since only the approved annual values are adopted at project level (output fields) and summarized.
      • The Approved column only contains actually approved values of the selected project and of all of its subprojects. Editing of values not possible. The column is automatically filled with the sum value from  Requested (w/o SP)  of the project and Approved (w/o SP) of all of its subprojects and only from approved years .



  • Approved (without SP)approved
    Project
    Automatically: Sum X + Y [year 1 + 2 ] ProjectAutomatically: (X + Y project) + (X + Y + Z subproject 1) + (X + Y subproject 1.1)

    Year 1 approvedManual XAutomatically: X project + X subproject 1 + X subproject 1.1

    Year 2 approvedManual YAutomatically: Y project + Y subproject 1 + Y subproject 1.1

    Year 3 not approvedManual ZAutomatically: Z subproject 1
    Subproject 1
    Automatically: Sum X + Y + Z [year 1 + 2 + 3] subproject 1Automatically: (X + Y + Z subproject 1) + (X + Y subproject 1.1)

    Year 1 approvedManual XAutomatically: X subproject 1 + X subproject 1.1

    Year 2 approvedManual YAutomatically: Y subproject 1 + Y subproject 1.1

    Year 3 approvedManual ZAutomatically: Z subproject 1
    Subproject 1.1
    Automatically: Sum X + Y [year 1 + 2] subproject 1.1Automatically: X + Y

    Year 1 approvedManual XAutomatically: X

    Year 2 approvedManual YAutomatically: Y

    Year 3 not approvedManual ZAutomatically: -
    • The Baseline (w/o SP) / Baseline column contains the project costs recorded in the baseline status report. They can be used as a basis for requesting/defining a project budget. This column cannot be edited.


Costs Column Group
    • Actual (w/o SP) / Actual
      • The actual costs in the Actual (w/o.SP) column are automatically calculated from the planning and work reporting of the resources in the schedule and only show the costs of the respective project without considering its possibly existing subprojects.
      • The actual costs in the Actual column are sum values of the project structure, i.e. of the project and of all of its subprojects.
    • Remaining (without SP) / Remaining
      • The remaining costs in the Remaining (w/o.SP) column are automatically calculated from the planning and work reporting of the resources in the schedule and only show the costs of the respective project without considering its possibly existing subprojects 
      • The remaining costs in the Remaining column are sum values of the project structure, i.e. of the project and of all of its subprojects.
    • Total (w/o SP) / Total
      • In both columns the total costs are automatically calculated as a sum of Actual (w/o.SP) and Remaining (w/o SP) or Actual and Remaining.
    • Deviation (w/o SP) / Deviation
      • In both columns the difference between Total costs (w/o SP) and Project budget (w/o SP) or Total costs and Project budget are calculated automatically.
    • % deviation (w/o SP) / % deviation
      • In both columns the percentage difference between Total costs (w/o SP) and Project budget (w/o SP) or Total costs and Project budget are calculated automatically.
Liability Column
    • The input/editing of liability values is determined by the global Edit project budget parameter.
    • Liability values are either entered and edited directly at yearly tranche level or at project level.
    • The values only apply to individual projects. The existing child subprojects are not considered (no summarization via project structure).


Summarization

  • The column heading with (w/o SP) addition is used for the columns in which only the values of the selected project are displayed without considering its subprojects (if available).
  • The column heading without addition is used for the columns in which the value summarized via the project structure (sum value from the respective project and all of its subprojects) is displayed.

Traffic Lights

Information

  • To the left of the heading column, traffic light triangles visualize the deviation between budget values and the calculated cost or effort values for each line.
  • The traffic lights are only displayed if budget values are available.
  • The reference field for the traffic light is the % deviation field in the respective line.
    • Green traffic light: Total costs are lower than budget
    • Yellow traffic light: Costs overrun by up to 5%
    • Red traffic light: Costs overrun by more than 5%
  • The % deviation values reference the absolute values in the Deviation column.

Effort Block

Information

  • The structure and the editing options are identical to those in the Costs block, except the Liability column which does not exist in the Effort block.

Benefit and Revenues Block

At vertical level, the following levels are to be distinguished in the Benefit and revenues block:

  • Project total level
  • Yearly tranche level

Summarization

  • The values of the separate yearly tranches are summed up to program total level.

Note

  • If neither revenues nor benefit have been entered in the project yet, the yearly tranche level is not displayed.

At horizontal level, the following column groups are available in the Benefit and revenues block:

Budget Project

The project budget is defined per year and cost type group in the Budget (w/o SP) column. This can be done by

1) manually entering the values in individual fields (year and cost type group) of the Budget (w/o SP) column or

2) defining the budgets on the basis of costs calculated for this project by copying the required values from the cost or baseline fields to the respective budget fields of the Budget (w/o SP) column. 

3) budgeting the project via request and approval procedure.

    • To do so, you first have to enter the required budget values per year and cost type group manually in the Requested (w/o SP) column or copy them from calculated costs. 
    • The person responsible for budget approval then copies the required budgets which he/she wants to approve (or all requested budgets) to the Approved (w/o SP) column and approves them per year by clicking on the button in the yearly tranche sum line. The button will then receive a green margin which means that the budget of that year has been approved. The Approved (w/o SP) column of this yearly tranche is set to output and can no longer be edited. The values of these yearly tranches are then added to the project sum value. Subsequently, the approved values must be copied to the Budget (w/o SP) column. 
      • If the button is clicked on once more, the budget approval is canceled for that year. The button will then not be represented with a green margin and the Approved (w/o SP) column will be displayed grayed out. The values can now be edited again and will no longer be considered in the project sum value

Tip: Transfer buttons

If you quickly want to copy all values of a column at once to another column, you can use the arrow buttons in the base variant of the Budget module which are displayed above particular columns. If you move the cursor to the required arrow, a tooltip specifying the source and target column will be displayed.

In structured projects, the transfer arrows take effect for the project level at which they were approved and for all child project levels.


See also: For a detailed description of different case studies for project budgeting with clear illustrations, please click here. For a complete overview of cost and budget planning in PLANTA project, please click here.