General

An AFE (authorization for expenditure) is a management approved element of cost and budget that basically gives a financial limit for a project or permission for an individual or group to spend a certain amount of money on that project. In this article we will explore the different tabs and grids in the AFE window.

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Adding AFEs

To add an AFE, click on General > AFEs > AFEs.

Click append (+) to add a new row, then enter the details for each record. You can also use the buttons to the right of the append button to modify or delete the selected record(s).

When a new row is added, you can fill the underlying details for the record in the grid or in the tabs below the grid.  

After adding and editing records, click on “Save” to accept changes as the data is not automatically saved after records are added, modified or deleted.

Data Grid

The advantage to making changes in the grid is that you can apply the same change to multiple records simultaneously. After selecting the desired records, make the change in one of the selected cells then press tab and that change will take effect for all select records in that column.

You will be prompted to confirm changes that affect more than five (5) records at a time. 

Some columns in the grid may not be visible, but can be retrieved from the column chooser, which basically houses the hidden columns. To retrieve a hidden column, right-click a column header and select "Column Chooser" from the context menu.

This will open the "Customization" form with the list of available columns for that screen.

From there, drag and place the desired column from the "Customization" form, to the grid. The two arrows facing each other indicate where the column header will be placed in the grid. In this example, the "Start" (start date) column is being placed between the "Description" and "Expense Type" columns.  

See the data grids article for more in-depth details on data grids.

The tabs below the grid have a wide array of cells to add supplementary details to a record, but only allow modifying one record at a time. In some instances, if multiple records are selected in the grid then the tabs will be grayed out, thus, unmodifiable. For each cell, you can either type the details in the textbox, or select an available item from the dropdown list. 

Overview Tab

The "Overview" tab has five (5) sections: Main, Flags, Dates, Categories and Responsibilities. We will cover each section, in detail below.

The “Main” section contains distinct details for each AFE. It includes a CT2 number which is a read-only field that stores values transferred in a CT2 to CT3 database migration. The AFE Number is the distinct label for each AFE that is added or imported from an external source into CT3. The start date and end date define the proposed duration of the project that the AFE is tied to. The description field briefly outlines the task(s) to be performed. In the same breath, the expense type dropdown is used to make it easier to track the kind of expense, or primary expense type that is affiliated with each AFE. These include, but are not limited to capital expense, routine maintenance, turnaround expense, etc. The long description describes the activities to be undertaken in greater details and sometimes includes the full particulars of the project. The last two fields in the main section lets the user add a secondary AFE number or project internal rate of return (IRR) if available. 

In the "Flags" box, you can flag the AFE as active or inactive. AFEs flagged as inactive are grayed out in the grid. You can also set whether or not it is tied to a capital project, and indicate if the selected AFE is web visible, thus shown on web reports. Note however, that the web visible checkbox is only available when the database is connected to a web reporting website. 

The “Dates” section shows different dates that do not explicitly define the start date and end date of the project. It includes a date of entry which is the date the AFE was added to the client system. The date of AFE approval tells when the AFE was signed off on and open to accept charges. The required completion date gives an idea of when the project is expected to be concluded, while the date closed indicates the last day for charges on the AFE. Additionally, the priority field is used to rank one AFE with respect to other AFEs on a project, while the budget year dropdown, lets you select the calendar year in which the budget is drawn up for the AFE.

The “Categories” section includes different coding structures that are used to organize and group AFEs. The category field tells what class each AFE falls into. The Solomon sub-category field is used to align AFEs to categories in Solomon performance reporting. Justifications are used to identify the reasoning for creating the AFE. AFE Status fields are used to track AFE statuses through creation, approval/denial, completion, etc. Lastly, the schedule driver helps in determining how to prioritize one AFE over another. 

The “Responsibilities” section shows the individuals who approve and/or track charges on the AFE. These responsibilities are stored in the "AFE Responsibility Codes" table and not the "Responsibilities" table found in the "General" menu. Once the names are added to the "AFE Responsibility Codes" table, just click the dropdown and select the respective party for each capacity. In some cases, one individual may serve in multiple capacities.

 

Budget Information Tab

The budget information tab shows the different financial plans for the selected AFE and includes details for:

• Baseline budget: This is the original planned amount (or amount at last "baseline", as sometimes projects re-baseline and set a new "original") for the AFE.
• Additional budget: This is the delta to cover expected changes to the baseline budget. 
• Current budget: This is the budget total from the "Budgets" menu (Management > Budgets) that shows the performance budget for the AFE. 
• Authorized: This is the budget amount that has been approved by management. It may not always include figures in the "Additional budget", as approval can lag behind changes made in the field.
• Work orders planned total: This is a read-only field that totals all the "Planned" values for the related work orders.
• Forecast at completion: This is the predicted amount of the final cost.

 

The import assignment tab handles assigning the AFE to its respective work order coding structures, and fills values based on the detected values on work orders. The project group serve as a utility to group several projects or work orders that are used across multiple projects. The project outlines the scheme of work to be executed. The package field can be used to group up work inside the selected AFE, while the responsibility field tells who is responsible for the charges against the AFE as well as work being done on the AFE. The area and the unit fields are physical organization coding structures that basically highlight where the work on the selected AFE is taking place on the refinery. In this case the area defines the specific region or zone on the refinery, while the unit tells which processing unit is being used/affected.

In the "Flags" box you can choose whether you'd like to "Flag this AFE for custom import", which is used for client database imports. Please ignore the checkbox if you're not engaging in client database imports.

You will also observe (see arrow) that these assignments are used with new work orders, cost reports and budget reports when the values are not set on the related work order.

Related Work Orders Tab

The related work orders tab is a read-only grid that shows details on the work orders that are tied to the AFE. It includes data from the "Import Assignments" tab and the "Work Orders" menu, and shows warnings for discrepancies in values that differ from those on the "Import Assignments" tab. You can also filter and jump to warnings/errors.

Related PO Lines Tab

The related PO lines tab is also read-only and shows details on the PO lines and cost-to-date for each line. It includes data from the "Purchase Orders" menu, however, only the PO lines that are tied to the AFE are displayed here. For example, if a PO has seven (7) lines and only six (6) lines are tied to the AFE, then only those tied to the AEF will display. It also includes details for PO Category, PO #, PO Type, WO #, Cost-to-date, etc.

Importing AFEs

AFEs can also be imported into CT3.  This is the preferred method when adding AFEs in bulk or just adding several AFEs simultaneously.

To import AFEs click Tools > Import > AFEs.

You can add a new preset if none is established for that company or edit an already established preset. You can also remove, duplicate, import or export presets if necessary.

The “Data Source” box lets you locate the directory path for your import file by clicking on the ellipsis. You can also choose which sheet number to import from and set the number of rows to skip to accommodate headers, etc. Upon saving the import preset, it displays the assigned file type in the title and allows update preset location to a file or folder for future imports.

The “Options” box affects how current and future imports affect each other and determines if new AFEs should be added, and existing AFEs updated.

The “Fields” box handles the underlying details of the import. Here you add the desired fields to import and assign the position to correlate with the column in your spreadsheet. Click the “Add field” dropdown to add a field and the remove button (red button to the right) to get rid of a field. You can also set a different font case for select fields.

Once the preset is prepared, click “OK” to save. From there click “Import” to import the data then review and confirm the import.