All budget details are handled in the Management menu. Each item represents a different level of budget data and can be manually added or imported from an external source (i.e. Primavera). At the outset it is recommendable to verify the underlying details of the associated purchase orders, work orders, AFEs, etc., that are associated with your budget so you can make any necessary correction(s) or modification(s) before delving too deep into the budget details. Let's explore each item further.
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Budget Configuration
The "Budget Configuration" menu allows assigning default roles to each budget group. This determines which budget group is displayed in each column for budget reports.
To configure the budget groups click Management > Budget Configuration.
From there use the dropdowns to assign each default budget group to its respective role.
Once this is completed, you can save and proceed to set up your budget groups.
Budget Groups
Budget Groups serve as ‘placeholders’ for each of the major budget sets. By default, there are 4 budget groups: authorized, performance, primavera and forecast.
To set up your budget groups, click Management > Budget Groups and modify accordingly.
The Authorized budget group is usually your initial budget that was approved well before a project began and often separated by company. This would be the amount from an AFE or group of AFEs.
The Performance budget group is built from the Primavera direct schedule and the complementing indirect schedule, based on estimates and plans that generally become purchase orders. Performance budget groups often coincide with the project baseline.
The Primavera (also called execution) budget deals with direct and indirect schedules during the project and responds to live changes during a project. It generally includes funds allocated for contingency, discovery, and also covers extra work requests (EWR), when needed.
The Forecast budget group is used to estimate what the final cost of the project will be, using information and variances between the performance and execution budgets, the productivity of field labor, known delays, etc.
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You can also choose which budget groups should earn value, and if the need arises, you can also select a project that the budget group should display with.
Budget Plans
Budget plans basically store budget plans for major projects. This is the equivalent of values in the CO_Budget.DBF table in CT2.
To set up a budget plan click Management > Budget Plans.
Each Primavera import will create a separate plan. It is highly recommended to set up a budget plan for each major project, so that it’s easy to work through smaller data sets within each project. Be sure to add a name (with dates?) and assign each plan to a group. You will also find budget plans that have been copied in the Budget Comparison/Summary screen here, with the date the plan was copied.
Once you’ve worked through the details of your budget plans, you can proceed to setting up the different lines on your budget(s).
Budgets
To set up a budget line click Management > Budgets.
From there click the “Edit plan” dropdown and select the plan you wish modify.
This is an ideal location to view all the lines in the selected plan. Each line represents an individual entry against the budget plan and is supplemented with dates and amounts. It is highly recommended to use work order (or parent work order) as the target so the underlying costs will be captured effectively.
It is also recommendable to add a Grid Summary to track changes in values. Just right-click a column header and select “Display Grid Summary.”
The grid summary will appear immediately above the data navigator. Right-click the areas below the Total and Hours columns and select “Sum.”
Once you’ve worked through your budget lines, you can move to compare and further modify budgets in the Budget Comparison/Summary screen.
Budget Comparison/Summary
To compare and/or summarize budgets click Management > Budget Summary.
This is basically a budget comparison report that allows you to group by and display all sorts of values off the budget lines or the attached WO, AFE, etc. You can also copy/replace details from one plan to another and drill into details by expanding the budget target details which spreads the budget groups horizontally. Additionally, you can drill into just one group and have it treat each budget plan as a column group.
Select which group of data to load then click “Load data.” Afterwards apply filters if needed.
Afterwards, set what will be displayed for “Budget,” “Target,” and “Items.”
The "Budget:" group includes data imported from Primavera and comprises all the values stored directly in the “BudgetLine” table (co_budget in CT2). The "Target:" group is from the assigned cost target (generally WO, Parent WO or WBS), and the values set on it. The “Items:” group outlines the set of values that are being reported on.
The summary should look something like this:
To add a budget row click “Actions” then “Add budget row.”
If no existing row is selected before clicking “Add budget row,” then a new window will appear, unfilled, for you to fill the supplementary details for the new row.
If an existing row is selected before you click “Add budget row,” then the details from the selected row will be pre-filled in the budget row selection dialog. This is handy if you wish to create multiple rows with the same base data without reinventing the wheel.
To edit a budget row expand the row in the “Budget target” column then make your modification(s) on the selected tab(s) below.
To copy/replace a budget row click “Actions” then “Copy/Replace groups”. This is a very useful feature that lets you easily copy parts of one plan to another.
You can either select individual or multiple rows that you wish to copy/replace then determine what actions you wish to execute on the “Copy/Replace Budget Group” dialog. This can be done for each company, AFE, etc., by grouping that screen (Budget target) and only selecting the rows you wish to copy/replace.
In this example, data from the “Authorized” budget group is being copied into the “Performance” budget group.
Clicking the dropdown at “Plan” will show the name of the newly copied budget plan, which will be stored under Management > Budget Plans.
Once the data is copied you will observe that a replica of the data in the “Authorized” budget group now exists in the “Performance” budget group and can be further modified and/or reconciled.
