Project - Forecasts tab

The Forecasts tab allows you to enter and manage revenue forecasts for a project by budget category and posting period. Budget Effort, Calculated Revenue TD, Calculated Backlog and Forecast to Complete are displayed to assist in forecast management. A totals row at the bottom displays sum totals of all displayed rows.

The tab is divided into two panes for entry of forecasts by budget category and posting period.

Budget Category Pane

The budget category pane lists all active budget categories and associated budget, revenue and forecast values. Inactive budget categories may also be displayed, if forecasts exist. Filtering and sorting is available for this pane. Sort selections are stored as preferences but filter selections are not.

Column Name		Description
	Budget Category	Displays the budget category number and name for each active budget category. Additional rows display for each inactive budget category that has non-zero forecasts for the project.
	Chargeable Budget Effort	Displays the current chargeable budget effort value for each responsible budget category and is read-only.
	Budget Effort	Displays the current budget effort value for each responsible budget category and is read-only.
	Forecast	Displays the calculated sum of the forecasts for each budget category. This calculation updates as forecasts are added, deleted or changed in the right pane.
	Calculated Backlog	Displays the calculated backlog as shown on the Earned Value tab based on the formula Chargeable Budget Effort - Calculated Revenue TD. If the Project - Earned Value tab is constrained to one budget category, Calculated Backlog will only exist on the global budget category. Although the Project - Forecasts tab always displays all budget categories, in this case, only the global budget category will display Calculated Backlog. This updates dynamically as changes are made in the project.
	Calculated Revenue TD	Displays the calculated revenue to date as shown on the Earned Value tab based on the formula Initial Revenue TD + Calculated Revenue Change. If the Project - Earned Value tab is constrained to one budget category, Calculated Revenue TD will only exist on the global budget category. Although the Project - Forecasts tab always displays all budget categories, in this case, only the global budget category will display Calculated Revenue TD. This updates dynamically as changes are made in the project.
	Forecast to Complete	Displays the calculated sum of entered forecasts made into the future beyond the earliest open period (the earliest posting period where the stage is equal to Open). A portion of the forecast for the earliest open period may also be included in Forecast to Complete based on a comparison of the forecast to the revenue for the period. Any portion of the forecast above the value of the revenue for the period will be included in the Forecast to Complete.

Posting period Pane

The right grid pane displays posting periods and editable forecast entries for each posting period.

Column Name	Description
	Posting Period	Displays the posting period, a collection of posting dates, which are the days a company sets to post transactions. Posting periods are subdivisions of a year. Posting Periods in any Stage, such as Future, Open, Pending Close, Closed, or Adjustment display in the grid. You can hover over the Posting Period column heading to display the date range of the posting period. The posting period range is limited to the posting periods established in the Posting Calendar.
	Forecast	Displays the entered forecast value for each posting period and can be edited, unless the associated budget category is inactive. Forecasts can be copied for active budget categories to other projects. See Copy Projects for more information.

Column Name

Description

Posting Period

Displays the posting period, a collection of posting dates, which are the days a company sets to post transactions. Posting periods are subdivisions of a year. Posting Periods in any Stage, such as Future, Open, Pending Close, Closed, or Adjustment display in the grid.

You can hover over the Posting Period column heading to display the date range of the posting period.

The posting period range is limited to the posting periods established in the Posting Calendar.

Forecast

Displays the entered forecast value for each posting period and can be edited, unless the associated budget category is inactive.

Forecasts can be copied for active budget categories to other projects. See Copy Projects for more information.

Totals Row

The totals row at the bottom, spanning both the left and right panes, displays sum totals of all numeric values in both the left and right panes. Zeroes (0) display for rows that have no values.

Actions and Controls

Forecasting Actions

Right-click on the column headings of either pane and unique forecasting actions (plus column display control) are presented in a context menu. The options are shown below. The Spread Budget Effort and Replicate actions are also available in a context menu by a right-click on any data element cell in the grid.

Actions	Description
Spread Chargeable Budget Effort	Select to spread chargeable budget effort only for rows where budget category is active and chargeable budget effort is greater than zero. This option is not available for inactive budget categories. Highlight the rows (one or many) to be spread and select Spread to distribute the total chargeable budget effort value for the row across the posting periods for the budget category.
Replicate	Select to copy a forecast value from one cell to one or more cells across posting periods and / or budget categories. This option is not available for inactive and ignore budget categories. Highlight a cell to be copied, then highlight the cells (one or many) to receive the source value, and select Replicate to distribute the value. If the source cell is blank, all replicated cells will be cleared.
Export List to Excel ...	Allows the user to export the grid data to MS Excel or other tools. Forecasts qualify for export only if budget effort, revenue, or non-zero forecast data exists for the budget category. See Documents to Export for more information.

Actions

Description

Spread Chargeable Budget Effort

Select to spread chargeable budget effort only for rows where budget category is active and chargeable budget effort is greater than zero. This option is not available for inactive budget categories.

Highlight the rows (one or many) to be spread and select Spread to distribute the total chargeable budget effort value for the row across the posting periods for the budget category.

Replicate

Select to copy a forecast value from one cell to one or more cells across posting periods and / or budget categories. This option is not available for inactive and ignore budget categories.

Highlight a cell to be copied, then highlight the cells (one or many) to receive the source value, and select Replicate to distribute the value. If the source cell is blank, all replicated cells will be cleared.

Export List to Excel ...

Allows the user to export the grid data to MS Excel or other tools. Forecasts qualify for export only if budget effort, revenue, or non-zero forecast data exists for the budget category. See Documents to Export for more information.

Project Controls

If a project control changes, such as Variance Level, Organization Variance Responsibility, Budget Category Variance Responsibility or Budget Method, existing budgets may not be valid. If they are not valid, adjustments can be made either manually or via the Sync Project to Control Settings feature. Until they are valid, the Earned Value tab is disabled. When the Earned Value tab is disabled, the Forecasts tab is also disabled. When budgets are fixed, both tabs are enabled.

Additionally, when a project control is changed, revenue and other history is discarded on the Earned Value tab and must be regenerated via project processing. Revenue and revenue-dependent calculated values on the Forecasts tab are also discarded until the project is processed to final. These include Calculated Revenue TD, Calculated Backlog and Forecast to Complete.