1. What does each column in the Budget represent?
Understanding the Budget
The project Budget is the foundation of the project cost control process which involves careful integration and synthesis of information from various sources in order to qualify and quantify deviations from such plans expressed in terms of "impacts" to Budget (also referred to as "cost"). The first three columns in the Budget simply display the Cost Code, Cost Category, and Description of each cost code that was initially entered in your Estimate. Once a Project is promoted to "In Progress" status, the values from the Estimate are locked in and displayed in the Estimate column of the Budget (though this will be updated with authorized Change Orders).
Descriptions for each column on the Budget
Estimate - The value for the cost code as it was input on the original Estimate, or increased/decreased based upon authorized changes.
Budget - Initially, the same as the value from the original Estimate; when the project is In Progress it may be adjusted by users who have the "Adjust Budget" option. Users can also take advantage of our "Baseline Budget" feature, which allows you to differentiate if you are updating the Baseline (if the estimate was intended to change upon promotion to in progress) vs a one off Budget adjustment.
Actuals - The actual dollars that have been paid out for this cost code through an approved Invoice, or a timesheet or expense request from an employee. Adjusting Entries from Transactions will also be housed here.
Open - The value of the Open Commitments (Subcontract, PO, or Employee Commitment), minus any Actuals.
At Risk - The amount still left to buy to complete the scope of work for this cost code in full; the projected dollars you anticipate spending to complete the project.
Contingency - Any dollars you want to leave in Contingency for this cost code; if unspent, the amount in the Contingency column will eventually become profit. This is Contractor's Contingency - Owner's would be treated as an independent Cost Code.
Complete - Each cost code's total Cost to Complete; the sum of the Actuals, Open, At Risk, and Contingency columns
(Over) Under - The positive or negative difference between the Budget column and the Complete column
2. How can I view the Budget broken down by Original Scope and Change Orders?
The default view for the Budget tab is to list all cost codes being used on a project and their respective values in each column as a total of the original scope of work plus any authorized change orders.
If you want to see your original scope cost codes and values first, followed by each authorized change, you will want to change the Sort of the Budget.
Steps:
From the Project's Home menu, select "Budget"
Click the Filter icon
Select "Group by Scope"
