Tracking Project Financials

Modified on Thu, 30 Dec, 2021 at 1:02 PM

Activities' financial impact to the organisation can be forecasted and tracked across financial years from inception (business case) to implementation, execution and close out.

When rolled up into programs, portfolios and themes you achieve complete transparency over your costs.

The below diagram gives you a quick overview of the project financials tracking in Fluid.

Resource Forecast

Activity resource allocations are managed per month – utilising the rate cards to determine the financial impact and hours.
You can also forecast placeholder (unnamed) resources based on role, geography, seniority etc. for easily generating multi year forecast.
Learn more about resource forecast here.

Resource Actuals (Timesheets)

Resource timesheets are pre-populated with the resources allocated activities. Timesheets need to be approved by the Resource or Project Manager.
Timesheet actuals are visible after submission to track monthly costs before month end.
Options for capped hours, daily rate and direct & indirect costs, currency and daily & monthly are available.
Capitalization of time booked is calculated at the time of the timesheet submission.
Learn more about resource actuals and timesheets here.

Non Resource Forecast

Activity Managers forecast into expense types e.g. Hardware, Advertising, etc.
The capitalized proportion is based on the project methodology, current phase and task of timesheet.
Learn more about non resource forecast here.

Non Resource Actuals

Fluid supports month end feeds from external direct costs systems e.g. Oracle, SAP etc.
Bulk edit adjustments can also be performed as part of the month end processes.
Learn more about non resource actuals upload here.

Capitalization & Amortization

Capitalization and amortization are configurable for methodologies, phases & task types.
You can also set the percentage to capitalize and the amortization tail for expense types
You can see the projected CapEx & OpEx split based on activity forecasts for multi year projects.
Portfolio level dashboards are also available to see the CapEx & OpEx spend & forecast.
Learn more about resource capitalization here and about non on resource capitalization here.

Benefits and Ongoing Costs

Track qualitative & quantitative benefits with RAG status, straplines and status.
Forecast benefits over a 5 year period.
Quantitative can be split by resource and non-resource types.
- Resource types use rate cards and headcount to calculate financial benefit. e.g. 20 people saving @ nearshore rate over 3 years.
- Non Resource types allow forecast at expense type level e.g. Office Rent @ $100,000 per year saving over 3 years
On Going costs can be modeled to track cost of Support/BAU on the activity over 5 years.
Learn more about project benefits here.

Funding

Manage project funding i.e. budget in tranches.
Track project expenditure against release amounts.
Manage life to date and financial year funding as well as CapEx / Opex Split.
Learn more about project funding export here.

Lifetime Activity Costs

Track the project estimated cost at completion as well as the variance against the budget / funding.
Track committed actuals and remaining forecast across multi year financial periods.
Profit and Loss views show One-Time (including capitalization & amortization) costs, Benefits & Ongoing costs, over a 5 year period.

Scenario Planning

Issue multiple scenario requests for project managers to what-if their resource & financial forecasts.
Track completion and compliance on scenarios.
Commit scenario to live if approved.
Learn more about scenario planning here.

All the features listed can be enabled/disabled to provide the right fit for your business case.

Project Cost Reporting Metrics

The following table gives you a quick overview of some of the the financial metrics available to track project costs.

	Financial Data	Description
MULTI-YEAR VALUES
A	Life to Date Release Funding	The estimated funding required over the lifetime of the project. Typically what has been committed in the Business Case.
B	Future Years Forecast	Sum of the monthly forecast values on the project from the end of the current financial year up to the project end date.
C	Life to Date Actuals	Sum of actuals on the project since inception up to the lock date in the current financial year.
D	Prior Year Actuals	Sum of actuals entered onto the project since inception up to the start of the current financial year.
E	Total Project EAC	Estimated project cost at completion. Sum of Life to Date Actuals (C), Current Year Forecast (J) and Future Years Forecast (B).
F	Funding Balance	Life to Date Release Funding (A) less Life to Date Actuals (C).
CURRENT FINANCIAL YEAR VALUES
G	Current Year Release Funding	Business case estimated funding required for the project in the current financial year.
H	Current Year Approved Forecast	The amount formally approved to be spent on the project in the current financial year.
I	Current Year Actuals	Sum of all project actuals for the current financial year up to the lock date.
J	Current Year Forecast	Sum of the monthly forecast values on the project in open months up to the end of the current financial year.
K	Full Year Forecast	Sum of Current Year Actuals (I) and the Current Year Forecast (J)
CAPITAL EXPENSE VALUES
L	Current Year Capex Actuals	Calculated on Current Year Actuals (I) - dependent on capitalisation settings
M	Current Year Capex Forecast	Calculated on Current Year Forecast (J) - dependent on capitalisation settings
N	Full Year Capex Forecast	Sum of Current Year Capex Actuals (L) and Current Year Capex Forecast (M)
O	Current Year Capex Percentage
AMORTISATION VALUES
Q	Current Year Amort Actuals	Calculated on Current Year Actuals (I) - dependent on capitalisation settings
R	Current Year Remaining Amort Forecast	Calculated on Current Year Forecast (J) - dependent on capitalisation settings
S	Full Year Amort Forecast	Sum of Current Year Amort Actuals (Q) and Current Year Amort Forecast (R)
OPERATIONAL EXPENSE VALUES
T	Current Year Project Expense	Current Year Actuals (I) less Current Year Capex Actuals (L)
U	Current Year Remaining Net Cost Forecast	Current Year Forecast (J) less Current Year Capex Forecast (M)
V	Current Year Net Cost Expected at Completion	Full Year Forecast (K) less Full Year Capex Forecast (N)
PROFIT & LOSS
W	Current Year P&L Actuals	Current Year Actuals (I) less Current Year Capex Actuals (L) and amort actuals for locked months in the current financial year
X	Current Year P&L Forecast	Current Year Forecast (J) less Current Year Capex Forecast (M) and amort forecast for open months in the current financials year
Y	Current Year P&L Full Year Forecast	Full Year Forecast (K) less Full Year Capex Forecast (N) and the amort forecast full year forecast for the current financial year.
BENEFITS & ONGOING COSTS
	Resource Quantitative Benefits	5 year forecasted benefits realisation based on resource headcount and rate cards.
	Resource Quantitative Ongoing Costs	5 year forecasted resource ongoing support and maintenance based on resource headcount and rate cards.
	Non Resource Quantitative Benefits	5 year forecasted benefits realisation based on expense types.
	Non Resource Quantitative Ongoing Costs	5 year forecasted non resource ongoing support and maintenance based on expense types.

Financial Dashboards and Reports

Fluid comes with out of the box dashboards and automated Excel, Word and PowerPoint financial reports to share with project executives and stakeholders.

The financial metrics are also available for you to build your own reporting dashboards in Word or PowerPoint.

Learn more about Excel reports here and about Word and PowerPoint financial reports here.