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Keeping Project Budget in sync with Forecast

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Posted on by smore

I have learned that the Project budget data is used to generate Cash Flow and Project statements.

I have also learned that the Project forecasts are used to calculate Percentage Complete when creating Estimates.

( am I correct so far ? )

It would seem logical to me that the budget and the forecast should have the same totals - but I have found nothing that will keep these two in sync or warn when they are out of sync.

Is there a way to keep the budgets and forecast in sync ?

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Rahul Mohta 21,032 on at

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forecast is used for estimates, RIGHT

nothing seen OOB to keep in sync but could write a small routine to achieve

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Ludwig Reinhard Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi smore,

To my knowledge there is no automatic tool that would ensure that both are in sync.

Question:

Do you really need project budgets and forecasts at the same time?

Workaround:

In case you really need this you can consider making use of business events and UI flows. By implementing those tools you can enable - for example - an action that updates forecasts whenever a project budget is changed/modified and vice versa.

Best regards,

Ludwig

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smore 90 on at

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I think so.

Lets assume the project last 4 months 1/2/2020 - 4/30/2020

A budget and forecast are created on 1/2/2020.
Vendor POs are getting cut and Invoiced.

1/31/2020 - Month close - Estimate is created to calculate accrue revenue based on percentage complete - cost .

Vendor POs are getting cut and Invoiced

2/28/2020 - Month close - Estimate is created to calculate accrue revenue based on percentage complete - cost.

Vendor POs are getting cut and Invoiced

Budget has been used up and is revised - but user forgets to update forecast.

3/31/2020 - Month close - Incorrect estimate is created to calculate accrue revenue based on percentage complete - cost. The forecast was not updated.

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Ludwig Reinhard Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi smore,

Many thanks for the update.

For what purpose do you need the budget?

If you use a separate forecast model for a 'revised' forecast you can basically achieve the same. The only difference is that there is not standard workflow available for forecast changes.

Best regards,

Ludwig

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smore 90 on at

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I looks like the Budget is what drives the Project and Cash flow statements:

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Ludwig Reinhard Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi smore,

Even if you use the project budget functionality, you will have a link to a forecast model.

You can easily see that if you open the project budget form and check the upper right-hand section where it says 'forecast models' original / remaining.

Having said this, I would ask you to double check if you really need to use the project budget form. If there is no specific reason, then don't use it. That is because the project statement and cash flow forms use forecasts.

I know the terms are a kind of mixed up and confusing but please test the whole process first without using the project budget. I think that you get all the information that you need out of the system even if you don't use this specific functionality.

Best regards,

Ludwig

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smore 90 on at

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"That is because the project statement and cash flow forms use forecasts."

I am not seeing this....my project has:

cost budget: 10,608.00

revenue budget: 13,949.20

cost forecast: 1,176.00

sale forecast: 11,760.00

Invoiced PO : 145.00

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Satya Teki on at

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Hi,

Thanks for the question.

Can you please let me know which version you are working with ? The reason I ask is because we have changed how the forecast and budget behave across different versions of the product. For example you were able to select forecast models used in budgets to create standard forecast in the previous versions of the product but now you cannot select the forecast model used in budget while creating a normal forecast.

Also to clarify, forecasts and budgets are two different functionalities. Forecasts are not only for Estimates(Fixed-price projects), they are used in case of other Project types and serve a different purpose than budgets. A project budget by default only use the out of the box forecast models that are Original and Remaining. They cannot be selected when we create a forecast manually. The functionality you are asking is currently not supported in the product .

Regards,

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smore 90 on at

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VERSION INFORMATION

2019 release wave 2

Installed product version : Finance and Operations (10.0.7)

Installed platform version : Update31 (7.0.5457.35488)

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Satya Teki on at

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Hi,

Thanks for the information.

In the release you cannot select the same forecast models in Budget and forecasts. We restrict selecting the models. Models maintain the balances.

As mentioned earlier, forecasts and budgets are two different functionalities. Forecasts are not only for Estimates(Fixed-price projects), they are used in case of other Project types and serve a different purpose than budgets. A project budget by default only use the out of the box forecast models that are Original and Remaining. They cannot be selected when we create a forecast manually. The functionality you are asking is currently not supported in the product .

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