Proposal Costs and Benefits

The proposal financial plan covers costs and benefits associated with the proposed work. Financials can be integrated with the resource plan for tracking planned labour costs and revenue (for work that is chargeable) and with time sheets for tracking of actual labour costs and revenue.

• The starting point for accessing a proposal financial plan is the proposal overview page. Proposals can be viewed by navigating to the Proposals page This page is also available from the flydown menu under the ‘Portfolio’ category.

• The financial plan for a proposal is accessible from multiple places:

  • 1. PM Workbook provides a single location to update all aspects of a proposal and includes a section for editing the project costs and financial benefits. The workbook can be accessed by clicking on the ‘Workbook’ icon in the ‘Actions’ content area.

    2. ROI content area. Clicking anywhere on the ROI content area to the top left of the page will open the financial plan in the PM workbook..

• Large proposals are likely to have large plans that do not all fit on the page. When viewing the costs or benefits sections of the plan, use the ‘Search’ filter at the top of the plan to filter for specific categories, expense types (in the case of costs) or resource names (to see costs or revenue for a resource).

• On the costs section there is a drop-down filter to limit data to specific cost categories

• Use the ‘Collapse/Expand All’ link to collapse the financial plan and make it easier to find financial lines.

• Totals in the costs and benefits sections are grouped into sub-totals. It is possible to change the attribute used for grouping.

• For costs, there is a drop-down to the right side of the page beneath the section headings. Costs can be grouped by category, labour/non-labour, expense type (CapEx or OpEx).

• For benefits, there is a drop-down to the right side of the page beneath the section headings. Benefits can be grouped by category or type (Labour/Non-Labour)

• There is a filter field on both the costs and benefits section to select what plan and actual columns should be displayed. This helps when entering data to just limit the columns that are needed.

• The options are to view actuals or planned only, all actuals and planned or past actuals and future planned.

• To the right of each cost or benefit line is an icon indicating the status.

• A ‘Pencil’ icon shows the line is manually entered and can be changed. Clicking on the pencil will bring up options to edit, copy, delete or comment on the line.

• An icon with 3 cogs indicates that the line is automatically calculated from the resource plan. Clicking on the icon will display a message that the line is read-only.

• Click on ‘OK’ to add the line.

• In order to edit the cost for a period, simply click on the Planned or Actual cell to be edited and provide a value.

• In order to change the attributes for a cost line, for example the title, or cost category, click on the line status icon (to the right of the line title) and select ‘Edit’ from the pop-up menu.

• In order to delete cost, click on the cost line status icon (to the right of the title) and select ‘Delete’ from the pop-up menu.

• In order to copy a cost line, click on the cost status icon (to the right of the line title) and select ‘Copy’ from the pop-up menu. The ‘Copy Cost Row window is displayed with attributes pre-filled from the copy. Refer to the table in the Adding Costs section above for details of each of the fields.

• It is recommended to update the comments field in the copy window to distinguish the new row from the copied one.

• Click on OK when done. The row is copied including the planned and actual values.

• Click on ‘OK’ to add the line.

• In order to edit the benefit for a period, simply click on the Planned or Actual cell to be edited and provide a value.

• In order to change the attributes for a benefit line, for example the title, or benefit category, click on the line status icon (to the right of the line title) and select ‘Edit’ from the pop-up menu.

• In order to delete benefits, click on the benefit line status icon (to the right of the title) and select ‘Delete’ from the pop-up menu.

• In order to copy a benefit line, click on the benefit status icon (to the right of the line title) and select ‘Copy’ from the pop-up menu. The ‘Copy Benefit Row window is displayed with attributes pre-filled from the copy. Refer to the table in the Adding Benefits section above for details of each of the fields.

• It is recommended to update the comments field in the copy window to distinguish the new row from the copied one.

• Click on OK when done. The row is copied including the planned and actual values.

• When entering cell values, it is possible to copy cell values across a number of periods to save time.

• Enter a value in the first cell and leave it highlighted.

• Holding the shift key, left click on the last cell in the range.

• The value in the first cell will be copied through cells to the last one.

• To add comments about a cost or benefit, click on the line status icon (to the right of the line title) and select ‘Comment’ from the pop-up menu. The ‘Add Comment’ window is displayed.

• Enter the comments in the comments box and click on ‘Add’.

• Comments can be viewed using the line history option.

• To view demand history and comments, click on the line status icon (to the right of the line title) and select ‘History’ from the pop-up menu. The line history is displayed showing comments and history of changes.

• Click on the tab showing the data to be exported and set any filters if required.

• The Export to Excel icon is next to the Save icon to the top right of the page.