quick start guide: set a budget and track a project...

Quick Start Guide: Set a budget and track a project

ARGUS Developer 7.6

Snapshot Module

ARGUS Developer [Snapshot Module] Quick Start Guide: Set a budget and track a project

2 © 2016 ARGUS Software, Inc.

PURPOSE

This brief guide has been designed to show the user how the basic features in Snapshot are used to produce a budget and track your actual transactions against it. This is a complimentary learning aid to ARGUS Developer Training courses or the eLearning guides.

BY END OF THIS GUIDE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO… 1. Assign Cost Codes to your Project Cash Flow 2. Create the Budget Cash Flow 3. Import a file containing invoice transactions 4. Spread variances in the Budget Cash Flow 5. View the KPI Budget Dashboard 6. Produce Snapshot reports



PREPARING THE PROJECT CASH FLOW Once you have built your development model, you will need to add cost codes to enable it to receive actual transactions.

A sample project data file along with a sample cost code set (.xml file) are located in the ARGUS Software installation Regions > [myregion] > Data sub-folder.

Click Cost Codes to display drop down list of costs codes to attach to the cash flow item

Select a cost code to link it to your chart of accounts. Ensure every item has a code assigned



CREATE A BUDGET CASH FLOW Your stakeholders have agreed to commit to the project and have given you a budget (agreed & fixed amount of funds) to deliver it. This budget is compared to actual results, to monitor & track variances from expected performance to allow the user to make the necessary decisions to bring the results back into line.

Budget Detail displays the comparison between the budget and actual results for each individual item in the project

Click here to open list of budget Detail rows you wish to display/hide

Click Original and your Project Cash Flow is copied and displayed in the Budget Cash Flow

The budget has been created by “copying” the Project Cash Flow including all the KPI results [Note – these amounts are the same as the previous screenshot]

Budget Cash Flow is sub-divided into 3 sections:

Actuals (historic data)

Current (total to date)

Forecast (future events)

Once an Original Budget is created, it can be broken down into smaller sections by using Released Budgets



IMPORT INVOICE TRANSACTIONS The project has commenced and you now need to reflect the money paid out or received, into your cash flow. You can import data from an external source via a direct database connection (configuration required) or from .csv/.xml export files.

A sample actuals data .csv file is located in the ARGUS Software installation Regions > [myregion] > Data sub-folder.

Once data has been successfully imported, the invoices need to be allocated to the budget cash flow.

Invoice data can be imported via a direct connection to a finance system or as a csv/xml file

Use Allocated Amount or Allocation %, to split your invoice when a cost code has been used multiple times in the model

Invoices can be imported with Phase References to simplify the allocation process



SPREAD VARIANCES Once your actuals have been imported and allocated to the correct place in the cash flow, you may find that you have spent/received monies that is more/less than was forecasted. With these variances you have a choice of absorbing them into future forecasts or increasing/decreasing the overall forecast as necessary.

Budget Cash Flow now displays the imported actuals data

There are 5 re-distribution options:

Add to next distribution period

Add to last distribution period

Spread evenly over remaining distribution

Spread proportionally over remaining

distribution

Manually adjust

KPI results have been updated to reflect the actuals (re-distribution of variances has not been actioned yet)

Click View, to cycle through how you can view the cash flow (including KPI’s) from a different perspective (Original or Revised Budget, Actual/Forecast)



KPI BUDGET DASHBOARD The KPI Budget Dashboard tab displays a comparison of the budgeted KPI’s against the latest forecast.



BUDGET REPORTS There are eight Snapshot module reports that allows a consolidated view of multiple portfolios and projects.

Consolidated Budget Cash Flow

Consolidated Budget Summary

Consolidated Finance Structure KPI’s

Consolidated Project KPI’s

Earned Value Analysis

Log – Actual Transactions

Released Budget Cash Flow

Released Budget Summary

Select a report Click Preview Report to generate the report

You can use parameters to refine the results.

quick start guide: set a budget and track a project...

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