Expenses Tab of the Plan Form

The Expenses tab on the Plan form in the Projects hub provides both summary expense planning data for work breakdown structure (WBS) elements and the ability to drill down to the detail at the expense type level. In the grid, you can add or update expense type assignments and the related plan amounts.

Changes that you make to a plan are saved automatically. However, until you publish the plan, you can click Other Actions > Revert on the Actions bar to discard all unpublished changes and restore the plan to its most recent published version.

Use the options on the Expenses tab on the Plan Settings dialog box to specify expense rates and multipliers for the plan. To display that dialog box, click Other Actions > Plan Settings on the Actions bar.

The amounts on this tab display at billing or cost as shown on the upper-right corner of the form. If, on the General tab of the Plan Settings dialog box, you selected Budget Type > Cost and Billing, then both Billing and Cost options are available. You can switch between them and the tab's information will update accordingly.

If your firm uses multiple currencies, the currency in use is indicated next to the Billing or Cost option. The project cost currency is always used when viewing projects and plans at cost. A configuration setting that your system administrator selects determines whether project cost currency or billing currency is used when you view projects and plans at billing.

About job-to-date (JTD) date: If you have activated either the Accounting or PSA module, the JTD date is defined by the Job-to-Date (JTD) Through setting in Settings > Resource Planning > Plan Settings. This selection determines the date for calculating the JTD (posted and unposted) and then uses the next day and beyond to calculate the estimate-to-complete (ETC) date.

Contents: Left Grid Section

This section of the grid displays the WBS elements at each level of the WBS for the selected project, down to the planning level for expenses. For the lowest-level WBS elements, it also displays the expense types assigned to that element.

To change the width of the left grid section, position the mouse pointer over the dividing line between the two grid sections, and drag the line.

Field Description
Level/Expense Type

This column displays the WBS elements for the selected project and, for WBS elements at the lowest expenses planning level, the currently assigned expense types.

To add an expense type assignment for a lowest-level element, check out the plan, click the plan row, and click + in the Level/Resource field in the row to display the Expense Type Lookup dialog box. If displays in this field where normally does, the plan element is dormant.

The Status column in the grid shows the status for the WBS row (project, phase, or task): (Active), (Inactive), or (Dormant). You cannot add new assignments for a dormant element or any elements under it in the plan, but you can edit, delete, reassign, or reschedule existing assignments.

In addition to expense type assignments that you add yourself, the planning grid may also include assignments for expense types with no planned amounts but with JTD amounts charged to a lowest-level plan element. In most cases, Vantagepoint creates those assignments automatically when you display the plan. However, if the Add JTD Assignments option displays on the Actions bar, that indicates that some JTD assignments were not added because another user had the plan checked out. In that case, you can click Add JTD Assignments to update the plan with the missing assignments. (If unit planning is not enabled for the project's company, these JTD assignments may include assignments for unit transactions, based on the applicable account in the unit table. If unit planning is enabled, JTD assignments for unit transactions are instead added on the Units tab of the Plan form.)

Only WBS elements that are at or above the planning level selected for expenses in the Plan Settings dialog box display in the grid. By default, only names display for WBS elements, but you have the option to display WBS numbers along with the names. Click next to the upper-right corner of the grid, and select the Show Project Numbers checkbox on the Column Settings & Selections dialog box.

Click and to expand or collapse the work breakdown structure levels.

If necessary, you can later select a different expense type if there is no assigned JTD amount or baseline amount for the expense row. If there is assigned JTD or baseline for the expense row, you can select a different expense type only if there is also a planned amount. In that case, a new assignment row is created, and you can choose to move the planned amount to that row. The JTD amount or baseline amount remains with the original assignment row.

Contents: Right Grid Section - Billing View Columns

Click next to the upper-right corner of the grid to select the columns you want to display in this section of the grid in Billing view. You may be able to select any of the columns described below, or you may have only a subset of them available to you, depending on the settings selected on the Grids form (Settings > Resource Planning > Grids).

Field Description
Status This column displays the status of the currently selected WBS or expense element: (Active), (Inactive), or (Dormant).
Account This column displays the account number that is associated with the expense type.
Baseline Billing This column displays the planned billing amount that was saved as the baseline for the expense type and WBS element.

You can have only one baseline version for any plan. Any changes you make to the existing baseline will overwrite the previous baseline data. After a baseline exists, you can change the baseline only if your role has appropriate access rights.

Calculated % Complete Billing This column displays the percent complete for the WBS element or expense type, at billing, as of the JTD date: (JTD expenses billing amount / EAC expenses billing amount) x 100.
Contract This column displays either the sum of the direct expenses and reimbursable expenses contract amounts or the indirect expenses contract amount, at billing, for the WBS element.

Contract Less EAC Billing

This column displays the variance between the contract amount and the estimate-at-completion (EAC) expenses amount for the WBS element, at billing, as of the JTD date. Negative amounts display in red.

Calculation: Expenses contract amount - EAC expenses amount.

Contract Less JTD Billing

This column displays the variance between the contract amount and the JTD expenses amount, at billing, for the WBS element as of the JTD date. Negative amounts display in red.

Calculation: Expenses contract amount - JTD expenses amount.

EAC Billing This column displays the sum of the JTD expenses amount and the estimate-to-complete (ETC) expenses amount for the WBS element, at billing.

Calculation: JTD expenses amount as of the JTD date + ETC expenses amount from the day after the JTD date forward.

ETC Billing This column displays the ETC expenses amount, at billing, for the WBS element. This is the planned billing amount required from the day after the JTD date through the end of the plan to complete the project, phase, or task.

Calculation: Planned Billing - JTD Billing if result > 0; otherwise, 0 at the resource level and summed up at WBS levels.

Has Predecessor This column displays a checkmark if the plan level has at least one predecessor.
Has Successor This column displays a checkmark if the plan level has at least one successor.
JTD <JTD date> Billing This column displays the JTD expenses amount and the JTD date , at billing, for the WBS element as of the JTD date.

Calculation: Sum of expense charges for all posted transactions and committed purchase orders.

A red arrow displays in the column to notify you when the WBS row's JTD billing amount exceeds the planned billing amount for the WBS element. Each WBS amount is checked, and an arrow can display for any row.

Notes If the icon displays in this column for a WBS element, click that icon to review or edit the existing notes for that element.

If the icon does not display for a WBS element, hover over the row and click to add a note for that element.

A note entered on this tab is also available in the Notes column on all of the other planning tabs on the Plan form. The plan notes for a WBS element are also displayed in an info bubble, along with other information for that element, when you click on the WBS element in any of the planning grids in the Projects hub or in Resource Management.

This option is not available for expense type rows.

Organization If Vantagepoint is set up to use organizations, this column displays the organization with which each WBS element is associated. For an expense type row, this column is blank.
Plan Start

For a WBS row, this column displays the plan start date for the WBS element. Vantagepoint provides default plan dates when it creates the plan initially (see Default Plan Dates for New Projects for details). Review those default dates and change any that are not correct. When you enter a plan date on this tab, the corresponding plan dates on the other planning tabs are updated also.

If you change this date, the Reschedule Plan Dates dialog box displays so you can specify how you want the labor hours distributed when the plan is rescheduled.

If you select a date that is earlier than the plan start date for any higher-level WBS elements in the same branch, those plan start dates are adjusted accordingly. If you select a date that is later than either the plan start dates for any lower-level WBS elements or any labor resource assignment start dates in the same branch, those start dates are adjusted accordingly.

Plan End

For a WBS row, this column displays the plan end date for the WBS element. Vantagepoint provides default plan dates when it creates the plan initially (see Default Plan Dates for New Projects for details). Review those default dates and change any that are not correct. When you enter a plan date on this tab, the corresponding plan dates on the other planning tabs are updated also.

If you change this date, the Reschedule Plan Dates dialog box displays so you can specify how you want the labor hours distributed when the plan is rescheduled.

If you select a date that is later than the plan end date for any higher-level WBS elements in the same branch, those plan end dates are adjusted accordingly. If you select a date that is earlier than either the plan end dates for any lower-level WBS elements or any labor resource assignment end dates in the same branch, those end dates are adjusted accordingly.

Planned Billing

For a WBS row, this column displays the sum of all planned expenses amounts, at billing, for the expense types assigned to that WBS element.

For an expense type row, this column displays the planned expense amount, at billing, for that expense type assignment for the WBS element.

In most cases, you cannot enter an amount in this field. Instead, you can enter or change a planned cost amount in Planned Cost, and the amount in this field changes accordingly. For direct and indirect expenses, the cost and billing amounts will be the same. For reimbursable expenses, the planned billing amount is calculated based on the cost amount and the reimbursable expense markup settings in the Plan Settings dialog box.

The one case in which you can enter an amount in this column is when no rate method is selected for reimbursable expenses in the Plan Settings dialog box. In that case, the Planned Cost column does not display, and you enter the planned amount in Planned Billing.

A blue arrow displays in the column to notify you when the WBS row's planned billing amount does not match the contract amount for the WBS element. Each WBS amount is checked, and an arrow can display for any row.

Planned Cost

The Planned Cost column is not available for selection in the Column Settings & Selections dialog box for the billing view. However, if you select the Planned Billing column for display and the plan settings include markup settings for expenses, the Planned Cost column is automatically displayed also.

For a WBS row, this column displays the sum of all planned expenses amounts, at cost, for the expense types assigned to that WBS element. For an expense type row, this column displays the planned expense amount, at cost, for that expense type assignment for the WBS element. You can enter or change the planned cost amount on a WBS row or on an expense type row.

You can enter amounts in this column for any WBS element at any level of the structure at or above the planning level for expenses, if that element has at least one expense type assigned. When you do, Vantagepoint allocates the amount to lower-level WBS elements and to the assigned expense types. You can enter or change the planned cost amount on a WBS row or on a expense type row.

How the amount entered for a WBS element is allocated to expense types depends on whether or not amounts have already been entered for the affected assignments:
  • If none of the affected expense type assignments currently has an amount, the amount is allocated equally to each expense type.
  • If one or more of the affected expense type assignments currently has a planned cost amount, the amount you enter at a WBS level is allocated to each expense type assignment in proportion to its current planned cost amount. Expense type assignments that currently have no planned cost amount receive no allocation.

The planned amount for an expense type is stored as a lump sum for the plan date range of the parent WBS element. Unlike labor, planned expense type amounts are not allocated to individual days in the date range.

Planned Less EAC Billing

For a WBS row, this column displays the difference between the total planned expenses amount, at billing, for that WBS element and the EAC expenses amount, at billing, for the WBS element as of the JTD date.

For an expense type row, this column displays the difference between the planned expenses amount, at billing, for that expense type assignment for the WBS element and the EAC amount, at billing, for that expense type assignment for the WBS element as of the JTD date.

Planned Less JTD Billing

For a WBS row, this column displays the difference between the total planned expenses amount, at billing, for that WBS element and the JTD expenses amount, at billing, charged to the WBS element as of the JTD date.

For an expense type row, this column displays the difference between the planned expenses amount, at billing, for that expense type assignment for the WBS element and the JTD expenses amount, at billing, charged to the WBS element for that expense type assignment as of the JTD date.

Project Manager For a WBS row, this column displays the project manager for the WBS element.

For an expense type row, this column is blank.

Type This column displays the account type that is associated with the expense type: reimbursable, direct, or indirect.
Vendor Name This column displays the vendor for the expense type assignment.

Contents: Right Grid Section - Cost View Columns

Click next to the upper-right corner of the grid to select the columns you want to display in this section of the grid in Cost view. You may be able to select any of the columns described below, or you may have only a subset of them available to you, depending on the settings selected on the Grids form (Settings > Resource Planning > Grids).

Field Description
Status This column displays the status of the WBS or expense element: (Active), (Inactive), or (Dormant).
Account This column displays the account number that is associated with the expense type.
Baseline Cost This column displays the planned cost amount that was saved as the baseline for the expense type for the WBS element.

You can have only one baseline version for any plan. Any changes you make to the existing baseline will overwrite the previous baseline data. After a baseline exists, you can change the baseline only if your role has appropriate access rights.

Calculated % Complete Cost This column displays the percent complete for the WBS element or expense type, at cost, as of the JTD date: (JTD cost amount / EAC cost amount) x 100.
Contract This column displays either the sum of the direct expenses and reimbursable expenses contract amounts or the indirect expenses contract amount, at cost, for the WBS element.

Contract Less EAC Cost

This column displays the variance between the contract amount and the EAC expenses amount for the WBS element, at cost, as of the JTD date. Negative amounts display in red.

Calculation: Expenses contract amount - EAC expenses amount

Contract Less JTD Cost

This column displays the variance between the contract amount and the JTD expenses amount, at cost, for the WBS element as of the JTD date. Negative amounts display in red.

Calculation: Expenses contract amount - JTD expenses amount

EAC Cost This column displays the sum of the JTD expenses amount and the ETC expenses amount for the WBS element, at cost.

Calculation: JTD expenses amount through JTD date + ETC expenses amount from day after the JTD date forward.

ETC Cost This column displays the ETC expenses amount, at cost, for the WBS element. This is the planned cost amount required from the day after the JTD date through the end of the plan to complete the project, phase, or task.

Calculation: Planned Cost - JTD Cost if result > 0; otherwise, 0 at the resource level and summed up at WBS levels.

JTD <JTD date> Cost This column displays the JTD expenses amount, at cost, for the WBS element as of the JTD date.

Calculation: Sum of expense charges for all posted transactions and committed purchase orders.

A red arrow displays in the column to notify you when the WBS row's JTD cost amount exceeds the planned cost amount for the WBS element. Each WBS amount is checked, and an arrow can display for any row.

Markup Cost This column displays the markup amount: Expenses contract amount at cost - Planned expenses cost amount.
Notes If the icon displays in this column for a WBS element, click that icon to review or edit the existing notes for that element.

If the icon does not display for a WBS element, hover over the row and click to add a note for that element.

A note entered on this tab is also available in the Notes column on all of the other planning tabs on the Plan form. The plan notes for a WBS element are also displayed in an info bubble, along with other information for that element, when you click on the WBS element in any of the planning grids in the Projects hub or in Resource Management.

This option is not available for expense type rows.

Organization If Vantagepoint is set up to use organizations, this column displays the organization with which each WBS element is associated. For an expense type row, this column is blank.
Plan Start

For a WBS row, this column displays the plan start date for the WBS element. You can enter or select the date. When you enter this plan date, the corresponding plan dates on the other planning tabs are updated also.

If you change this date, the Reschedule Plan Dates dialog box displays so you can specify how you want the labor hours distributed when the plan is rescheduled.

If you select a date that is earlier than the plan start date for any higher-level WBS elements in the same branch, those plan start dates are adjusted accordingly. If you select a date that is later than either the plan start dates for any lower-level WBS elements or any labor resource assignment start dates in the same branch, those start dates are adjusted accordingly.

Plan End

For a WBS row, this column displays the plan end date for the WBS element. You can enter or select the date. When you enter this plan date, the corresponding plan dates on the other planning tabs are updated also.

If you change this date, the Reschedule Plan Dates dialog box displays so you can specify how you want the labor hours distributed when the plan is rescheduled.

If you select a date that is later than the plan end date for any higher-level WBS elements in the same branch, those plan end dates are adjusted accordingly. If you select a date that is earlier than either the plan end dates for any lower-level WBS elements or any labor resource assignment end dates in the same branch, those end dates are adjusted accordingly.

Planned Cost

For a WBS row, this column displays the sum of all planned expenses amounts, at cost, for the expense types assigned to that WBS element. For an expense type row, this column displays the planned expense amount, at cost, for that expense type assignment for the WBS element. You can enter or change the planned cost amount on a WBS row or on an expense type row.

You can enter amounts in this column for any WBS element at any level of the structure down through the planning level for expenses, if that element has at least one expense type assigned. You can also enter amounts for the expense assignment row. When you do, Vantagepoint allocates the amount to lower-level WBS elements and to the assigned expense types.

How the amount entered for a WBS element is allocated to expense types depends on whether or not amounts have already been entered for the affected assignments:
  • If none of the affected expense type assignments currently has an amount, the amount is allocated equally to each expense type.
  • If one or more of the affected expense type assignments currently has a planned cost amount, the amount you enter at a WBS level is allocated to each expense type assignment in proportion to its current planned cost amount. Expense type assignments that currently have no planned cost amount receive no allocation.

The planned amount for an expense type is stored as a lump sum for the plan date range of the parent WBS element. Unlike labor, planned expense type amounts are not allocated to individual days in the date range.

Planned Less EAC Cost

For a WBS row, this column displays the difference between the total planned expenses amount, at cost, for that WBS element and the EAC expenses amount, at cost, for the WBS element as of the JTD date.

For an expense type row, this column displays the difference between the planned expenses amount, at cost, for that expense type assignment for the WBS element and the EAC amount, at cost, for that expense type assignment for the WBS element as of the JTD date.

Planned Less JTD Cost

For a WBS row, this column displays the difference between the total planned expenses amount, at cost, for that WBS element and the JTD expenses amount, at cost, charged to the WBS element as of the JTD date.

For an expense type row, this column displays the difference between the planned expenses amount, at cost, for that expense type assignment for the WBS element and the JTD expenses amount, at cost, charged to the WBS element for that expense type assignment as of the JTD date.

Project Manager For a WBS row, this column displays the project manager for the WBS element.

For an expense type row, this column is blank.

Type This column displays the account type that is associated with the expense type: reimbursable, direct, or indirect.
Vendor Name This column displays the vendor for the expense type assignment.
To display the Expense Plan Summary chart and the Expense Progress chart for a WBS element, hover over or click the WBS row and click this icon at the end of the row.

The charts display in the Expenses Charts dialog box. If you leave the dialog box open, you can select other rows in the grid, and the charts update automatically to reflect the currently selected row. The charts also update automatically if you change data in the grid that affects the currently selected row.

This icon displays at the end of the row when you click or hover over a grid row. Click the icon to select one of these actions for that row:
  • Reschedule (WBS rows only): Use the Reschedule Plan Dates dialog box to change one or both plan dates for a WBS row. You also indicate how to distribute the planned labor hours within the new schedule.
  • Reassign (expense type rows only): Use the Reassign Expense Type and Vendor dialog box to reassign the planned amount for an expense type assignment to a different expense type or vendor. The JTD amount and baseline are not reassigned.
  • Delete (expense type rows only): Delete a single expense type assignment.

    If the assignment has a JTD amount or has been saved as part of the baseline plan, you cannot delete the assignment. In those cases, however, you can still use this option to delete the current planned amount for the assignment.

Click this icon above the upper-right corner of the grid to display the Column Settings & Selections dialog box and do any of the following:
  • Move a column in the Selected Columns section to rearrange a column in the grid. Click to drag-and-drop each column in the list.
  • Display WBS numbers along with names in the grid
  • Select the summary columns that display in the right section of the grid