Comprehensive EAC

Comprehensive EAC is a crucial addition to the yearly business rhythm. It enables teams to enhance cost forecasting by comparing their current situation with the previous year's end. In addition, it helps identify financial risks early in the project and supports informed decision-making regarding resource allocation and necessary adjustments.

The Comprehensive EAC workflow type is designed to facilitate the need for a scheduled process that generates individual workflows for each control account. Use the Comprehensive EAC workflow to review and compare the current EAC (Estimate at Completion) cost set with a prior EAC cost set.

A key feature of this workflow type is a calculated column that displays the difference between the two cost sets, providing clear insights into cost variations.

Furthermore, the Comprehensive EAC workflow type includes the calculation of ETC (Estimate to Complete). This can be achieved either by creating a new cost set or by subtracting the actual costs from the EAC cost set, offering flexibility in how ETC is determined.

Prerequisite

To create a Comprehensive EAC workflow type, you must use a Cobra project that contains a Prior EAC cost set with a Frozen Forecast class. In Cobra, create a Frozen Forecast class, then create a cost set named Prior EAC, and add the Frozen Forecast class to it.

For more information on creating a Frozen Forecast class, refer to the "Frozen Forecasts" and "Freeze Forecast Wizard" topics in the Cobra Help System. To learn how to create a new cost set and add a class to it, see the "Create a New Cost Set" and "Add a Class to a Cost Set" topics in the Cobra Help System.

Setting Up the Comprehensive EAC Workflow Type

The table below outlines the steps required to import the workflow type and automatically create a Comprehensive EAC workflow type.

 

Step

Reference

1

Add the necessary custom fields in the Workflow table on the User-Defined Data form.

This step must be completed before importing the Comprehensive EAC workflow type to prevent any errors.

For steps to add the custom fields, see Configure the Custom Fields for the Comprehensive EAC Workflow.

For more information on the fields to be added to the Custom Fields tab in the Area=All Workflows section, see Custom Fields for the Comprehensive EAC Workflow.

2

Import the appropriate Comprehensive EAC workflow type based on your database.

  • Use Default Comprehensive EAC_Oracle for an Oracle server.

  • Use Default Comprehensive EAC_SqlServer for a SQL server.

For steps to import a workflow type, see Import a Workflow Type.

3

Update the Cost Details on the Form tab of the Workflow Type Configuration to a Prior EAC cost set.

For more information, see Update the Prior EAC Cost Set.

 

 

 

4

Set up a scheduled alert to automatically create one Comprehensive EAC workflow per control account in a project.

For details on how to set up the scheduled alerts, see Create a Scheduled Alert for the Comprehensive EAC Workflow.

5

Open the Comprehensive EAC workflow and review the Forecast Details grid on the General tab to verify the information and computations. And then, approve or reject the workflow accordingly.

For more information, see Workflow Form View: General Tab of the Comprehensive EAC Workflow.

Customizing the User-Initiated Alerts

User-initiated alerts for the Comprehensive EAC workflow type are automatically saved after configuring the necessary custom fields on the User-Defined Data form and importing the Comprehensive EAC workflow type. However, you can manually configure or update the custom fields, such as DifferenceLabel, ETCCostSet, and ForecastCostSet, in the User-Initiated Alerts dialog box to meet your company's needs.

To learn about setting up user-initiated alerts for the Comprehensive EAC workflow, see User-Initiated Alert Setup for the Comprehensive EAC Workflow.

Creating the Workflow Manually

You can create the workflow manually, but only the first three columns (HOURS, DIRECT, and Total Costs) in the upper part of the Forecast Details grid on the General tab will be populated, leaving the ETC fields at the bottom part of the grid empty. In addition, creating the Comprehensive EAC workflow manually enables the Select Cost Set button in the same grid, allowing you to select a cost set. This may change the formula used in the Forecast Details grid, so not all of the required columns are displayed in the upper part of the grid, and the ETC fields at the bottom will remain blank until you start the workflow.

Form Toolbar

All workflow categories in PM Compass share a common form toolbar.

Form Tabs

The Comprehensive EAC form includes the following tabs:

What do you want to do?

Set up the Comprehensive EAC workflow custom fields in the User-Defined Data form

Update the Prior EAC cost set

Create a scheduled alert for the Comprehensive EAC workflow

Review the Comprehensive EAC workflow

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