Periodic Forecasting Tab
This section includes the fields and descriptions for the Periodic Forecasting tab.
Job Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Job | This field shows the number of the job to which the current forecast applies. If the forecast applies to an opportunity for which a budget has been created, this field shows the number of the temporary job assigned to the opportunity in question. This number corresponds to the number of the opportunity, preceded by an underscore. The value cannot be changed manually. For further information about the temporary jobs created for opportunities, see the introduction to the window Opportunity Budgets in the Contact Management module. |
| Include in Forecast | In this field, you can specify whether the current forecast should be included in forecast reports created using the Periodic Forecasting component in the Portal. |
Show Budget Figures Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Show from Period | In these fields, you can specify the starting month and year of the period for which you want to view and enter forecast figures. The first forecasting column in the table part will thus represent the month specified here, and the remaining forecast columns will represent the 11 following months.
Please note that the period specified here only applies to the columns shown in the table part. The budget and forecast totals specified in the island Totals always show the full totals of the job, regardless of the periods currently shown. |
| Currency | In this field, you can choose whether the figures in the window should be displayed and entered in the base currency of the company of the job, in the currency of the job or in the enterprise currency. The amounts are automatically converted using the exchange rate table for sales. The currency in question is displayed next to the pop-up field. |
| Show Decimals | In this field, you can specify whether decimals should be displayed for the figures in the window. If you do not mark the field, figures are shown as whole figures, automatically rounded off. |
Totals Island
This island contains three lines showing totals for the job budget, the forecast (the line “Periodic Budget”) and the deviations between the figures on the two first lines. A number of different totals and calculations are shown in the columns of the island. This allows you to compare your forecasts to your budgets. The individual columns are described below.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Hours | This column shows the number of hours budgeted on time activities, the total number of hours forecasted in the Hours section of the table part, and the difference between the budgeted and forecasted number of hours. |
| Revenue | This column shows the budgeted revenue, the revenue forecasted in the Revenue section of the table part, and the difference between the budgeted and forecasted revenue. |
| Cost, Hours | This column shows the cost budgeted for time activities, the cost forecasted in the Time subsection of the Cost section of the table part, and the difference between the budgeted and forecasted figures. |
| Cost, Amount | This column shows the cost budgeted for amount activities, the cost forecasted in the Amount subsection of the Cost section of the table part, and the difference between the budgeted and forecasted figures. |
| Cost, Outlay | This column shows the cost budgeted for outlay activities, the cost forecasted in the Outlay subsection of the Cost section of the table part, and the difference between the budgeted and forecasted figures. |
| Gross Margin | This column shows the gross margin, calculated as the revenue less the figures in the “Cost, Hours,” “Cost Amount” and “Cost, Outlay” columns. On the Deviation line, the column shows the difference between the budgeted and forecasted gross margins for the budget and the forecast. |
| Gross Margin % | This column shows the gross margin percentage (gross ratio). For the budgeted and forecasted figures, this expresses the gross margin as a percentage of the revenue. |
Budget Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Show Budget | In this field, you choose the budget type for which you wish to forecast. The budgeted sums from the specified budget type are displayed in the island Totals, allowing you to compare the budgeted figures to the figures distributed across periods. |
Customer Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Customer | This field shows the number and name of the customer associated with the job (the ship to customer). |
Reallocate Budget Island
| Field | Description | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| New Starting Period | If you need to shift the forecast, for instance due to delayed project start, you can do so using these fields. Using this functionality, you can shift the entire forecast without having to reenter all of the figures.
In the fields, you can specify the month and year to which the earliest figures currently forecasted should be shifted. When you select the action Reallocate, the earliest forecasted figures are moved to the specified month, and all other figures are moved the same number of months, thus keeping the intervals intact. When the forecast has been shifted, the period selection is automatically changed so that the first period shown in the table corresponds to the new starting period entered in these fields. Please note that the whole forecast is shifted not only the months currently displayed in the table part. This means that if you are currently viewing figures from June 2006 to May 2007, shifting the forecast will also cause figures before and after this interval to be shifted. No recalculation of amounts takes place when shifting the forecast. Example: The forecast currently looks as follows:
Due to a project delay, the forecast should be shifted two months. As the earliest figures are currently forecasted for January, you specify month 3 (March) and 2006 in this island and select the action “Reallocate Budget.” All figures in the table part are now shifted by two months, causing the table part to now look as follows.
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Automatic Calculations Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Revenue and Cost from Hours | In this field, you can specify whether Maconomy should automatically calculate revenue and cost amounts from the number of hours entered in the Hours section of the table part.
If you do not mark the field, entering a number of hours on a line in the Hours section of the table part will not affect the cost and revenue section. If you mark the field, entering a number of hours on a line in the Hours section of the table part will cause Maconomy to automatically calculate cost and revenue based on the number of hours entered. The calculation of cost and revenue is based on information in the job budget using the following method: No employee category on forecast line If no employee category is specified on the forecast line on which a number of hours is specified, Maconomy first finds the average cost for time activities in the job budget, and multiplies this number by the difference between the previous and new number of hours specified on the line. The result added to the value on the Default line in the Cost section for the column in question. As a result, the cost is written up or down according to the change in number of hours. The calculation of revenue is calculated using a similar method, however multiplying the number of hours by the average billing price for time activities in the budget, and copying the result to the Time header line in the revenue section. Employee category specified on forecast line If an employee category has been specified on the line on which a number of hours is entered, and the job budget contains a line with this employee category for the activity type for which a forecasting figure is entered, the difference between the previous and new number of hours is calculated and the existing cost price of the line is multiplied by the hours for a new total cost price. If an employee category has been specified on the line on which a number of hours is entered, but the job budget does not contain a line with this employee category, Maconomy finds the standard cost and billing price, respectively, for the employee category in question and multiplies it by the difference between the previous and new number of hours specified. If, however, job-specific billing prices are applied, the billing price will be taken from that list instead. The results are added to the value on the Default line in the cost and revenue sections, respectively. |
| Revenue from Cost | In this field, you can specify whether Maconomy should automatically calculate revenue amounts from costs entered in the Cost section of the table part.
If you mark the field, revenue will automatically be calculated from costs entered in the Cost section of the table part. The revenue is calculated by means of a quotient corresponding to the ratio between the total cost and total revenue of the job budget for the activity type in question (amount, time or outlay). This quotient is multiplied by the specified cost, and the result is added to the value on the corresponding line in the Revenue section. Example: According to the budget, the total cost for amount activities on the job is 1000 USD and the total revenue for amount activities is 1600. Therefore, the ratio between the cost and revenue is 1.6 (1600 divided by 1000). If you specify 50 on the Amount line in the Cost section, Maconomy will multiply 50 by 1.6 and enter the result (80) in the same column on the Amount line in the revenue section. If you do not mark the field, entering an amount on a line in the cost section of the table part will not affect the revenue section. |