Expense Tab of Project Planning

Use the Expense tab to enter or review expense information for the current plan.

You can budget expenses at any level in the WBS. If you budget expenses at a lower level in the WBS, then the higher level line items summarize the expenses of their descendants. For example, budgeted expense costs at the task level roll up to the phase level. Project Planning summarizes expense budget data automatically.

This tab displays if you select the Enable Expense Planning option on the General tab of Planning Configuration.

Contents

Grid Options

Field Description
Collapse Parent Dates This option only displays when the Start and Finish dates of the parent WBS level do not align with the start and end dates of the child WBS level tasks.

Normally, Vision allows the Start and Finish dates of the parent WBS level to begin earlier or end later than the dates of the associated child WBS levels. For example, when the parent WBS level starts on May 1, 2015 and ends on December 1, 2015, the child WBS level tasks could start on June 1, 2015 and end on August 1, 2015. In this situation, the dates are not aligned but it is not an issue in the plan.

However, when you use the Schedule tab of Project Planning to schedule task dependencies, the parent WBS start and end dates must align with the start and/or the end dates of the child WBS level tasks. If not, Vision changes the font color of the date fields to blue to indicate that there is a discrepancy:

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If you select the Schedule tab of Project Planning when there is a discrepancy between dates, Vision displays a prompt to alert you of the condition. You must select the Collapse Parent Dates option to collapse the dates such that the parent WBS level's Start and Finish dates adjust to match the start and end dates of the child WBS level tasks. When these dates match, the color of the Start and Finish dates change to black and the Schedule tab is accessible.

Insert Click this option to open a new row in the grid.
Lookup Click this option to display the Account Lookup, where you can select an expense account.
Delete Click this option to delete the current row from the plan. You may only delete multiple task rows from the Labor Tab of Project Planning.
Shift Click this option to shift the current row's data.
Cut Click this option to cut the current Account row and place it on the clipboard.
Copy Click this option to copy the current Account row and place it on the clipboard.
Paste Click this option to paste the current row from the clipboard as a phase or task's child row.

Expense Planning Grid

Use the Expense planning grid to establish the expense budget for your plan. You can assign reimbursable or direct expenses to the plan, by account. You can copy and paste existing rows as you assign expenses. Right-click the small arrow to the left of a row to access the pop-up menu.

To change the columns that display on this grid, use the Expenses Tab of Planning Grid Configuration.

To collapse the start and end dates on grid rows for the periods containing planned data, select the Collapse Start/End Dates before Save from the Planning Options menu. The start and end dates collapse before you save the plan so you do not need to manually set the dates for each row. When you select this option, Vision changes the start and end dates to match the minimum and maximum dates set on the top-level task row.

Field Description
Plus sign or Minus sign The + (plus) and - (minus) signs follow standard Windows User Interface Conventions. The + sign in a grid row indicates the task is a parent task that contains related child units. Click the + to view the child units. The + changes to a - when the child units are open. Click the - to close the child units.
Description Enter an identifier for the WBS element.

This is also the field in which you assign expenses. Click Insert to open a new row and then enter an account identifier for a direct or reimbursable expense account in this field or click Search to display the Accounts lookup and select an account. The expense account that you specify is assigned to the WBS element in the row directly preceding it on this grid.

The text color indicates the account type:

  • Brown text = reimbursable account

  • Green text = direct account

WBS Level This field displays the level of the WBS element, as specified on the Labor tab.
Project This field displays the project identifier, as specified on the Labor tab.
Phase This field displays the phase identifier, as specified on the Labor tab.
Task This field displays the task identifier, as specified on the Labor tab.
Account This field displays the account number of the expense account specified in the Description field. You can select a different account. If the account is a reimbursable or a direct billing account, Vision automatically calculates the billing amount.
Vendor This field displays the name of the vendor associated with this expense.
Start This field displays the start date for the expense. If you created the plan from an Opportunity template, the start date that originated with the opportunity displays.

If the Start date does not align with the start date of the child WBS level task, the date displays in blue. You must select the Collapse Parent Dates option to collapse the dates before you can use the Schedule tab of Project Planning to schedule task dependencies.

Finish This field displays the start date for the expense.

Right-click to select Set finish date by duration. The Duration dialog box displays. Enter the number of business days to use to set the finish date. Vision automatically adds the number of business days to the Start date.

If you created the plan from an Opportunity template, the end date that originated with the opportunity displays.

If the Finish date does not align with the end date of the child WBS level task, the date displays in blue. You must select the Collapse Parent Dates option to collapse the dates before you can use the Schedule tab of Project Planning to schedule task dependencies. See the Collapse Parent Dates field description for additional information.

Planned Cost Enter the estimated or forecast cost amount by expense account. You can also right-click this cell to access the options for spreading amounts across the grid.
Planned Bill Enter the estimated or forecast billing amount by expense account. You can also right-click this cell to access the options for spreading amounts across the grid.
Percent Complete Cost This field displays the percent complete of expense costs for the WBS element in this row.

If the % Complete Formula option selected on the General tab is User-Entered Percent Complete, then you can enter a percent complete here. For any other setting, Vision calculates the value for you.

Percent Complete Bill This field displays the percent complete of expense billing for the WBS element in this row.

If the % Complete Formula option selected on the General tab is User-Entered Percent Complete, then you can enter a percent complete here. For any other setting, Vision calculates the value for you.

Job to Date Cost This field displays the job-to-date actual cost for the current expense, resulting from expense postings. You see a value in this field only if the current plan is mapped to the Info Center.
Job to Date Bill This field displays the job-to-date actual billed amount for the current expense, resulting from expense postings. You see a value in this field only if the current plan is mapped to the Info Center.
Plan - Estimate at Completion Cost This field displays the variance between the planned expense cost amount and the Estimate at Completion expense cost amount for the current WBS element.
Plan - Estimate at Completion Bill This field displays the variance between the planned expense billing amount and the Estimate at Completion expense billing amount for the current WBS element.
Estimate to Complete Cost This field displays the Estimate to Complete cost for the current expense. The ETC is calculated based on the application, Vision or iAccess for Vision, in which the plan was created. See the How Planning Calculates ETC online help topic for additional information.
Estimate to Complete Bill This field displays the Estimate to Complete billing amount for the current expense. The ETC is calculated based on the application, Vision or iAccess for Vision, in which the plan was created. See the How Planning Calculates ETC online help topic for additional information.
Baseline Cost If this plan does not yet have a baseline version saved for comparison and analysis, this field is blank. If this plan does have a baseline version, this field shows the cost estimated for the current expense at the time the baseline version of the plan was saved.
Baseline Bill If this plan does not yet have a baseline version saved for comparison and analysis, this field is blank. If this plan does have a baseline version, this field shows the billing amount estimated for the current expense at the time the baseline version of the plan was saved.
Planned Revenue This field displays the revenue amount expected for the current WBS element.

Accordion Calendar Grid

An accordion calendar grid displays on the right side of the Expenses tab. It works in conjunction with the Expenses Planning grid to display individual line items for the WBS, as well as dates and scales, for the current plan. After you enter information on the Expenses Planning grid, you can record specific details about each line item and its respective dates (or range of dates) on the accordion calendar grid.

Configuration settings determine which rows, dates, and time scales display on the accordion calendar grid.

Field Description
Baseline Cost This field displays the baseline or budget cost, by line item.
Planned Cost This field displays the forecast cost, by line item. Rather than enter cost information in each cell of the Expenses grid, Vision can automatically spread costs across a specified time period within the grid.
Actual Cost This field displays the actual cost reported in Accounting.
Baseline Bill This field displays the baseline billing amount, by line item.
Planned Bill This field displays the forecast billing amount, by line item.
Actual Bill This field displays the actual billing amounts reported in Accounting.
Overflow When the accordion calendar is outside the plan's date range, an Overflow column is added to the beginning of the calendar's grid. This column holds the amounts that apply to the dates that are outside of the range.