Overview
- Project forecast
- Differentiation between real case and worst case scenarios
- Calculation logic behind the project forecast
- Influence of contract units on the forecast
Alasco distinguishes between project and contract forecasts. Both types can be presented in the real case and the worst case scenarios. Both the project and contract forecasts are based on costs.
Project forecast
The project forecast is used to provide a quick overview of the overall project success. The project forecast is displayed in the following sections in Alasco:
- For the whole project in the financial overview on the dashboard
- For an individual trade on the detail page of a contract unit
- In the cost controlling for individual contract units, cost groups or the whole project.
You will find the project forecast in the cost controlling as the two columns, "Project cost forecast (real case)" and "Project cost forecast (worst case)".
You can display the deviation from the current budget in absolute values and percentages against the real and worst case scenarios of the project forecast with the columns "Project budget deviation real/worst case" and "Project budget deviation real/worst case (%)".
Calculation of the project forecast
The project forecast is calculated by summing up all the data for a contract unit and depends primarily on the status of the contract unit.
Since either the current budget or the contract forecast is used, project forecasts can only be calculated at the contract unit level (or higher) and not at a lower level (contracts).
The status of the individual contract units defines whether the "current budget" or "contract forecast" will be used for the forecast.
Contract unit in status Budgeted
As long as a contract unit has the status "Budgeted", the project forecast corresponds to the current budget of the contract unit.
The status "Budgeted" indicates a relatively early point in the course of the project or during the planning process, at which time usually no contracts have been awarded yet.
For this reason, the system assumes that the previously calculated budget will be fully utilised, which is why it is used as the project forecast.
Contract unit in status Fully Awarded or Finalised
As soon as a contract unit has the status "Fully awarded" or "Finalised", the project forecast is based on the more precise contract forecast of the contract unit.
The contract forecast is calculated based on the contracts within the contract unit and can be individually adjusted in the forecast settings within the master data.
The status "Fully awarded" indicates some or all of the contracts within the contract unit have already been awarded; some contracts may even be already completed.
The contract unit automatically assumes the status "Finalised" as soon as all contracts receive a "Completed" status. This can be done manually or through the approval and payment of the final invoice.
After the status has been changed, the individual contract forecast is used to calculate the project forecast, and a distinction is made between the real-case and worst-case forecasts.
Contingency contract unit
Contract units of the type "Contingency" are an exception in the calculation of the project forecast. Their current budgets are always included in the worst-case project forecast.
Note:
If your Alasco account was created before calendar week 42 (2020), the old calculation logic will be available. In the master data, admins can select under the menu item "Project forecast settings" whether the old calculation logic "predefined" or the new "configurable (recommended)" calculation method should be applied. This setting applies to the entire Alasco account.