Legacy- Forecast the budget for portfolio

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Legacy- Forecast the budget for portfolio

    This guide is designed for project and portfolio managers to help forecast future costs of projects and portfolios using actual costs and updated project requirements. Budget forecasting is deprecated in the Paris release but remains available for upgraded instances from previous releases. New customers should refer to Scenario Planning for PPM.

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    Key Features

    • Re-estimation of planned costs during project execution based on actual costs and project changes.
    • Forecasted project costs are aggregated at the portfolio level for comprehensive planning.
    • Portfolio managers can review and adjust project budgets based on updated estimates and investment committee feedback.
    • Forecast periods must be open to create and manage forecast plans; only one forecast period can be active at a time.
    • Administration tasks for opening and closing forecast and budget periods are outlined for PPS admins.

    Key Outcomes

    By leveraging budget forecasting, project managers can refine estimates and align project costs with portfolio goals. Portfolio managers can create, update, and repromote forecast plans, ensuring financial oversight and strategic alignment throughout the fiscal year. Access to the ITFM Planning Workbench provides visibility into budgeted, actual, and forecasted costs, enhancing decision-making and resource allocation.

    As a project or portfolio manager, you can forecast the future costs of projects and portfolios based on the actual cost and changed project requirements. Budget forecast is deprecated in the Paris release. Budget forecast is still available on instances upgraded from a previous release but is not available for new instances.

    Note:
    The content in this topic is applicable for customers upgrading from a previous release to Washington DC. If you are a new customer, see Scenario Planning for PPM.

    After budget planning and approval, during the project execution, as the project manager, you can re-estimate (forecast) the planned costs for future periods. This forecast is based on the actual cost incurred and other changes in projects. The forecasted project costs get rolled-up to the portfolio and, as the portfolio manager, you can create the forecast plan for the portfolio.

    An example of the quarterly forecasting process for the April quarter is shown:
    Figure 1. Budget forecasting
    Budget-forecasting.

    When the forecast period is open for a given period:

    • As the project manager:
      • review actual cost for current and past periods and edit the estimated cost for the forecast period and all future periods. For example, if the forecast period is open for April 2016, the estimated cost for April and future months can be edited.
        Note:
        As the project manager, you cannot edit the costs for past periods. For example, in this case, the cost for months prior to April cannot be edited.
      • forecast (re-estimate) the cost plans for the projects, when required. The forecasted project costs are rolled-up to the portfolio.
    • As the portfolio manager:
      • review the re-estimated costs for all the projects in a portfolio in the portfolio workbench.
      • decide to include new projects or exclude a few projects using portfolio planning view when the budget target changes during the fiscal year.
      • create the forecast plan for the portfolio with changed project estimates, and submits the plan to the investment committee for review.
      • update the forecast plan for the portfolio based on feedback from the investment committee and repromotes it.

      As the portfolio manager, you can also view budgeted, actual, and forecasted cost for the projects in the ITFM Planning Workbench.

    Note:
    • The forecast period for the fiscal period must be open to create the forecast plan for a portfolio. For example, open the forecast period for FY17: Apr to create a forecast plan in April. The PPS admin can open the forecast period for a fiscal period by navigating to Project Administration > Open/Close Forecast Periods.
    • The budget period for a fiscal period must be closed to open a forecast period for the corresponding fiscal period. The PPS admin can close the budget period for a fiscal period by navigating to Project Administration > Open/Close Budget Periods.
    • Only one forecast period can be open at a time.