Working with Account-Based Budget & Forecast

In Next Project, you can work with budget and forecast tools at the account level. Next Project supports one level of accounts in both budget and forecast.

Budget

Budgets on the cost and revenue side can be found under the Budget tab.

In the Budget tab, there are several columns, which function as follows:

Toolbar

In the toolbar under the budget tab, there are several buttons, as shown in the image above:

Create budget

In the Budget tab, you enter your account-based budget. Here, you add the accounts coming from the estimate and a value in AK (AnbudsKalkyl - Bid Estimate) for each account. You can press the +-button to manually add accounts and a bid estimate (AK) or import it.

Import of calculation

You can import estimates from Wikells or via Excel. Wikells provides export options to Next Project, and in Excel, you need to create a workbook with a specific column order to import your budget.

With Excel, you can import a budget from virtually any estimating program by placing import data in the correct column in the Excel file.

Excel

Importing estimates from Excel can be done in two ways:

1. Import directly from the file.

2. Import by pasting content into the import box. This is a recommended method.

The prerequisite for being able to import is that, firstly, an account number from Excel must not occur on multiple rows, and the account number must be entered into Next Project. Additionally, the columns in the Excel file must be arranged in a specific order – see images below. As long as you have this column order, you can import a budget from virtually any program via Excel import.

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To import data into Next Project from Excel, as in the example above, you must include at least Project Number and Account Number in Excel to be able to read it. Fill in values in the columns and then select all data except the headers. Copy this, go to Next Project, and paste it into the import box – first remove the data in the Next box. No headers should be included.

When you save, all accounts will be added to the budget.

Wikells

To import an estimate from Wikells, you first need to set up a few things between Next Project and Wikells via settings in Next, mapping accounts for materials, labor, etc., to the correct account in Next. Once this is done, you can import the estimate from Wikells, which can be done with both the import of Building Parts (which become work orders in Next) and the account-based estimate.

To import the estimate, click on the button to import data in the toolbar, then select your import preferences and choose the file you exported from Wikells.

When you press Save now, the estimate will be read into Next, both as work orders (building parts) and/or as budgeted accounts. Each work order/building part will also receive budgeted values for hours and costs.

When the budget is entered into Next Project, the project card will now be filled with budgeted values. See the Budget line in the box to the right in the image below.

Variation Order in Budget/Forecast

In the Budget tab, you enter the budgeted costs related to the contractual part of the project. If you want to strengthen the budget with budgeted costs and revenue from Variation Order, do the following:

1. Go to the Variation Order tab.

2. Select an existing Variation Order or create a new one.

3. Enter order lines – these form the basis/estimate to include Variation Order budget in the project's budget. You can enter lines from the price list or enter your own budget lines. This is especially useful in fixed-price Variation Order. Set up the lines – the account you specify here is the basis for the budget. See more details below.

   

4. Save. Now the calculated cost for the various accounts in the estimate will be transferred to the budget, and the budgeted revenue (sum of unit price) will be added as budgeted Change Order revenue.

Enter order lines for budget in Variation Order.

To create an estimate in Variation Order, you work with order lines as mentioned above. Each order line you enter in your Variation Order is linked to the account that the budget will be charged to. When you enter a unit price on the line, this will be added to the revenue in the project.

In the example above, we have a fixed-price Variation Order with two lines, Tree Felling and Removal, totalling £180,000 to our customer. Tree Felling is on account 4415 and has revenue of £150,000 and a cost of £125,000; Removal is on account 7010 and has a cost of £25,000. It is essential always to fill in the account, unit price, cost/unit to transfer the figures to the budget.

This will be shown in our budget in the Budget tab, in the column called Change Order.

On the revenue side, we have the same thing - we have a total fixed price of £180,000 to the customer in the Variation Order column; this post strengthens our budget by £180,000 and gives a total of £507,700 in the example.

Forecast

In Next Project, you manage your project's forecasts; you can create as many forecasts as you want and have the opportunity to see changes and developments of forecasts continuously.

Toolbar

In the toolbar in the forecast tab, there are the buttons above:

The forecast is a tool with a lot of information; here is a summary of all columns and their meaning in the forecast. We start with the upper columns shown on the forecast row.
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When a budget is created as described above, and all accounts are added, you can now create a forecast. In Next Project, we recommend that you always start your forecast work by creating an initial forecast we call the "baseline" forecast. This forecast should not contain any booked costs but is an "empty" forecast that aligns with our budget in the project. The reason for creating a baseline forecast is to be able to track the development of the forecast from day one in the project.

The forecast gives us the ability to:

• Monitor a project's economy over time

• Analyse accounts in a budget

• Manage Variation Order

• Manage various forms of cost adjustments

• Make final cost adjustments

• Provide a basis for SVA (Successive Profit Deduction)

Create a Forecast

To create a forecast, follow these steps – the process is the same regardless of whether you create a baseline forecast or a "regular" forecast during the project. The difference is that in the baseline forecast, you ensure that no costs or revenues are included in the forecast – manage this in step 4 below.

1. Go to the Forecast tab.

2. Press + to create a new forecast.

3. Fill in the Period to indicate which period the forecast refers to. This has nothing to do with costs/revenues but is simply information about when the forecast was made and which period it refers to.

4. Fill in the period date. This is the date up to which you want to include booked costs and revenues. For example, if you perform a forecast reconciliation up to the end of September, the period date should be, for instance, 2022-09-30.

   • For a baseline forecast: The date should be before the first date there are booked costs or revenues in the project. Check under the Booked cost/int tab in Next Project to see which is the first date there are booked costs if you are unsure. Alternatively, you can set the dates far back in time to ensure that no transactions are included.

5. Save. Now you can start reconciling your accounts to assess remaining costs and revenues in your forecast. See the section below.

Reconcile Costs and Revenues in a Forecast

When you have created a forecast, Next Project will retrieve all costs and revenues that are booked on each account for the period. All accounts are listed in the forecast, and here you can reconcile purchases, final costs, etc.

In the forecast tab, there are a variety of columns – below is a summary and description of these:

Reconcile Cost Account

To reconcile an account in the forecast, you can do it in two different ways.

1. Manually enter the remaining cost in the column. Click in the Forecast box and enter your estimated remaining cost. Press Tab or click in the next cell to proceed. If you press Enter, Next Project always selects the value in the Off Budget column, which is Next Project's calculated remaining cost based on Budget minus Booked.

   

2. Reconcile the cost/revenue via the Reconciliation view. Here you can do a more in-depth reconciliation where you also see a comprehensive picture of all costs on the current account. See the section below.

   

Work with Detailed Account Reconciliation via the 'Show Reconciliation' Dialog Box

In the account reconciliation, you have the opportunity to get a comprehensive picture of an account you are working on in the forecast. Here, you can see more information about events and the plan for purchases on the account.

The dialog consists of several fields:

• Production Budget: The total budget for the account, including Variation Order.

• Forecast Comment: A comment on the account linked to the forecast. Also visible in the budget.

• Purchases Box: All purchase-related items related to the account. This shows the budget, purchase profit, purchased total for purchases on the current account.

• Payment Plan Box: When reconciling cost accounts, any established payment plan to the supplier is shown.

• Booked Box: Shows all transactions on the account.

• Variation Order Box: Shows the Variation Order where there are calculated order lines where the current account is included.

• Own Adjustments Box: Possibility to make ongoing cost adjustments to the account, affecting the outcome and forecast on the account.

• Summary Box:

  • Production Budget: Budget including adjustments and Variation Order

  • Variation Order: Variation Order budget on the account.

  • Current Budget: Production budget + Variation Order.

  • Own Adjustments: Cost adjustments made in the Own Adjustments box.

  • Forecast: Current forecast for the account.

  • Booked: All booked costs on the account.

  • Remaining: Remaining costs on the account, including own adjustments.

You can easily step between accounts to reconcile account by account. When an adjustment to an account is made in Own Adjustments, the field in the Forecast view is locked.

Reconcile Revenues

To reconcile project revenues in the forecast, click on the Revenue tab, select the revenue account, and click on Show Reconciliation.

If you are working with a payment plan, you have the opportunity to reconcile your lift plan in a smooth way. You can, in the same way as in costs, see Variation Order, booked revenues. You can also make adjustments.

Lock and Set Forecast as Active

When you have completed the forecast and reconciled all accounts on the cost and revenue sides, lock the forecast, and set it as active. It will then be the applicable forecast for the project and will be reflected in the Project Overview and on the Project Card. SVA will also be linked to the current forecast.

To lock the forecast, click on the Locked box, and you will be asked if you want to save and set the forecast as active. Answer Yes if that is the case. You can always unlock the forecast later.

Print Forecast

In Next Project, there is a forecast report that you can print or download. You can find it under the PDF button in the Forecast tab. You have a few options around it, including displaying purchase items, budget, and deviations. You can also download the forecast or email it directly from Next. The forecast report does not show markups and should be considered an internal forecast report.

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