Defining Estimated Costs and Benefits

This section discusses how to:

Establish estimated costs.
Establish estimated benefits.
Review costs and benefits.

Pages Used to Define Estimated Costs and Benefits

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Project Request - Costs	BC_EST_COST	select Project Portfolio Management, then select Project Requests, then select Cost	Enter estimated cost details for a project request.
Cost Comments	BC_EST_COST_COM	Click the Comments button on the Project Request - Costs page.	Enter comments about cost estimates.
Project Request - Benefits	BC_EST_BENFT	select Project Portfolio Management, then select Project Requests, then select Benefits	Enter estimated benefit details for a project request.
Benefit Comments	BC_EST_BENFT_COM	Click the Comments button on the Project Request - Benefits page.	Enter comments about benefit estimates.
Project Request - Summary Costs/Benefits	BC_EST_COST_BENFT	select Project Portfolio Management, then select Project Requests, then select Summary Costs/Benefits	View a summary of the costs and benefits, by general ledger business unit and department, for a project request. Navigate to the Project Request Analysis by Department component.
Project Request Cost Details	BC_COST_DET	Click an estimated cost amount on the Project Request - Summary Costs/Benefits page.	Review cost details for a department.
Project Request Benefit Details	BC_BENFT_DET	Click an estimated benefit amount on the Project Request - Summary Costs/Benefits page.	Review benefit details for a department.

Project Request - Costs page

Use the Project Request - Costs page (BC_EST_COST) to enter estimated cost details for a project request.

Navigation

select Project Portfolio Management, then select Project Requests, then select Cost

Image: Project Request - Costs page

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Project Request - Costs page. You can find definitions for the fields and controls later on this page.

Cost Details - Details Tab

Enter cost information that is related to the project or program request. The currency of the entered amounts is specified in the Currency field on the Project Request page. Costs are entered for the specified GL business unit. Add rows to enter all costs that are associated with the project.

GL Unit (general ledger unit)

Enter the GL business unit that is associated with this cost.

Department

Select the department that is associated with this cost. Only departments of the specified GL unit are valid.

Account

Select the account to which the cost is attributed. Only accounts of the specified GL business unit are valid.

Year and Period

Enter the fiscal year and period in which the cost is incurred.

Amount

Enter the cost amount in the currency of the project request. The currency code appears next to the amount field.

Capitalize

Select to distribute the costs evenly across three fiscal years. Depending on how your accounting calendar is defined, this can be the equivalent of 36 months, or 12 quarters, for example. The system distributes the costs using the accounting period of the earliest entered cost as the initial capitalization period. The estimated finish is not used to determine the final distribution, so if the time period that is estimated for the project is less than three fiscal years, the system distributes costs past the estimated finish date.

Cost Details - Base Currency Tab

Select this tab to view costs in the base currency of the business unit that is associated with the project request.

: Click the Comments button to access the Cost Comments page, where you can enter notes pertaining to this cost estimate.

Note: If a project request has comments that are entered in the Cost Details grid, and an approver changes the project request status to Costing, the comments are lost when the project manager ultimately updates the project request with the revised cost estimate. To ensure that comments are always maintained, users should either enter brief comments on the Status History page of the project request component or attach a business justification on the Project Request - Attachments page of the project request component.

Actions

Update Amount

Click to update the amounts on the main project request page based on the data that is entered on the Project Request - Costs page.

Move

Click to access the Project Requests Date Change Option page, where you can advance or delay the dates for the costs or benefits for a project request by a specified number of fiscal periods and indicate whether to move the estimated start and end dates accordingly.

Benefit Comments Page

Use the Benefit Comments page (BC_EST_BENFT_COM) to enter comments about benefit estimates.

Navigation

Click the Comments button on the Project Request - Benefits page.

Enter the expected benefits for the project request, by GL business unit, department, and account, adding rows as needed. The fields that are on this page operate the same as the fields that are on the Project Request - Costs page.

See Project Request - Costs page.

Project Request - Summary Costs/Benefits page

Use the Project Request - Summary Costs/Benefits page (BC_EST_COST_BENFT) to view a summary of the costs and benefits, by general ledger business unit and department, for a project request.

Navigate to the Project Request Analysis by Department component.

Navigation

select Project Portfolio Management, then select Project Requests, then select Summary Costs/Benefits

Image: Project Request - Summary Costs/Benefits page

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Project Request - Summary Costs/Benefits page. You can find definitions for the fields and controls later on this page.

This page provides a summary of the current estimated costs, estimated benefits, and net benefits for the project request, by GL business unit and department.

Estimated Costs

Click to access the Project Request Cost Details page, where you can view all of the costs that are associated with the current department for this project request.

Estimated Benefits

Click to access the Project Request Benefits Details page, where you can view all of the benefits that are associated with the current department for this project request.

Click the View Proj Req Analysis by Dept. (view project request analysis by department) button to access the Project Request Analysis by Department component, where you can view detailed cost and benefit information. The Project Request Analysis by Department component appears with the associated department and project request preselected for analysis.