In general, cash flow curves are graphical presentations of the expenditures or spends. Cash flow curves enable you to:
- Pull data from cost sheets, business process records, or schedule sheets
- Record cash flow history by way of using snapshots
- Generate cash flow curve reports
The cash flow management steps can be displayed as cash flow curves in Primavera Unifier.
The following are three most common, and important, standard cash flow curves. See Creating Cash Flow Curves (Classic View) for details on all types of Cash Flow Curves.
Baseline
- The time-phased distribution of the project budget over the project duration.
- The project budget distributed over the duration of the project, indicating how the budget might be spent.
Note: A project can have multiple baselines (original, revised, etc.).
Actuals
- The spends that have actually been incurred (approved invoices, or in some cases, accruals).
- Spends is defined as periodic outlay of money, tracked per CBS.
- The project spending, which includes actual invoices received for each period.
Note: The Actuals (spends) can be compared to baseline budget to maintain budgetary control.
Forecast
- The time-phased distribution of the project forecast, from the latest Actuals (spends).
- The expected spends for the future.
Notes:
- The start point of a Forecast curve is the end of the latest Actuals, and the end point is the total forecast.
- You can use cash flow forecasting to ensure that cash is available when payments are due.
- Forecast is updated as new actuals are incurred.
A Cash Flow Curve requires a data source, which your administrator can create in the Standards &Libraries node.
- Data Sources
Used to identify Cash Flow Curves and Roll up data to program and company worksheets. Multiple data sources can be defined per curve type, depending upon business needs. Example: “Original baseline and Current baseline” data sources can be defined for type “Baseline”. For roll ups, curves are summarized across data sources.
- Curve Type
Used with pre-defined categories of Cash Flow Curves: Baseline, Forecast, Actual (or Spends), Portfolio Budget, Derived, and Custom. Each curve type has its own logic to address different business requirements.
- Distribution Profiles
Used to distribute data automatically in the Cash Flow Worksheet.
- Detail curve templates
Used to make Cash Flow Worksheet.
- Roll up curve templates
Used to create curves in Programs that roll up cash flow data from Projects/Shells.