The General pane of the cash flow Properties window is where you define shared characteristics for this family of curves. For example, all of the curves added here will share the same Time Scale, Detail Level, and Period close settings.
To create a cash flow details curve and complete the Properties General pane:
- Open Unifier.
- Click All Projects tab (or your project tab or the tab whose cash flow you want to work with).
- From the Navigator pane, click Cost Manager to expand and click Cash Flow to open the Cash Flow log window. The Cash Flow log is the starting place for cash flow operations. The log displays all existing cash flow curves and also provides options for creating new curves, copying curves, viewing curve properties, and assigning curve usage privileges to other users. To create a new cash flow, click the Create drop-down list and select Manual. The New Cash Flow Worksheet window opens.
Note: If you have a cash flow template that you want to use, click the Create drop-down list and select From Template to open the Template Log (Cash Flow Templates) window.
- Click to select a cash flow from the Cash Flow log window and click Properties to open the cash flow Properties worksheet.
- Complete the fields in the General pane using the information in the following table and when finished click Save & Close.
After the General pane is complete, you can save as is, or continue by adding the curves that will make up the detail curve. See Cash Flow Properties Worksheet: Curves pane (Standard View).
In this Field: | Do this: |
|---|---|
Name | Enter a unique name for the curve in the Name field. |
Description | (Optional) Enter a brief description in the Description field. |
Detail Level | Select a detail level option from the Detail Level box. The selected option determines the level-of-data the cash flow curves will display. Choose one: Project/Shell: Choose this to track cash flow for the entire project or shell. For example, Baseline and Actuals curves might chart the budget and cash outlay across the entire project. Summary CBS: Choose this option to track cash flow by summary CBS codes. Note: In order to select this option, the cost sheet used in the Project/Shell must be a tree structure. CBS: Choose this to track cash flow within a Project/Shell at the CBS code level. This allows you to track cash flow across the project for specific CBS codes, or for all CBS codes. Commitment: Choose this option to track cash flow associated with a particular commitment record and its line items. This includes, for example, a base contract and optionally their referenced change commits. This selection activates the following fields: Business Process: Click the drop down menu and choose a business process. Listed are the Project/Shell level business processes of type "Base Commit." When creating a template, choose the one that is likely to be used in the projects/shells the template will be used in. When creating the curve in a Project/Shell from the template, you may need to verify that the business process chosen here is active in the project or shell, or pick another from the list. Reference Elements: The worksheet will display the reference elements. By default, the Record Number will display as the number. You can click the drop down menu and choose an element to display as the Name (Record Number, Status or Title). Base Commit Record: This is selectable in a project or shell, but not in a template. Click the Select button. Choose the commitment record from the list of available records in the project or shell. Each commitment record can be selected only once. Note: You can set up the automatic creation of a cash flow curve when a base commit record is created and completed or reaches a particular step. This is done in the BP Setup for the business process. |
Filter CBS Codes | Select Filter CBS Codes or Filter Summary CBS codes or neither |
Rollup cashflow data to company/program? | Yes: The curve will roll up to Program or Company cash flow the next time the curves are refreshed. No: The curve will not roll up to Program or Company cash flow the next time the curves are refreshed. |
Time Scale | Select the Time Scale. The time scale determines the scale and format in which the data is shown on the Cash Flow WorkSheet. By Month or Year. The default is Month. Format: Choose the format that you want the month and year displayed on the graphs. The default is M YYYY. |
Select More Options to specify period close settings, add curves to summary curves, and specify decimal options. Complete the fields in the More Options window using the information in the following table and when finished click Save.
In this Field: | Do this: |
|---|---|
Period Close Settings | Define the Period Close Settings. The options allow you to choose some automatic settings that will happen at the end of each period (month or year, as chosen in the Time Scale field). When selected, the Enable auto snapshot option determines when an automatic snapshot will be taken of the data. If you selected Month for Time Scale: You can choose a specific date each month to automatically take a snapshot, or specify a particular day (such as the first Monday of the month). If you selected Year for Time Scale: You can specify the exact date to take the snapshot each year (or a particular day such as the first Monday of January). Note: After an auto-snapshot is taken, the curve will be refreshed immediately. Actuals (or "spends") will resume after the auto-snapshot is completed. Examples of using Enable auto snapshot on, Cutoff spends, and Resume Spends Company A wants to take an auto snapshot of its cash flow data every time period. Company A would choose a particular date (such as the 3rd of the month for Month, or January 3 for Year). Unifier would take the snapshot and refresh the cash flow curve. They do not select the Cut off spends option. Company B regularly reviews and revises forecast projections during fixed days every time period. Because it does not want new Spends records to hit the Cash Flow WorkSheet during this period, they choose the Cut off spends option. This option requires that Enable auto snapshot be selected first. The company sets this option so that an auto snapshot is taken of their changes just before spends are resumed. Snapshots can then be used for comparison of previous forecasts with the current month. Any spends records that came in during the forecast period are not lost; the Resume Spends option determines whether those spends records will be included in the previous month’s cash flow, or pushed to the next time period. Cutoff spends This option is applicable for Actuals (or "spends") type curves. Selecting this option will temporarily stop spends business processes (for example, Invoices) from hitting the Cash Flow WorkSheet during analysis periods. Notes:
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Period Close Settings (Continued) | Apply Spends to The selections under this period close settings option allow you to apply spends to an effective date or before/after a Cutoff spends date. By default, Cutoff spends will resume immediately after an auto-snapshot is taken. Note: If there is a gap between the Cutoff spends date and the Enable auto snapshot date, any spends that came during that period are not lost. For example, if a Cutoff spends date is October 26 and the Enable auto snapshot on date is November 2, (and the Time Scale is monthly) that defines the freeze period. Any spends that come in on October 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, and November 1 will not hit the cash flow sheet during the freeze period. After the Enable auto snapshot on date is reached, spends will be included back in October for spends (Oct 27-31) or November for spends (Nov 1-2), and the effective date will be honored. The same month/year as the effective date Note: The text of the options under Apply Spends to change based on the selection that you made for the Time Scale (By: Month or By: Year). If this option is chosen, once the freeze period is lifted, spends data is included back in the current period. The final output is similar to the case where no period close settings are applied since the effective date is honored. Spends for Oct 26-31 will be included in October and Nov. 1-2 spends will be included for November. For example, if the cutoff date is the 26th of October and the snapshot date is the 2nd November, the freeze period is Oct 26 – Nov 2nd. Any spends that come in on Oct 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 and Nov. 1, and 2 will not show on the cash flow sheet during the freeze period. After the auto snapshot date is reached, these spends will be included back in either Oct for spends (Oct 27-31) or Nov for spends (Nov 1- 2) and the effective date will be honored. The next month/year if after the cutoff date Once the freeze period is lifted, spends data from the cutoff date to the end of the month will be included in the next month/year. Spends for Oct 26-31 will be included in November and Nov. 1-2 spends will be included for November. The previous month/year if on or before the cutoff date Once the freeze period is lifted, spends data from the start of the month up to the cutoff date will be included in the previous month/year. Spends for Oct 26-31 will be included in September and Nov. 1-2 spends will be included for November. Note: During the Cutoff spends period, even if automatic refresh of the curve occurs as set in the Schedule tab, spends data will not hit the cash flow sheet until spends are resumed again. |
Summary | Add curves to selected summary curves. |
Decimal Options | Select the desired number of decimal places from the drop-down menu. |