Establishing Budgets

You can establish budget estimates during the planning stage, then refine them as projects progress. Start at the EPS level and work down through projects and their WBS elements. This is known as performing top-down budgeting.

Follow the steps below to set up the total budget for each EPS node in the hierarchy first, then enter the applicable portion of the total budgeted amount to each project in the node's branch. Once these initial total amounts are entered, you can start apportioning anticipated monthly spending amounts per project. P6 then tallies the amounts for the projects so you can keep track of the total spending plan and assess the variance between this total and the current budget. This process is ongoing throughout the project life cycle. Close to the completion of the project, you can better determine profitability.

To establish budgets in a top-down approach:

Click Projects.
On the Projects navigation bar, click EPS.
On the EPS page:
1. Select an EPS element.
2. Click the Budget Log detail window.
3. In the Budget Log detail window:
  - In the Original Budget field, enter the original budget in units of currency.
  - Click Add to add a budget log line item.
  - In the Date field, select a date.
  - In the Amount field, enter a currency value.
  - In the Status list, select a value. Select Pending to add the amount to the Proposed Budget total. Select Approved to add the amount to the Current Budget. Select Not Approved to keep only a record of the budget change line item.
4. On the EPS page, click Save.
5. Repeat these steps with the following variations:
  - On the EPS page, repeat for each project or template within an EPS element.
  - On the Projects navigation bar, click Activities.
  - On the Activities page, repeat for each project, template, or WBS.

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