Setting Up Cash Flow
The Cash Flow module lets you generate and compare Baseline, Actuals (or "spends"), Portfolio, Forecast, Derived, and Custom curves in a project or CBS code-based shell. The curve detail levels include:
- Cash Flow by Project/Shell
You can track the costs associated with an entire Project/Shell over time.
- Cash Flow by CBS
The creation of a CBS detail curve is similar to cash flow by Project/Shell. Use this option if cash flow needs to be tracked at the CBS level as opposed to the Project/Shell level; this lets you plot cash flow curves by specific CBS codes, or all codes, in the Project/Shell.
- Cash Flow by Summary CBS
The creation of a Summary CBS detail curve is very similar to cash flow by CBS. Use this option if cash flow needs to be tracked by summary CBS codes. To select this option, the Project/Shell cost sheet must use a tree structure (and therefore has summary CBS codes) rather than a flat structure.
- Cash Flow by Commitment
This option lets you plot and analyze cash flow data for an entire commit record (including base commit, any change commits, and related invoices). You can choose a specific business process commitment record within the Project/Shell, such as a purchase order or contract, and track the cost information over time. Each commitment record can have one baseline curve.
The system displays Cash Flow curve detail level data in a Cash Flow Worksheet. The cash flow curve worksheet can display any number of Baseline, Forecast, Actual (or Spends), Portfolio Budget, Derived, or Custom curves (based on the same detail level). Depending on curve set up, you can manually enter data; pull data automatically from other sources such as business processes, cost sheet columns, and schedule manager dates (depending on the curve type); and compare multiple curves.
At runtime, the user can view the cost distribution information by CBS code from a schedule sheet.
Note: The system generates Actuals information at the start of the day and uses it to update the Forecast information. Therefore, on the last day of an Auto Snapshot (the cutoff date), the Forecast does not include changes that might have occurred between the generation of the Actuals and the generation of the Forecast, and the system might prevent you from updating Actuals information on the last day of the cycle.
To facilitate creation of cash flow curves and roll up of data to company cash flow worksheets, you can create the following in Admin mode:
- Data Sources
- You create data sources that can be used to create and identify cash flow curves, and roll up data to company worksheets. You will need to create data sources to create cash flow curves.
- Data sources are created based on a Curve Type: Baseline, Forecast, Actual (or Spends), Portfolio Budget, Derived, or Custom curves. Each curve type has its own logic to address different business requirements.
- Distribution Profiles
These are optional. Distribution profiles can be applied to cash flow curves to automatically distribute cost data across a specified time period. At runtime, you will have the option of manually distributing data in the cash flow worksheet, or automatically distributing the data using one of these profiles.
- Company-level Templates
These are also optional. You can create cash flow detail curve templates, which can be used to create curves at runtime within a project/shell.
- Project/Shell-level Templates
You can create cash flow curves within a project template or a CBS-code based shell template. These can be used to create curves in projects/shells; they can also be used to "push" out updates to existing curves. For more information, see Update Cash Flow Properties and Permissions.
In This Section
Grant Yourself Permissions to Configure Cash Flow
Create a Cash Flow Distribution Profile
Creating Cash Flow Data Sources
Delete a Cash Flow Data Source
Last Published Wednesday, July 2, 2025