Understanding Job Forecast Creation
You use the Create Job Forecasts program (P51F100) to create detailed forecasts for a specified job. To create a forecast, you first specify the following required information:
Forecast Name
Job Number
Thru G/L Date
After entering this information you click Save. If an approved forecast exists for the specified job in the prior period, the system uses that forecast to retrieve remaining work data. If multiple open forecasts exist for the specified job in the prior period, the system allows you to select a forecast to use to retrieve remaining work data from the prior period. You are not required to select a prior period forecast.
When the system saves a forecast, records are created in the following tables:
Job Forecast Header Table (F51F100)
Job Forecast Detail Table (F51F110)
The default status for a newly created forecast is Open. After the forecast has been saved, you can select it to view the accounts and the account data for the specified job and forecast period. The system displays each account for the job in a grid row. If available, each row includes:
The prior period ledger balance and the current balance for transactions posted on or before the specified thru G/L date for these ledger types:
Actuals (ledger types AA/AU)
Budgets (ledger types JA/JU)
Open commitments (ledger types PA/PU)
Pending change orders (using the ledger type that is specified in the processing options)
The current balances for billing amounts (if the processing options are set to display billing information), which includes:
Billed net
Billed tax
Total billed
Unbilled net
Unbilled tax
Total unbilled
Received
Retained
The current balance for any additional ledger types that are specified in the processing options.
Prior period balances, which are determined using ledger types for to-be-committed (TBC), and forecasted budget (FB).
(Release 9.2 Update) Current revised estimate at completion (EAC) and current revised estimate to complete (ETC). You only populate these columns if you wish to change the forecast for a particular cost code by indicating changes to the estimate at completion (EAC) or estimate to complete (ETC). If there is no change in the projected final amount or projected final units, then the current revised estimate at completion (EAC) and or current revised estimate to complete (ETC) would be blank. These columns are determined by the method of computation:
MOC W:
If EAC Amount/Unit Flag is set to 1, then forecasted projected final amount/unit, HA/HU is equal to current revised EAC. If EAC Amount/Unit Flag is set to 0 and if current revised EAC is blank, then current projected final amount/unit is equal to forecasted projected final amount/unit, HA/HU. If current revised EAC is not blank, then the forecasted projected final amount and units are equal to current revised EAC amount and units.
MOC Y:
If ETC Amount/Unit Flag is set to 1, then forecasted projected final amount/unit, HA/HU is equal to current actual amount/unit. If ETC Amount Flag is set to 0 and if current revised ETC is blank, then current projected final amount/unit is equal to forecasted projected final amount/unit, HA/HU. If current revised ETC is not blank, then the forecasted projected final amount and units are equal to current revised ETC amount/units + actual amount/units.
MOC Z:
If total remaining amount is blank, then current projected final amount is equal to HA. If total remaining amount is not blank, then the current projected final amount/units are equal total remaining amount/units + actual amount/units.
EAC Amount/Unit Flag and ETC Amount/Unit flag will be set when users force zero in current revised EAC/ETC amount or unit column.
All of these balances, with the exception of the current revised EAC and ETC, include inception-to-date posted transactions based on the value in the Thru G/L Date field on the forecast, and are stored in the F51F110 table.
Users can choose to hide some of the rows (accounts) using these options on the form:
Hide Zero Amounts
Select this option to hide all rows that do not have any actual amounts for Actual Amounts (AA ledger), Actual Units (AU ledger), Open Committed Amounts (PA ledger), or Open Committed Units (PU ledger) posted since the account was created. Typically, you would select this option to hide the rows representing accounts for which work has not yet started.
Hide Zero Current Amounts
Select this option to hide all rows that do not have any actual amounts or actual units posted during the current period, up to and including the date in the Thru G/L Date specified in the forecast. Typically, you would select this option to display only those accounts that currently have work in progress.
Level of Detail (Release 9.2 Update)
Enter a level of detail in this field. The level of detail that is entered here is the highest level of detail that the system displays in the detail area of the form. Subtotals include amounts from all accounts with a higher level of detail.
Each row in the forecast includes a method of computation (MOC), which is retrieved from the F0901 table when the forecast is created. The MOC determines how the system calculates the Projected Final Amounts and Projected Final Units fields for each account. Each method enables users to enter different forecast information. You can leave the MOC as it is, or change it to one of these Advanced Job Forecasting methods:
W
Use this MOC to update the Revised Estimate At Completion (EAC) amounts and units for the account.
You use this method when the best estimate you have for the account is what the total amounts and units will be when the task is complete. For example, if your vendor tells you their total cost will be $1,000,000.00 USD when they have completed their work, you would use this method to enter your estimate for the associated account.
Y
Use this MOC to update the Revised Estimate To Complete (ETC) amounts and units for the account.
Use this method when the best estimate you have for the account is what the total remaining amounts or units are required to complete the task. For example, if your vendor tells you it will cost $25,000.00 USD to complete the work, you would use this method to enter your estimates for the associated account.
Z
Use this MOC to update remaining work information for the account. This method allows you to specify remaining detailed quantities and revised rates that will be required to complete the work. These values are then used to determine the total ETC cost for that account.
For example, if you know that you will need another 100 cubic yards of concrete (at a given cost per cubic yard) and an additional 200 man-hours (at a specific cost per hour) to complete this task, you would use this method.
I (Inclusion) (Release 9.2 Update)
Use this MOC to specify the accounts that you want to include in the associated rollup account.
User-Defined MOC
If you created user-defined MOCs, you can select them here.
To change the method of computation to one of the user-defined methods, you must first activate system 51F. See Activating the Advanced Job Forecasting System.
If you change the MOC on the forecast, the new value is stored in the F51F110 table, and the F0901 is updated with the new MOC when the forecast is approved and forecast data is updated.
You can also update the To-Be-Committed information for each account, regardless of what MOC is used. These amounts are informational, and are not included in calculating the current forecast amounts and units.
The system uses the following amounts and units to calculate the current forecast amount and units for each account:
Data from the initial forecast creation.
Data entered in the Revised Estimate to Completion, Revised Estimate at Complete, or Remaining Work fields.
(Release 9.2 Update) You can also choose to roll up detailed accounts under associated higher-level accounts using the Level of Rollup feature. See Understanding Level of Rollup (Release 9.2 Update) for details.
After entering or updating forecast amounts and units for the job, click OK to save the forecast. The system updates the F51F100 and F51F110 tables. If the MOC is Z, the system also updates the F51F115 table. No updates are made to any tables in the Financials system at this time. You can continue to update the forecast as needed.
If necessary, users can also refresh the balances of the following columns in a forecast:
Current Actuals (ledger types AA/AU)
Budgets (ledger types JA/JU)
Open commitments (ledger types PA/PU)
Pending change orders (ledger type from the processing options).
You use this feature if there have been updates to the accounts that are included in the forecast that were made after the initial creation of the forecast. For example, if you create a forecast on Monday, and a project manager enters an adjusting transaction to an account on Tuesday, you might want to refresh the balances to pull in the updated data for the account. Keep in mind that the system still uses the date in the Thru G/L Date field to determine which data to bring into the forecast.
When you refresh balances, the system updates the data in the forecast from the general ledger accounts, but does not change or delete any forecast data that you have entered.
After creating a forecast, you can review and edit it on the Edit Job Forecast form. You can also use Row menu options to access additional information about the cost code, including:
Account Ledger
Account Balances
Budget Original
Budget Revisions
Account Progress Entry
Job Progress Entry
Performance Labor Progress Entry
Commitment Inquiry
Account Inquiry
Budget by LT
Workfile Revisions
Detail History
These menu options are similar to those found in the Job Status Inquiry program, and can be used to view information about each cost code. These menu options are not used to edit any data on the forecast.
When the forecast is ready for review, you can change the status to In Review.
See Reviewing and Approving Job Forecasts for additional information.
You can also delete a forecast if necessary. You can delete only those forecasts that are at a status of Open. When you delete a forecast, the system deletes the following information:
Forecast header and detail records from the F51F100 and F51F110 tables
Forecast history header and detail records from the F51F120 and F51F125
Note that these records will exist only if the forecast was, at some point, moved to a status of In Review or Approved, and then moved back to Open status. Also, if at some point, updates were made to the Account Ledger (F0911) and Account Balances (F0902) tables for this forecast, they are not backed-out when you delete the forecast. The balances for projected final and forecast ledger types will be adjusted the next time a forecast for this job is approved.
Remaining work records from the F51F115
All media objects attached to the forecast header, forecast detail records, and remaining work records.