Project Budget: To Configure and Update the Budget

In this activity, you will learn how to configure the project budget, update actual values of the project budget, and review project performance.

Attention:
This activity is based on the U100 dataset. If you are using another dataset, or if any system settings have been changed in U100, these changes can affect the workflow of the activity and the results of the processing. To avoid any issues, restore the U100 dataset to its initial state.

Story

Suppose that the Thai Food Restaurant customer has ordered a juicer along with the site review and installation services from the SweetLife Fruits & Jams company. SweetLife's project accountant has created a project to handle the tracking and billing of the provided materials and services.

Acting as the project accountant, you will configure the revenue budget for the project to plan the expected revenue and the cost budget to plan the materials and services to be spent on the project. Then, when the juicer is delivered and the services are provided, you will enter project transactions to capture project costs and will check is the expenses within the budget values. You will then bill the project and compare the project income with the budgeted values.

Configuration Overview

In the U100 dataset, the following tasks have been performed for the purposes of this activity:

  • On the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form, the Project Accounting feature has been enabled to provide support for the project accounting functionality.
  • On the Projects (PM301000) form, the TOMYUM5 project has been created and the INSTALL project task has been created for the project and configured as the default task. Also, Task is selected as the Revenue Budget Level of the project and Task and Item is selected as the Cost Budget Level of the project.
  • On the Account Groups (PM201000) form, the REVENUE, SUBCON, LABOR, and MATERIAL account groups have been created.
  • On the Non-Stock Items (IN202000) form, the SITEREVIEW, INSTALL and TRAINING non-stock items have been configured.
  • On the Stock Items (IN202500) form, the JUICER15 stock item has been configured.

Process Overview

In this activity, you will configure the project budget on the Projects (PM301000) form. You will then release project transactions on the Project Transactions (PM304000) form that will update the actual values of the project budget. You will then bill the project on the Projects (PM301000) form and release the created accounts receivable invoice on the Invoices and Memos (AR301000) form.

System Preparation

To sign in to the system and prepare to perform the instructions of the activity, do the following:

  1. Download the TOMYUM5_Project_Transactions file to your computer.
  2. Launch the MYOB Acumatica website, and sign in to a company with the U100 dataset preloaded; you should sign in as Pam Brawner by using the brawner username and the 123 password.
  3. In the info area, in the upper-right corner of the top pane of the MYOB Acumatica screen, make sure that the business date in your system is set to 1/30/2024. If a different date is displayed, click the Business Date menu button, and select 1/30/2024 on the calendar. For simplicity, in this activity, you will create and process all documents in the system on this business date.
  4. On the Projects Preferences (PM101000) form, specify the following settings on the General tab (General Settings section):
    • Revenue Budget Update: Summary
    • Cost Budget Update: Detailed
  5. Save your changes to the project accounting preferences.

Step 1: Configuring the Project Budget

To specify the revenue and cost budgets for the project, do the following:

  1. On the Projects (PM301000) form, open the TOMYUM5 project.

    On the Summary tab (Project Properties section), notice that the Revenue Budget Level of the project is Task and the Cost Budget Level of the project is Task and Item.

  2. On the Revenue Budget tab, click Add Row on the table toolbar and specify the following settings for the added row:
    • Project Task: INSTALL (selected automatically as the default project task)
    • Account Group: REVENUE
    • Original Budgeted Amount: 3000

    The added line represents the price of the juicer, the site review, and the installation service.

    Tip:
    Notice that because of the selected revenue budget level, the revenue budget does not include inventory items and you cannot add another line with the same project task and account group to the revenue budget.
  3. On the Cost Budget tab, click Add Row and specify the settings shown in the following table in the three cost budget lines you add.
    Project Task Inventory ID Original Budgeted Quantity Unit Rate
    INSTALL JUICER15 1 2000
    INSTALL SITEREVIEW 2 40
    INSTALL INSTALL 4 80

    When you select an inventory item in a budget line, the system automatically selects an account group for the line based on the expense account of the non-stock item or the COGS account of the stock item that is mapped to the account group.

    Tip:
    Notice that because of the selected cost budget level you must specify an inventory item in a cost budget line. You cannot add another line with the same budget key (project task, inventory item, and account group) to the cost budget of the project.
  4. On the form toolbar, click Save to save the changes.
  5. In the table selection area, select the Group by Task check box. In the table, the only line to which the system grouped budget lines is shown. The Original Budgeted Amount of the line with the INSTALL project task is 2,400.00.

Step 2: Uploading Project Transactions

To upload and process the transactions to update actual values of the cost budget of the project, do the following:

  1. On the Project Transactions (PM304000) form, add a new record.
  2. In the Summary area, make sure PM is selected as the Module.
  3. In the Description box, type The juicer with the installation for the TOMYUM5 project.
  4. On the table toolbar of the Details tab, click Load Records from File.
  5. In the File Upload dialog box, which opens, click Choose File and select the TOMYUM5_Project_Transactions.xlsx file. Click Upload.
  6. In the Common Settings dialog box, which opens, leave the default settings, and click OK.
  7. In the Columns dialog box, leave the current column mapping, and click OK.

    The system uploads four lines with the project transactions. In these lines, notice that the quantity of the provided services is less than you have budgeted—that is, an hour of the site review instead of two hours and three hours of the installation instead of four hours. Also notice that an extra line for two hours of training (which have not initially been budgeted) have been added.

  8. In the Summary area, make sure that the Total Amount of the uploaded transactions is 2,360.00.
  9. On the form toolbar, click Save to save the project transaction, and then click Release to release it.
  10. On the Projects (PM301000) form, open the TOMYUM5 project, and in the Summary area, notice that the Actual Expenses box shows 2,360.00, which is the total amount of the released transactions.

    On the Cost Budget tab, review the cost budget of the project. Notice that the system has created a new budget line with the TRAINING item because the Detailed level of the cost budget update is specified in the project accounting preferences. The system has also updated the Actual Quantity and Actual Amount of the budget lines based on the released transactions (see the following screenshot). You can compare revised budgeted values with actual ones and track the performance by budget line in the Performance (%) column.

    Figure 1. The cost budget of the project updated by released transactions


  11. While remaining on the Cost Budget tab, in the table selection area, select the Group by Task check box and review totals by project task. The revised budgeted amount for the project task is 2,400.00, while the actual amount is 2,360.00.

Step 3: Billing the Project

To bill the project and process the invoice, do the following:

  1. While you are still viewing the TOMYUM5 project on the Projects (PM301000) form, on the form toolbar, click Run Project Billing.

    The system creates an accounts receivable invoice and opens it on the Invoices and Memos (AR301000) form.

    Notice that the Detail Total in the Summary area is 2,950.00.

  2. On the form toolbar, click Remove Hold to assign the invoice the Balanced status, and then click Release to release the accounts receivable invoice.
  3. Return to the Projects form with the TOMYUM5 project opened, and press Esc to refresh the form. In the Summary area, notice that the Actual Income box shows 2,950.00, which is the total amount of the released invoice. The system also calculates the project margin as the difference of actual income and expenses ($590).

    On the Revenue Budget tab, review the revenue budget of the project. Notice that the system has updated the Actual Amount of the revenue budget line based on the released invoice.

  4. On the Balances tab, review the project budget by account group, as shown in the following screenshot. You can track the performance by account group as well as by income and expense totals in the Performance (%) column.
    Figure 2. Project budget balances divided by account group


You have finished working with the project budget.