There are a variety of methods that can be deployed in BrightWork when considering how you want to track Project Budget. They can range from a very simple set of value columns on the Project Statement to a dedicated Budget List.  Metric calculations and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can be setup with all the approaches.

I recently helped a client who needed to track and manage categories of the project budget to support Capital expenditures vs. Operational expenditures for each project.  This type of cost management can be supported in BrightWork using a simple dedicated list and metric definitions.

Managed Budgets

You can evolve to a managed budget capability by using a dedicated list in the BrightWork site for Budget development and Tracking.

This list can include elements as Item purchased, PO number, PO Amount, Amount Paid, Amount Invoiced.  The sum of the entries in this list comprises the Project Budget tracking data and can be reported on in various ways either graphically or in a table format.

The client’s requirement for tracking types of project budget incorporated a list with Cost Category columns in it for Capital Labor, Capital Material, Operational Labor, Operational Material, and Operational Recurring.  The list also includes total columns for each Cost Category and across all categories.

The Project Manager can easily enter items into the Budget list as they are identified and categorize them as either Capital Expenditures or Operational Expenditures.  The total of all items is compared to Project Actual Costs for the metric.  A Bar Chart Graph is added to show the budget breakdown for the Project.

Reporting the Budget Information across the Portfolio

The same reporting and graphs are added to the Project Office and Area rollup sites to show budget category summary reporting.  Now project budgets and budget categories can be defined, managed and reported on at all levels of the organization.