Comparison of Planned and Actual Expenses

The 'Analysis' category of the Valuemation Planning and Calculation Manager sidebar represents a reality check in the planning process. The goal here is to collect comparison data which can be analysed in order to make better planning decisions and improve future planning.

Analysis provides an overview of the planning and budgeting processes by:

• comparing the costs and quantities in several plans.
• comparing planned costs and quantities with the actual ones.
• examining the extent to which planned resources have already been used.
• providing a forecast functionality.

The central object in financial reporting configuration is the Report Configuration object type. It defines which objects should be included into the comparison, what their mutual position should be and which results catalog should be used for presentation of the results.

Direct Cost Forecast

Since Valuemation v.4.5, the Pivot Tables multiline catalog have been added to the 'Report' folder. In this catalog, you can see graphical interpretations of various business data of the finance management generated by the pivot tables. One the key items here is the Forecast Planning - Direct Cost Forecast.

To access the 'Direct Cost Forecast' data, do the following:

1. Open the catalog and scroll down to the Direct Cost Forecast catalog item.

   There you can find the cost forecast for the next period in the graph.

   

2. Double-click the 'Direct Cost Forecast' item to open it in the editor.

   Here you can see the details of the forecast including the graph.

   

   • Total Net Price (of the direct costs).
   • The Cumulative Moving Average.
   • The trend. It is the linearly-spaced Cumulative Moving Average.