Track Project Budgets

What is this?

The Budgets tab shows each project's budget beside what it cost so far. Every project breaks down into its phases. You see the cost from Clue dailies and the cost from your accounting system side by side. Clue also shows progress, CPI and where each phase will likely finish. You can set a date range for the cost from Clue dailies. You can also download the table or share a link to it.

Who's this for?

• Project managers, to track budget against cost for every phase.
• Superintendents, to see which phases need attention in the field.
• Accounting teams, to compare Clue costs with the accounting system.

How to use it

Step 1: Open the Budgets tab

Go to Projects > Budgets. The All projects row shows the totals.

Step 2: Search for a project or phase

Type in Search project or phase. The table shows only the rows that match.

Step 3: Open a project

Click the arrow beside a project. You see each phase with its budget, Clue Actual and ERP Actual.

Step 4: Check progress and CPI

Scroll right to see Target, Produced, % Complete, CPI and Projected Over/Under.

Step 5: Choose which dailies count

Click Included Dailies. Check the daily statuses that count toward Clue Actual. Click Apply at the top right, or click Cancel to close with no change.

Step 6: Set a date range for Clue dailies

Click the date range button next to Filters. Pick the first day and the last day. Only the figures that come from Clue dailies change. Point to the ? icon to see which figures change.

Step 7: Switch to the WIP view

Click the chart icon at the right of the toolbar. The same rows show as bars, so you see how much of each budget is used.

Step 8: Edit a phase budget

Click a phase row to open Edit Budget. Change an amount and click Save, or click Cancel to close with no change.

Step 9: Change columns, share or download

Use the three icons at the top right:

• Table Settings, show, hide, move and pin columns. The project and project name columns stay pinned at the left.
• Share, copies a link. The link opens the page with the same date range, statuses and columns.
• Download, saves the table as an Excel or CSV file.

The full details

• Budget: the current budget for the phase.
• Clue Actual: the cost from Clue dailies.
• ERP Actual: the cost from your accounting system.
• Why two actuals: the accounting system costs each person at their own rate. Clue costs the crew by pay class.
• Remaining and % Used: shown for each actual, so you see both numbers.
• Target: the quantity the phase must build.
• Produced: the quantity built so far. It comes from the accounting system when it has one, otherwise from Clue dailies.
• % Complete: Produced divided by Target.
• CPI: the value of the work done divided by its cost. Above 1.00 is under budget.
• Projected Over/Under: where the phase will likely finish at today's cost rate. A positive number is under budget, a red number is over.
• No cost yet: a phase with no cost has no CPI and no projection.
• Lump sum phases: these have no target quantity.
• WIP colors: the bars change color as a budget nears and passes 100%. The value always shows next to the bar.
• Edit Budget: one field for each cost type. Clearing an amount removes that budget line.
• Clue dailies date range: empty by default, which means all dates. It changes Clue Actual and the figures calculated from it: Remaining and % Used for Clue, and Produced, % Complete and CPI when they come from Clue dailies.
• Budget and ERP Actual: these come from your ERP. They always show the whole job, for any date range.
• A range with no dailies: Clue Actual shows $0.00. Budget and ERP Actual do not change.
• Table Settings: available in the table view. Clue keeps your column settings after a refresh.
• Download file: has the All projects row, each project and each phase. It uses your search, filters, statuses, date range and columns.

Tips

• A big gap between Clue Actual and ERP Actual can point to missing or uncoded dailies.
• Look for red CPI and red Projected Over/Under values first.
• Use Filters to show only the projects you manage.
• Set the date range to one week to compare a week of dailies with the budget.
• Send a Share link so that a colleague sees the same numbers.