Access a project-level cash flow analysis and quickly visualize the difference between planned, actual, and forecast with built-in dynamic charts.
When all budget line items are forecasted, you can go to the Cash Flow tab to see a project-level cash flow analysis and the planned and actual forecast. Based on that, you can investigate details. The Cash Flow tab is a centralized place to create and manage all cash flow distributions.
In this article:
Within the Settings tool, project administrators can set preferred forecast periods; weekly or monthly. Once a forecast distribution is created on any budget item this setting cannot be changed.
See the Forecast Setting to learn more.
You can create distribution items to see how your budget is performing at a project level with four built-in curves.
To create a distribution item:
Go to the Cash Flow tab within the Forecast tool.
If there are no distribution items created yet, you'll see Add distribution item there:
However, if there are existing items, the Add distribution item button shows at the top:
Now you can choose what will be the base for a distribution item: Budget, Budget code segment, or Contract.
Select distribution items and click Add.
Distribution items are added to the Revised Budget list, the detailed view of the Cash Flow tab. In the Cost & Time tab, you can connect budgets to schedule tasks, but actual distribution is done in the cash flow view. To create a distribution, you need to have created scheduled tasks.
After creating a schedule task and a distribution item, you can create cash flow distribution to see a project-level cash flow analysis and the planned and actual forecast. To do so:
Go to the Cash Flow tab within the Forecast tool.
Open the distribution item list view of Revised Budget or Forecast Final Cost. In our scenario, we clicked Revised Budget. The detailed view of Revised Budget opens. If project administrator allows budget forecasting, here you'll see Forecast Final Budget.
You'll see the list of distribution items. Click the More menu next to the one you want to create a distribution.
Choose distribution start and end dates. Choose the style of the cash flow curve.
The distribution is created. You'll see the table with created distribution, divided into months and years, and you can load more periods when available.
You can override dates if preferred.
To create a distribution based on multiple distribution items, select the distribution items and click Distribute at the top of the page.
In cash flow management, actual costs can sometimes deviate from the forecasted final costs for each period. If the value of a specific period on the Forecast Final Cost (or Forecast Final Budget) curve doesn't match the corresponding period on the Actual Cost curve, an indicator will appear in the distribution item list view.
A context menu provides the option to Redistribute based on Actual Cost.
After selecting, you will see several options:
After clicking the Redistribute button in the dialog, past periods will be adjusted to match the actual cost. The current period is not included in these adjustments.
The distribution item line will become editable. The Cancel and Confirm buttons appear at the right end of the row.
The variance resulting from adjusting past periods will then be evenly spread across the remaining ones.
Here you have several available options:
The remaining periods retain their values, but they can be modified as needed. To do so, open the distribution detailed view and edit values in relevant periods.
Here is a demo of Automated Forecast Adjustments in action:
Apart from automated forecast adjustments you can also create adjustments manually.
In our scenario, we're making adjustments in Forecast Final Cost to New Travelling PM Budget. To do so:
Click on the blue triangle in the Distribution Total.
Choose Add forecast adjustment in the flyout panel.
In the new window, choose a budget to add forecast adjustment to.
Click Add.
Name the new adjustment and approve it.
Now, open the distribution item detail view of New Travelling PM Budget and edit values in relevant periods.
You can add forecast adjustments in the same way in Revised Budget (or Forecast Final Budget, when budget forecasting is on) and Forecast Final Cost.
Use Quantity Distribution to track your cash flow with quantities and units (hours, days, weeks) alongside dollar amounts. This helps you manage labor budgets and time-based work by showing both the amount of work and when it will happen.
Example Scenario: When you create budgets using quantities and unit costs (for example, 100 hours × $50/hour = $5,000), the system only tracks the total dollar amount ($5,000) and loses the original quantity information (100 hours).
The Solution: Quantity distribution preserves both the dollar amounts and the original quantities, allowing you to:
To work with quantity distribution, open distribution item list view:
Then you can:
Toggle views: Switch between "Amount" and "Input Qty" views using the toggle button.
Work with the Unit column: When in quantity view, you'll see a "Unit" column showing:
This feature is most valuable for labor and other time-based work. Try to use consistent time units within similar types of work. Update both quantities and amounts as your project progresses. Pay attention to unit costs when adjusting to ensure they remain realistic.
Key features:
Forecast adjustments. When adding forecast adjustments:
Redistribute based on actual cost: When you redistribute amounts based on actual costs, the system also redistributes quantities proportionally, keeping your quantity forecasts aligned with actual progress.
Modify quantity and unit cost per period after forecast adjustment was added. To do so, in the consolidated view:
Click Edit input qty & unit cost.
Edit distribution.
The system automatically selects appropriate units:
For time-based distributions, you can switch between different time units: hr (hours), d (days), wk (weeks), mo (months).
The system automatically converts quantities when you change units (for example, 40 hours becomes 1 week).
An Undistributed column advises of any differences between the amount in the budget view and the currently distributed. Selecting the More menu next to the item with an orange triangle allows you to add in undistributed items for change orders or transfers, so they can be distributed separately from the original work.
After adding to the distribution item, you'll see the detailed view:
You can distribute those items using the predefined curves or manually.
Approved Owner Changes and Internal Budget Transfer amounts are shown in a different color in the chart.
To clear a distribution, click the More menu next to a distribution item and select Clear distribution.
To delete a distribution item, click the More menu and then select Delete. To delete more than one distribution item, select boxes next to items you want to delete, and then click Delete.
In both cases, you'll be prompted to confirm the action.
The collaborative functionality in the Forecast tool allows users to send distribution items to suppliers and ask for their input.
Learn more about the Cash Flow Collaborative Workflow.
Learn how to:
Teams can access a project-level cash flow analysis to easily visualize the cash flow distribution throughout the project lifecycle. This real-time summary enables teams to see planned actual and forecast quickly with all the details, when necessary. To access the Cash Flow table, open the Forecast tool.
To display the built-in dynamic time-versus-money chart, select the icon. Then, you can:
You can manipulate the Cash Flow table by using the icon:
You can also see more details by selecting the icon that appears in the table when hovering over a line:
The view of the budget for the specific column opens. Add distribution items and create cash flow distributions from this view. Click budget items with the icon to see a more detailed forecast. Periods are divided into months and years, with extra periods available to load when needed.
Cash flow periods are dynamic. Therefore, period column position and visibility cannot be saved in cash flow saved views. Only the following columns will be kept in saved views:
You can view and edit the details of a distribution item on the list, and also see the cash flow context of other distribution items, by displaying these details in a subtable.
To display distribution item details in a subtable in the list view:
Select any Distribution Total that has a blue triangle indicator to expand the subtable.
You can now edit the details of an item and see other items.
Forecast adjustments across tools
Other forecast tools and workflows