Associated Budget Move (Net Zero Dollar Move)

VIDEO | Budget Move

 

During a project, you may encounter changes that result in a budget move which adds no additional budget to the total project budget. For example, you may decide to change the means and methods for completing an operation which results in moving budget from one operation to another. Performing a budget move allows you to accurately track budget changes to maintain a clear history and ensure costs moving forward are accurate.

In the example structural steel scenario, the Original Budget for Erect Steel – Light that was initially carried from Estimate to Control has been found to be in excess, and a portion of this budget’s dollar value needs to be moved to your newly created cost item, Module [your User ID#] - Erect Steel Heavy.

It is important to remember that Current Budget cost and man-hours are only maintained at the terminal level, and you cannot move cost to/from a parent cost item. You can move dollar values between multiple cost items at the same time.

InEight Control contains a Budget Move Wizard that walks you through the following steps for performing a budget move:

  1. Select From & To Items

  2. Define Relationships

  3. Assign Amounts

  4. Adjust Cost Categories

  5. Summary (submit to pending)

The following Step by Step walks you through how to perform a net zero-dollar Budget Move in the tool.

Perform a Net Zero Dollar Associated Budget Move

  1. Hover over the Actions drop-down menu, hover over Budget move & contract adjustment, then select Budget move.

    • The Budget Move – Details window appears

    • The Details window can be used to enter any relevant information, but is optional

  2. The default budget move workflow is Non-Associated. Select the Associated radio button.

  3. Type 001XX (where XX are your initials) in the Issue # free text box.

    • The Issue # is a text field used solely for informational purposes

  4. Type Spread budget from Light Steel to Module Heavy Steel in the Description text box.

  5. Click Next.

    • The Select From & To Items tab appears

  6. Select a cost item from the task list on the left.

  7. Select a cost item from the task list on the right.

  8. Click Next.

    • The Define Relationships window appears

    • The Define button allows you to select what type of relationships the two cost items share

  9. From the Define button, click on Select All.

    • The Cost category, Qty or MHr only option allows you to modify only the budgeted values of the “From” cost item, similar to the Budget Quantity & Man-Hour Adjustment option from the Actions menu

    • Selecting the Budget move with Cost category, Qty or MHr to option allows you to move budgeted values of the “From” cost items to the “To” cost items

  10. Click OK to close the Define window.

  11. Click Next.

    • The Assign Amounts window appears

    • From this window, you will assign amounts to be moved from one cost item to the other

    • The CB Total Cost and CB Total MH values entered under the To: section automatically deduct from the equivalent fields in the From: section

    • CB Total Quantity values entered under the To: section do NOT automatically deduct from the From: section because you could be moving between cost items with differing units of measure

    You have the option to either manually or automatically deduct the CB-Total MH. If you select “Advanced options” you can specify whether man-hours automatically deduct or not.

  12. In the To: section of the window, enter 10,000 in the CB-Total Cost field.

  13. In the To: CB-Total MHrs, enter 100.00.

  14. In the To: CB-Total Quantity enter 20.00.

    • Note that the equivalent costs and man-hours deduct automatically from Erect Steel – Light, but NOT the CB Total Qty

  15. Enter -20.00 in the From: CB Total Qty field.

  16. Click Next.

    • The Adjust Cost Categories window appears

    • From this window, you can assign your pending budget changes to existing and new cost categories of your cost item

  17. Click the Add cost category link.

  18. Select Materials on the resulting pop-up window, then click OK.

  19. In the To: field for Materials, enter 10,000.00.

  20. Change the To: Labor field to 0.

    • The values shown in the Available and Totals fields will auto-adjust based on the values entered in the To: Pending fields

  21. Click Next.

    • The Summary window appears

  22. Review your proposed changes, then click Submit to send the Contract Adjustment for approval.

    • This budget move is now listed in the project’s Change Register with a status of Pending

Later in this lesson, you will learn how to approve and modify budget changes from the Change Register. These changes will not reflect in the Current Budget until the contract adjustment is approved.

Budget Move with a Single Cost Item

In other times during your project, you will encounter changes that have the potential to cause a move in your budget within the cost categories of a specific cost item. For example, you may find that some items that you estimated to be self-performed work may be faster and cheaper if they were subcontracted out. Therefore, you can perform a budget move for a single cost item and redistribute the budgeted cost between different cost categories.

In the example structural steel scenario, the Original Budget for a cost item needs to be moved from the Labor cost category to the Subcontract cost category. This estimated self-performed work will now be subcontracted work because this cost item is not our specialty and it would take us longer and be more expensive for us to self-perform this work rather than a specialty subcontractor whom is faster and cheaper.

The following Step by Step walks you through how to perform a 1:1 Budget move within a single cost item in the tool.

Perform a Budget Move within a Single Cost Item

  1. Select the Actions drop-down menu, hover over Budget move & contract adjustment, then select Budget move.

    • The Details window appears

    • Select the Associated budget move workflow radio button

  2. Type 002XX (where XX are initials) in the Issue # free text box.

    • The Issue # is a text field used solely for informational purposes

  3. Type Move cost from self-performed to subcontracted in the Description text box.

  4. Click Next.

    • The Select From & To Items window appears

  5. Select a cost item from the task list on the left.

  6. Select a cost item from the task list on the right.

  7. Click Next on the dialogue box to continue.

    • The Define Relationships window appears

  8. From the Define button, select Cost category, Qty, or MHr adjustment only.

    • Selecting the Cost category, Qty, or MHr adjustment only option allows you to move budgeted cost category values within a single cost item

  9. Click OK to close the Define window.

  10. Click Next on the bottom right of the budget move screen to continue.

    • The Assign Amounts window appears

  11. Click Next on the bottom right of the budget move screen to continue.

    • The Budget Move – Adjust Cost Categories window appears

    • From this window, you can assign your pending budget changes to existing and new cost categories of your cost item

    • Note: We will skip the Assign Amounts window section because we are not changing the Mhrs or Quantity

  12. Click the Add cost category link.

  13. Select Subcontract on the resulting pop-up window, then click OK.

  14. In the To: field for Labor, enter -50,000.00.

  15. In the To: field for Subcontract, enter 50,000.00.

    • The values shown in the Available and Totals fields will auto-adjust based on the values entered in the To: Pending fields

  16. Click Next.

    • The Summary window appears

  17. Review your proposed changes, then click Submit to send the Contract Adjustment for approval.

    • This budget move is now listed in the project’s Change Register with a status of Pending

Net Zero Budget Move from Change

You can also perform a zero-budget move from Change which ultimately creates a budget move in Control.

Change Attributes

When you create a budget move in Control, all the attributes that were setup in Change now flow into Control automatically.