How to understand the budget overview columns

Written By Ekke

Last updated About 1 hour ago

The budget overview brings together all key financial indicators of your project in one view. Each column has a specific purpose: some track cost estimates, some track actual spending, and others calculate income or profitability.

Below is a table with each column explained in detail.

Column	Meaning
Net estimated cost	The estimated cost to complete the item. This is your baseline expectation for what it will cost to deliver this part of the project.
Budget submitted to client	The price offered to the client. This is calculated as the net estimated cost plus markup. It represents the expected income from the item.
Committed income	The value of client contracts created in Planyard. If you have multiple contracts for the same budget item, the column shows the total of all contracts.
Approved sales invoices	The total value of sales invoices that have been processed and assigned to this budget item. This gives you an overview of sales to date.
Target budget	An internally set target cost for the item. It allows you to aim lower than your estimated cost. For example, if the net estimated cost is 50 but you want to push for 45, the target budget can be set to 45.
Revised budget	The updated forecast of cost to complete. Whenever you update the forecast for an item, this number reflects the latest expectation.
Committed costs	The total of all subcontracts, purchase orders, and standalone invoices created in the project. This shows how much you have committed financially to date, regardless of whether payments have been made.
Committed variations	The total value of all variations (changes) in subcontracts and purchase orders. This helps track scope or price changes added to commitments.
In subcontracts	Calculated as the revised budget minus committed costs. Shows how much budget you still have available to spend on the item.
Claimed	The total value approved in subcontractor claims. Only shows claims that have been approved.
Approved cost	The total cost recorded to date. This is a summary of all invoices, bills, and receipts that have been processed against the budget.
Remaining budget	Calculated as the revised budget minus committed costs. Shows how much budget you still have available to spend for the item.
Budget variance	The difference between the target budget and the revised budget. It indicates whether you are better or worse off compared to your internal target.
Profitability forecast	The portion of committed costs that comes specifically from subcontracts (not purchase orders or standalone invoices).

Tip: Use the combination of budget variance and profitability forecast to spot risks early. Variance helps you track internal efficiency against targets, while the profitability forecast shows the real impact on client-facing margins.

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