Budgets & Forecasts
Aspire’s Project-level Budgeting and Forecasting gives PMs the power to plan employee and subcontractor hours by project and labor category, along with ODCs. Baseline projects budgets may be directly entered into Aspire or loaded from preferred spreadsheet formats. Budgets and forecasts seamlessly flow to project reports, while real-time project labor and expenses sync back to planning for comparisons and calibration.
Why Aspire is better.
Forecast Resources by Project
With Aspire project forecasts PMs may plan employee hours for both direct and indirect labor by fiscal year and period. Subcontractor labor is supported as well.
Project-level forecasts roll up to a combined workforce view, providing top-level benchmarks for designated teams, departments, and business units. With Aspire’s built-in enterprise content management features, PMs may revise forecasts at any time and seamlessly export planning scenarios for future reference and proposals.
Stock labor resources — with projected rates and benefits — may be added to project forecasts as placeholders to build staffing plans before execution. As project labor changes unfold, previous resource forecasts may be easily converted to new baseline project budgets.
Forecast ODCs by Project
Aspire also supports project planning for Other Direct Costs by period per fiscal year. To streamline entry, PMs may add annual ODC totals and instantly spread them across applicable periods or upload preferred spreadsheet forecast formats. Final ODC forecasts may then be set as baseline budgets when ready.
As Aspire syncs real-time ODC accruals to select project views, PMs instantly see true Over/Under cost differentials in line with their latest forecasts keeping budgets on track.
Aspire combines project ODC and resource forecasts into a single view for comprehensive planning and review. Color-coded cells boldly pinpoint expenses and resources as they maintain or exceed budgeted levels.
Forecast your entire Workforce
With Aspire’s workforce forecast view team leaders gain comprehensive top-line insights for all designated employees by fiscal year and period. Drill down to see individual resource availability to assist with alignment and utilization.
As incurred hours by resource also flow to this strategic view, leaders gain ongoing visibility into both individual allocations and overall team performance. With past, present and future labor on a single screen — aggregated by company, division, customer or team — performance may be optimized across all projects.
“As a Project Manager it’s super easy and convenient to instantly update my contract budgets in Aspire.”
Highlights: Budgets & Forecasts
Baseline, ETC and EAC Project Budgets
With Aspire, managers track project performance against their baseline budgets and update completion estimates as they go. As project scopes change, baseline budgets may be modified too.
Update Budgets As You Go
As project budgets change throughout your period of performance, simply export current budgets from Aspire then store in Aspire Content Connect for retention compliance and version control.
Compare Real-Time Labor and ODCs
All budget types may be displayed directly within project cost reports for real-time tracking and analysis for labor and ODCs. Hide budget columns as desired with quick customization controls.
Instantly Convert Forecasts to Revised Budgets
As forecast scenarios gain approval, PMs may easily promote their project plans to become their new baseline budgets creating a scalable — and auditable — flow throughout their project lifecycles.
Forecast Unassigned Resources to Project Growth
As project scopes expand, PMs and analysts may plan and forecast new resources directly in their Aspire cost reports before hiring and assignment. As new project staff start their Aspire timesheets all relevant forecast data updates automatically.
Forecast Indirect Rates Too
Future Indirect Rates may also be planned in Aspire supporting proposal submissions, profitability projections, and multiple staffing scenarios.
