Every forecast in Tubes uses the same four numbers per cost type.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Budget | The work budget line, or the published budget when there is no work budget. |
| Cost to date | Costs booked up to the report date: approved invoices and other transactions linked to this cost type. |
| Committed | Purchase orders and other committed costs that are not yet invoiced. |
| Estimate to complete (ETC) | The remainder yet to be spent, beyond what is booked and committed. |
| EFC | Estimate at final cost: cost to date plus what is still committed, the expected final total. |
Variance is Budget minus EFC. A negative number means you are projected to go over budget.
What is not counted
Transactions booked on this project that are not yet linked to a committed cost are shown separately as unlinked transactions, and are not counted in cost to date or EFC until they are linked. An account option shows "budget minus unlinked" next to the forecast if you prefer to see them deducted.
Where the numbers come from
- Cost to date grows as invoices are approved and their lines carry this cost type. A cost type shared by several budget lines is split by budget share.
- Committed grows as you record purchase orders; it shrinks as invoices are linked to them. See Committed costs and purchase orders.
- The work budget is the base. See Publish a budget and create a work budget.
The cost report sentence
The cost report puts it in one sentence: "(cost to date) has been booked as cost to date and (PO) is committed in purchase orders and other committed costs, together (percentage) of the work budget. The remaining (ETC) is the estimate to complete."
Tip: "No actuals recorded, cost to date is still 0" on a running production usually means invoices are waiting in Review & Issues, not that nothing was spent.