Background documentationPlanning Workbook

 

A workbook that is used to plan and determine the cost and revenue of a project by planning against a bid structure or a master project structure (also known as execution structure).

 

You use planning workbooks to launch a Microsoft Excel-based spreadsheet in which you can plan against a bid structure or a master project structure that you have created. You can also launch the workbook for a selected structure element (or a substructure) within a project structure hierarchy. The system displays the selected structure elements in the workbook, for further planning or forecasting.

You can use the planning sheet to create the bid and proposal stages of a project and to create detailed baseline cost and revenue estimates in one unified space.

The characteristics that you plan against include resource types, resources, unit of measurement (UoM), and currency. The key figures you plan against include cost, quantity, and revenue. You can also add other user-defined characteristics and key figures.

The cost and revenue are calculated in terms of the transaction currency and the plan currency.

Prerequisites

  • Financial plans linked with master project structures or bid structures exist.

  • SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office (Analysis Office) is installed on your system.

  • You have activated the required characteristics and key figures.

  • You have made the following settings in Customizing for SAP Commercial Project Management under Start of the navigation path Project Cost and Revenue Planning End of the navigation path:

    • Define Plan Scenarios

    • Define Resource Types

    • Define Resources

    • Define Plan Types

Features

Planning workbooks are used to carry out various planning activities, such as:

  • Valuating cost and revenue

  • Distributing cost, revenue, and quantity

  • Planning on a locked financial plan item. This enables multiple users to plan on the different structure elements of the plan structure.

  • Monitoring progress and replanning through forecast techniques such as ETC, EAC, and POC

  • Comparing bid, plan, forecast, and actual data across versions and version types

  • Creating, editing, deleting, and viewing comments

    To create or edit a comment for a structure element or a resource type, right-click on a row and choose FP Comment.

    All the comments that you enter are displayed in a separate worksheet of the workbook, and stored in a DataStore Object.

The following workbooks are available for the following:

Note Note

These workbooks are available in the BI system as Analysis Office Excel Workbooks (AAOE). For more information about the available workbooks, see Workbooks.

End of the note.

Recommendation Recommendation

We recommend that you use workbooks that are consistent with each scenario. Not doing so can lead to inconsistent display of data. For example, if you have used a monthly planning workbook to plan and save data and later use a workbook specific to SAP Multiresource Scheduling, you are likely to view inconsistent data.

End of the recommendation.

  • Daily planning

  • Weekly planning

    Weekly planning workbooks are based on an aggregation level for daily planning. Therefore, when you use a weekly planning workbook, the data is equally divided and stored against the corresponding days of the week.

    Input-ready lines are not provided by default. Hence, you must use the Insert button to insert new line items for planning. For more information about adding new lines, see Inserting Line Items.

  • Monthly planning

  • Monthly planning based on bill of quantity

  • Planning and forecasting based on fiscal periods

  • Planning of change requests (see Project Issue and Change Management)

  • ETC forecast

  • EAC forecast

  • POC forecast

  • Version comparison

  • Planning with integration to SAP Multiresource Scheduling (MRS)

  • Cash flow planning

The following workbooks are available for quantity-based planning:

  • Output-based monthly planning

  • Output-based monthly forecasting

To know more about quantity-based planning, see Quantity Management.

The basic features in planning workbooks include:

You can also use in-built functions (of Analysis Office), such as filtering and sorting.

Planning Sheets with Selection Options

A set of planning sheets are available, which enable users to plan for a selected structure element and resource type combination. Note that the planning sheet displays plan data only for the selected combination.

Functions in Planning Sheets

The following functions are available in the Financial Planning group of the Analysis tab.

Function

Use

Calculate

Calculates totals based on entered quantity and rate. For example, Cost (Plan) and Revenue (Plan).

Valuate

Uses valuation methods to calculate the total cost or revenue for each resource, based on information in the back-end system and the valuation logic in each method.

Select a row in the planning area to valuate one resource or select a cell outside the planning area to valuate all the entered resources.

Delete

Deletes a selected plan item in the planning area.

Copy

Copies a selected plan item in the planning area.

Paste

Pastes the copied plan item into an empty row.

Insert

Inserts a new into the planning area to enable planning for a resource.

Edit

Allows editing when a plan item is display-only.

Distribute

Allows users to distribute values in summary columns such as Cost (Transaction), Revenue (Transaction), and Quantity. Depending on the column, the system distributes values as follows:

  • Equal distribution of quantity

  • Distribution of cost either based on revenue or quantity

  • Distribution of revenue either based on cost or quantity

Get Plan Rate

Allows a user to retrieve the planned cost and revenue rates for use in forecasting. This button is available only in ETC forecast workbooks.

Calculate ETC

Allows a user to initiate calculation of ETC values in a forecast workbook. Note that the system proposes ETC values only when the EAC value is 0.

Calculate EAC

Allows a user to initiate calculation of EAC values, after ETC values have been calculated.

Cash Flow

Allows a user to initiate calculation and display of incoming payments and outgoing payments in workbooks for cash flow management.
Characteristics

Financial Plan Item

This column contains the individual nodes of the bid structure (custom structure) or the master project structure (execution structure) that you have created. You can add more line items if you wish to plan at the level of the work breakdown structure (WBS).

Line Item Description

This is the short description that defines each node of the structure.

Financial Plan Line Item Type

The financial plan line item type determines the object types – whether a node is, for example, a WBS, sales order, or network activity.

Resource Types

Resource types are a superset of the kind of resources used in a project. Three standard resource types are provided: material, activity, and human. You can define your own resource types.

Resources

Resources are subsets of resource types – each resource is associated with a resource type. For example, if the resource type is Material, then the corresponding resources may be brick, cement, marble, or wood. You can define your own resources.

UoM (Unit of Measurement)

The UoM is dependent on the selected resource type and resource. For example, if the resource type is Human and the resource is Architect, then the UoM can be days or hours.

Transaction Currency

This is the currency that is applicable to each selected resource. The transaction currency can vary for each resource and can also differ from the currency that you have indicated in your plan, or the plan currency.

Key Figures

Quantity

You indicate the quantity that you require for each resource and distribute it across the periodic breakdown (days, weeks, months).

Cost (Transaction) and Revenue (Transaction)

The cost (transaction) is the cost in terms of the transaction currency associated with a particular resource. The revenue (transaction) is the revenue earned on resources in the associated transaction currency.

Cost (Plan) and Revenue (Plan)

The cost (plan) is the cost in terms of the plan currency associated with a particular resource. The revenue (plan) is the revenue earned on resources in the predefined plan currency.

Rate (Cost)

This key figure holds the value of the price per unit in terms of cost. The value is determined by the valuation strategy.

Rate (Revenue)

This key figure holds the value of the rate in terms of revenue yield. The value is determined by the valuation strategy.

Staffed Quantity

This key figure holds the staffed quantity retrieved from SAP Multiresource Scheduling (MRS) system.

Apart from these key figures, you can define your own key figures, such as overhead costs, labor costs, discounts, taxes, or surcharges.

Activities

To launch the planning sheet, do the following:

  1. Choose a plan.

  2. Under the Versions section, select a version.

  3. Choose Plan.

  4. In the dialog box, choose a workbook to launch the planning sheet with the relevant layout, queries, and planning functions.

More Information

Creating Line Items

Valuating Line Items

Distributing Key Figures

Calculating Key Figures

Enhancing Planning Workbooks