One of the ways the JC module goes beyond just collecting accounting data to provide job management capabilities is with the JC Cost Projections program.

The Cost Projections program is designed to be extremely flexible; you decide how the screen should be arranged and set it up as such in the JC Company Parameters program.

The JC Cost Projections program integrates two distinct functions on one screen—calculating projections and entering projections. You can decide when and if to use either or both. Here are some different ways to work with projections:

1. You can ignore the Cost Projections program completely, and use the calculation abilities of Crystal Reports to build your own formulas into your job cost reports that calculate projections based on estimated, committed, and actual amounts.
2. You can use the Cost Projections program to let the system calculate projections for you, which can then be included on your Crystal reports.
   Note: This option requires only that you use the Initialize feature of the Cost Projections screen to let the system calculate projections for the jobs and phases you select. The projected calculations are stored in the Cost by Period table (JCCP) in the Projected Hours, Units, and $ fields that can then be drawn into any report you develop, and changes are stored in the Cost Detail (JCCD) table.
3. If you do not want to use the calculations at all, or you do not want to keep units complete up-to-date (in Progress Entry), you can ignore the calculation feature of Cost Projections and just use it as a data entry program for entering projections.
4. To get maximum value from this program, you can calculate your projections, and then override the particular job phases where the calculated amount does not adequately reflect the status of that work. Note that each time you recalculate, you have the option to leave those numbers that were previously overridden (plugged) intact, or to replace them with new calculations. You also have the option to initialize projections for all jobs at once, a specific range of jobs, or jobs by project manager (i.e. only those jobs that are assigned to the specified project manager in JC Jobs).