Set up the cost and revenue forecast for a contract using Forecast tab in PM Contract.

The forecast for a contract defines, by month, the expected revenue, cost, and profit over the life of the contract. You can enter a forecast manually or initialize a forecast using JC Forecast Initialize (File > Forecast Initialize). Initialization will generate the forecast based on the forecast options you defined in JC Company Parameters and the contract's original and estimate amounts.

For example:

In JC Company Parameters, you set up the forecast options as shown below:

You then set up a contract with the following information:

Start Month: 01/21

Complete Date: 12/31/21

Original Contract: 3,580,000

Original Estimate: 1,350,000

Once initialized, the Forecast grid is populated with the entries as shown in the example below.

In our example, note that the revenue forecast differs from the cost forecast. Since the revenue forecast uses the 'Curve' method, initialization generated revenue entries (highlighted area) based on the intervals and percentages defined for revenue in JC Company Parameters. The cost forecast is based on the 'Linear' method; therefore initialization distributed the contract's estimated costs equally over the life of the contract.

For additional information about how initialization utilizes the forecast options, see Revenue/Cost Forecast Options.