Detailed Financial Planning › Cost Plans › By Example: Managing a Cost Plan

By Example: Managing a Cost Plan

Cost planning starts at the investment level and goes through multiple iterations of cost projections and reviews to produce the final approved budget. Investment budgets roll up to the department level and then roll up to higher levels as desired. To streamline this planning process, financial controllers can standardize the ways to capture and break down costs for the entire organization. These standards ensure that all the costs are easily recognized and roll up to the desired levels. Financial controllers can implement standardized budget approval processes to review and approve individual and departmental budgets.

The following is one example on how to manage cost plans based on standards defined by the financial controller. When a finance manager approves a cost plan, it becomes the budget plan for an investment.

1. Financial controller sets global default standards at the entity level to suggest the recommended cost planning structure.
2. Project manager does the following:
   • Creates cost plans for an investment as estimates for a budget.
   • Designates a specific cost plan as the POR.
   • Optionally, associates the POR with a benefit plan.
   • Submits the POR for budget approval.
   • Optionally, associates a benefit plan with the submitted budget.
3. Finance manager or other designated authority approves or rejects the submitted cost plan as the budget plan.

More information:

Create Entities

How Cost Plans are Created

Create the Plan of Record

Associate Benefit Plans with Cost Plans

Submit Cost Plans as Budget Plans

Approve or Reject Submitted Budget Plans