Cash-flow forecast

Open this screen in Saral/projects/cashflow

Receipts and payments by month for one project — applications and retention coming in, subcontractor bills and orders going out — or the whole group rolled up. Every figure comes from the registers through one model; the page shows what the model said and what it could not include, never a zero as a claim.

You enter

Assumptions for a project where the derived ones are wrong: the certified-to-paid lag, the application cycle, a completion-date override, and a note. Blank means derived, and the card says which source was used.
Phasing of the contract sum analysis lines on the client cash-flow card — once any line is phased, the remaining value is timed line by line.
The horizon (how many months ahead) and the S-curve baseline.

Saral fills in

Cash in: open applications by their due dates, remaining contract value timed by the CSA phasing (or an S-curve, or an even spread to completion), retention releases by the contract's dates.
Cash out: subcontractor bills by their final dates for payment, open purchase orders, retention released to subcontractors.
The lag from certified to paid, observed from the project's own history or taken from the contract terms; the completion date from the contract, plus awarded EOT, or the won tender provisionally.
The low point of the cumulative position and the month it falls in; the S-curves of planned, actual and forecast cumulative value and cost.
The notes: every register it could not read and every figure it could not time.

It produces

The month-by-month forecast as CSV, PDF or Excel, and the by-project table for the group.
The month rows published to the Accounts cash projection, so Treasury sees the same forecast.

What this page is for

The project's cash position looking forward, built from what is already recorded: applications on Contract & Budget, packages and bills on the Payment schedule, retention on both registers, the programme's completion. It replaces a hand-built cash-flow sheet and keeps Accounts' cash projection in step with it.

Where the timing comes from

Receipts: each open application is expected on its due date plus the certified-to-paid lag, observed from paid applications on the project where there are enough, else the contract's payment terms. Remaining value is spread to completion by the CSA phasing if any line is phased, otherwise by an S-curve or evenly. Payments: each subcontractor bill on its final date for payment; open orders on their expected delivery. Retention follows the release dates on the retention registers.

Assumptions win, blanks derive

A typed assumption overrides the derivation for that project and the card says 'override'. Clearing it hands the figure back to the derivation and the card says which source is in use. Completion comes from the contract, then awarded EOT, then a won tender provisionally, then your override.

Never a zero as a claim

A register the model could not read, or a figure it could not time, is listed under 'what this forecast could not include'. The forecast is shown with that caveat rather than padded with zeros.

Where next

The Payment calendar lists the dates behind the payments side; the Portfolio and the Accounts cash projection roll this forecast up across the group.

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