Not in a spreadsheet beside it. Part of your PPM platform.
Most project tools stop at the schedule, so the real budget ends up in a workbook nobody fully trusts. Completix keeps the approved budget, the forecast and the actuals on the project, so the PM stays in control of the number and the PMO can rely on it without chasing anyone.
The project manager is judged on landing the project on budget. The PMO is judged on whether every project's number can be trusted. Today, both usually depend on a spreadsheet and a lot of email.
The number lives in a workbook that drifts from the project the day it is saved. Every change means another copy, and nobody is sure which one finance is looking at.
See the budget on the projectQuotes and invoices arrive by email and get matched to the budget by hand, weeks later, if at all.
See how vendor costs reconcileStatus reports say on track while the overrun sits in an appendix. By the time it reaches the summary, the quarter is gone.
See how variance surfacesEvery month-end starts with collecting figures from each PM, then rekeying them into one view. The portfolio total is only as current as the slowest reply.
See the portfolio roll-up| Category | Type | Planned | Actual | EAC | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software licenses | CapEx | $320,000 | $298,500 | $315,000 | +$5,000 |
| Implementation | CapEx | $450,000 | $210,400 | $438,000 | +$12,000 |
| Infrastructure | OpEx | $180,000 | $97,500 | $185,000 | −$5,000 |
| Training and change | OpEx | $290,000 | $76,000 | $260,000 | +$30,000 |
Plan against approved funding, then time-phase the budget month by month. Budget lines stay linked to resource management, so a change in allocation flows into the forecast, and EAC recalculates without anyone touching a formula.
When a budget line drifts from what was approved, the variance surfaces in the Warning Center as it emerges. Nothing is escalated or resolved automatically. The PM decides the response, and the PMO sees every open variance across the portfolio in one place, early enough for portfolio governance to act on it.
Each vendor cost is captured against the budget line it belongs to, with the quote and invoice attached, and realized in the months it actually lands. When the invoice comes in above the quote, the EAC reflects it as soon as the actual is recorded. It works alongside vendor and contract management, and keeps every quote and invoice with the project through document management.
A project budget is never an island. Each one feeds portfolio financial management, where fiscal-year budgets are set for the portfolio and for each line of business.
Nobody rekeys a number between the project and the Executive Committee, and nobody spends month-end chasing figures.
Set at portfolio and line-of-business level, one fiscal year at a time.
Drafts pull the live budget into status reports. Once posted, a report is kept exactly as it was. The same project data feeds portfolio reporting.
The project budget lives on the project: the PM plans it, forecasts it and tracks actuals against it. Portfolio financial management sits above it, with fiscal-year budgets set at the portfolio and line-of-business level, and every project budget rolls up into your project portfolio management view.
Completix calculates EAC automatically from the project's actuals and forecast, so it updates whenever either one changes. Nobody maintains it by hand.
Yes. Each budget line is classified as CapEx or OpEx, so EAC and actuals can be reported by type as well as in total.
Yes. The budget shows total approved funding for the life of the project alongside the current fiscal year, so a multi-year program can be tracked against both.
The variance surfaces in the Warning Center for review. Completix does not escalate or resolve it automatically. The PM decides the response, and the PMO can see every open variance across the portfolio.
Users with lock permission can lock the project's financials as of a date. That gives you a fixed record to review against.
Changing a resource allocation updates the forecast. Actuals that are already recorded are not altered.
A status report draws on the live budget while it is being prepared. Once it is posted, the report is kept exactly as it was, so past reports always show what was reported at the time.
See how Completix carries a project from approved budget to forecast, actuals and variance, then rolls it straight into the portfolio view, with no spreadsheets in between.
Project portfolio financial management tracks what was approved, committed, spent, and still expected across every project. This guide covers budgets, forecasts, CAPEX and OPEX, committed costs, EAC, and variances, with worked examples.
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Poor communication is blamed for most failed projects, but the real cause runs deeper: fragmented tools and no shared source of truth. See where communication actually breaks down across a portfolio, and what fixes it beyond another status meeting.
