When you enter estimate costs on the Revenue/Costs window, the estimate amount for each cost category is automatically distributed evenly among the months of the contract. You can create a spending plan by manually distributing estimate costs by month; this allows you to predict how costs will accumulate throughout the life of the contract. If, for example, a contract on a chiller incurs most costs during seasonal start up and shut down in the spring and fall, you can distribute your estimates accordingly.

In addition, you can carry over the distribution of your estimate costs when a contract is renewed.

A monthly report allows you to compare estimate costs to actual costs and billed and recognized revenue amounts. Each contract has the following:

A revenue record for each fiscal period within the contract date range
A billing record for each month within the contract date range, based on the contract billing day
A cost estimate record for each month within the contract date range, based on the first of the month

Due to the different increments for tracking costs, billing, and revenue, a contract may not appear profitable every month. However, the ability to estimate costs as they are incurred makes it easier to determine if costs are tracking per plan.

Estimating Contract Costs by Month

On the Revenue/Costs window, use the expansion button next to the Estimate field for each non-labor category to enter your cost estimates by month.
Complete the following fields:
- Date
  The first day of each month defaults but can be edited. You can enter any valid date within the start and end dates of the contract.
- Estimate Amount
  Enter the estimate cost for each date.
- Estimate %
  When you enter a cost estimate for a month, this field defaults with that month's percentage of the total estimate amount for the cost category.
When you are finished, select OK, and the total of each monthly cost estimate displays on the Revenue/Cost window.
For each labor cost category, use the expansion button next to the estimate field to open the Labor Cost Estimates window.
- Date
  The first day of each month defaults but can be edited. You can enter any valid date within the start and end dates of the contract.
- Estimate Amount
  Enter the estimate cost for each date.
- Estimate Hours
  Estimate the hours that correspond to the estimate cost for each date.
- Estimate %
  When you enter a cost estimate for a month, this field defaults with that month's percentage of the total estimate amount for the cost category.
When you are finished, select OK, and the total of your cost and hours estimates displays in the appropriate Estimate field on the Revenue/Cost window. Estimate costs can be revised at any point during the life of the contract; for example, if the length of the contract changes, estimate costs need to be manually redistributed for each cost category. See Editing the contract spending plan.