In Oracle Primavera Cloud, the Cost & Funds app allows you to create budgets and track project costs. It’s an in-application financial planner, letting you manage all costs related to your projects. This can be especially useful for cost engineers and project managers. With Cost & Funds, you can track, manage, and report on budgets, funding, and actual costs.

To begin using the Cost & Funds app, you will first need to create a Cost Breakdown Structure (CBS). The CBS is a hierarchical structure outlining costs related to a project or a workspace. The CBS is often used alongside the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Whereas the WBS breaks the project down into phases of work, the CBS represents the costs associated with those phases. Within the Cost & Funds app, you’ll use the CBS within a variety of pages, including Budget and Actuals. The CBS will allow you to see these values over time – such as your budget and spending for each phase of the project.

In this article, we will cover how to create a basic Cost Breakdown Structure in Oracle Primavera Cloud. This tool is available for OPC users assigned the Primavera Cloud Schedule license type with permissions to access Cost & Funds.

Creating a Cost Breakdown Structure (CBS) for the Workspace

Before beginning, it’s important to note that you can create a CBS at both the Project and the Workspace level. If you create a CBS at the workspace level, you can reuse it on any projects within that workspace. However, if you create the CBS at the project level, you can only use it on that one single project.

To start, open up the desired Workspace or Project using the Object Selector. In this example, I’ll be creating a Cost Breakdown Structure at the Workspace level – but it’s done the same way at the Project level.

With a Workspace open, select the Summary & Settings app from the Main Menu.

Then, select Dictionaries > CBS, and press the Create CBS button.

The CBS Setup dialogue box will open, with the only option, Create New, selected. Select Next to continue.

Segment Definitions

The first step to creating a Cost Breakdown Structure is to create Segment Definitions. Each segment definition will correspond to a level within the CBS hierarchy. These are not the specific levels themselves, but rather the number of levels that the CBS will need. For example, if you want to have three hierarchical levels in your CBS, you’ll need to add three segments. If you just add one segment, the CBS will be a flat list with no hierarchy.

Select Add to add additional segments, and then use the cells to adjust the segment details. For each segment definition, you’ll enter in a Name for the hierarchical level. I’ll create two segments here – one named Divisions, and another named Subdivisions. This allows me to create a CBS with two hierarchical levels.

For each segment definition, you can also enter in a Default Value. This is the value that will appear next to the CBS code name. For example, let’s say I give the Divisions segment a default value of 00. When I add CBS codes next, I’ll name one of them Labor. With this default value, the code would display as Labor 00. The Separator value will change the separator between the code and the definition. In this example, if I chose a period as the separator value, this code would display as Labor.00.

Both the Default Value and Separator fields are optional, and in this example I’ll leave them as the default. Then, select Finish.

CBS Codes

Next, you can add the Cost Breakdown Structure Codes. CBS codes represent the categories that you will organize your costs within. To add a new CBS Code, select Add.

For each CBS code, you can enter in a Code, a Name, and a Type. The Code should be an ID for the layer, whereas the Name should be a description. For Type, you can choose between no type, Capital, or Expense. Capital represents costs recorded as assets that depreciate over time. Expenses, on the other hand, are costs that are immediately recorded and directly impact a company’s profit. You can leave this field with no type if this differentiation isn’t needed.

By default, any layer you add will be in the same hierarchical position. If you added multiple CBS segments, you can add sublayers to these layers as well.

To add a sublayer, select the context gear and press Add Below, and then Move Right. Like WBS layers, you can rearrange these layers in the hierarchy by selecting the gear icon and pressing Move Up, Down, Right or Left.

By default, all CBS codes will be set to active – but you can choose to deactivate them if needed. Deactivated CBS codes won’t be available if you copy the CBS to other projects.

Once done, select Save. The CBS hierarchy will save to the Workspace.

A CBS created at the Workspace level can be used on any projects or child workspaces within it. However, you can also choose to create new Cost Breakdown Structures for projects within the workspace.

Using a Workspace CBS for the Project

If you would like to use the Workspace’s CBS on a project within that workspace, first open the desired project. Within the Main Menu, select the Cost & Funds > Cost Sheet.

On the Project Cost Sheet page, you can create a CBS and monitor rolled up costs, such as Funds, Actuals, and Budgets. As you add these costs to the project, this Cost Sheet will automatically update with totals – but first, you’ll need to set up your CBS.

To add a CBS to the project, select Create CBS.

You’ll have the option to create a new CBS, build from the workspace CBS, or copy from another project’s CBS. Because I already have a CBS created for the workspace, I’ll choose to build from the workspace CBS. Then, select Next.

Under Select CBS Codes, you can choose which CBS codes to include in the project’s hierarchy by selecting and deselecting them from the list. In this example, I’ll keep all selected to copy the entire CBS. Press Next to continue.

Finally, you need to choose the sources for the Budget and Actual costs, which will automatically display on the Cost Sheet once added to the project. You can choose to have these sources come from the entered Budgets and Actuals from the Cost & Funds app, or from any entered Scope Based Values.

Select Finish.

The Cost Breakdown Structure will display on the Cost Sheet page. As Budget and Actual values are added to the Project, this page will adjust and display the costs at each CBS level.

Creating a Cost Breakdown Structure at the Project Level

To create a new Cost Breakdown Structure at the project level, simply press Create CBS within the Cost Sheet page. This time, choose to create a new CBS.

You can create a CBS at the project level the exact same way you would at the workspace level. Here, you’ll define Segment Definitions and CBS Codes to build your Cost Breakdown Structure.

Resetting the Cost Breakdown Structure

With a CBS created at the Project level, you can choose to reset the structure at any time to create a new one. To reset the cost breakdown structure, select Actions > Reset CBS.

Summary

Oracle Primavera Cloud’s Cost & Funds app is an in-application financial management tool. It allows you to track and manage the funds, budgets, and actuals related to your project. To begin using Cost & Funds, you’ll want to first create a Cost Breakdown Structure, or a CBS. The CBS is a hierarchical outline grouping related costs together – much like the WBS. For example, you could use the CBS to differentiate between funding accounts, or types of costs – like labor and materials. You can create the CBS at either the Workspace or the Project level – but it’s created the same way regardless. With a Cost Breakdown Structure created, you can manage your costs from the Cost Sheet – showing you how much money the project is using over time. Now, you can manage your project’s finances efficiently, gaining insight on your cost usage throughout the project.

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Lauren Hecker is an Oracle Primavera Cloud, Primavera P6, and Microsoft Project instructor who teaches onsite and virtual scheduling courses. To see her next open enrollment course, please visit our calendar. To schedule an onsite or custom course, please contact us!