Planned Cost vs Actual Cost
Receipts and Debtors
Contribution
Project Details
Project Scope
Project Issues
Mitigation Measures
About this multi-project financial dashboard
This dashboard gives management a consolidated view of the financial and operational performance of a whole portfolio of engineering projects, one project at a time. It is built for general managers, section heads, project managers and finance controllers who have to answer two questions in the same meeting: is this project making money, and is the money actually being collected?
The figures everything derives from
- Planned salary + planned direct
- The budgeted staff and non-staff cost, which together make up the planned fee.
- Actual salary + actual direct
- What has really been spent on staff and on direct costs to date — the actual cost.
- Invoiced and not invoiced
- The part of the fee billed to the client, and the part earned but not yet billed.
- Receipts and debtors
- What has actually been collected, and the balance still outstanding.
What it shows
- Planned cost vs actual cost — salary, direct cost and total fee side by side
- Contribution — actual salary, direct cost and margin as a share of the planned fee, so projects of any size compare fairly
- Receipts and debtors — invoiced, not invoiced, receipts and pending on one chart
- Project details — location, duration, status, scope, issues and the mitigation measures taken by the project management team
Getting data in and out
Projects can be typed in through the Add Project form or imported in bulk from Excel or CSV, with flexible column-name matching so headings do not have to be exact. The full portfolio can be reviewed in the raw worksheet view and exported back to CSV. Everything runs in your browser — there is no account and no server, so no project or financial data leaves your machine.
Reporting to management
The Print / Save as PDF button produces a one-page A3 landscape report for the project currently on screen, using a light print theme with the charts, the financial figures and the scope, issues and mitigation text — ready to circulate or tabled at a review meeting.
Frequently asked questions
What does the multi-project financial dashboard show?
For each project it charts planned cost against actual cost split into salary, direct cost and fee; a receipts and debtors chart covering invoiced, not invoiced, receipts and pending amounts; and a contribution pie showing actual salary, direct cost and margin as a percentage of the planned fee. Alongside the charts it lists the project location, duration, scope, issues and the mitigation measures taken by the project management team.
How is project contribution calculated?
Contribution is the planned fee minus the actual cost, where actual cost is the sum of actual salary cost and actual direct cost. A positive contribution means the project earned more than it spent; a negative value means the actual cost overran the fee. The contribution chart expresses each component as a percentage of the planned fee so projects of different sizes can be compared.
What is the difference between receipts and debtors?
Invoiced is the amount billed to the client, receipts is the amount actually collected, and debtors is the outstanding balance, normally invoiced minus receipts. Not invoiced is the portion of the fee earned but not yet billed. Reading the four together shows whether a financial problem is a billing problem or a collection problem.
Can I load my own project data into the dashboard?
Yes. Projects can be typed in through the Add Project form or imported in bulk from an Excel or CSV file, and column names are matched flexibly so headings do not have to be exact. The full data set can be exported back to CSV. All processing happens locally in the browser, so no project or financial data is uploaded to a server.
Can I print a single project report or save it as a PDF?
Yes. The Print / Save as PDF button produces a one-page A3 landscape report for the project currently displayed, using a light print theme with the charts, financial figures and the scope, issues and mitigation text. Choosing Save as PDF in the browser print dialog produces a file suitable for circulation to management.
Is the dashboard free to use?
Yes. It is a single self-contained web page that is free to use, requires no sign-up or installation, and runs entirely in the browser.
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Built by Shahid Pervaiz, civil engineer and project manager — pervaiz.shahid@gmail.com.