Quoted vs Actual table

The Quoted vs Actual table, or QvsA table in short, is a useful tool for tracking project budget, financial progress, and profitability. It is especially beneficial if the scope of the project is fixed and confirmed with the client beforehand, and you now want to track whether it’s progressing on budget.

Use the QvsA table to track:

• how many hours' worth of budget you still have left
• whether completed work has been invoiced and payments received
• how much you’ve already spent and whether each service is progressing within budget
• how much profit the project has generated, i.e., whether you got the expected margin for each service, or should adjust your price or time estimates next time.

The Quoted vs Actual table can be accessed from the project detailed view by opening the Budgets tab > Quoted vs Actual subtab. 

1. Managing access to Quoted vs Actual table

Access to the Quoted vs Actual table is controlled by permission sets. To enable this report for a permission set:

1. Go to Settings > Administration > Permission sets.
2. Click on Modules and actions for the permission set you want to modify.
   
3. Enable the permissions required to access the QvsA table by ticking the checkbox next to them:
   • In the Projects section: View project income and cost and View Quoted vs Actual permissions.
   • In the Quotes section: View all quotes OR View quotes linked to their projects and contacts permissions (depending on how much visibility over quotes users with this permission set will need).
4. Click Save.
   

Once you’ve enabled the above permissions, users with this permission set will be able to access the Quoted vs Actual table in the project detailed view by navigating to the Budget section and opening the Quoted vs Actual tab.

2. Prerequisites for the Quoted vs Actual table

As the Quoted vs Actual table compares the actual project data with the quoted estimates, here’s what you’ll need for the table to show accurate data:

1. Create a quote
   • The amounts on the quote serve as the basis for your project budget.
   • In addition to unit prices, make sure to also provide the cost and supplier details to generate the cost and profit margin estimates. By providing this complete information, you’ll be able to compare your actual spending and earnings against the quoted sums as the project progresses.
2. Create a project from the quote
   • The Quoted vs Actual table is displayed only when the project is linked with at least one successful quote. You can determine what quote statuses are considered successful by managing the quote statuses. 
   • The easiest way to link a quote with the project is to create the project directly from the quote. Alternatively, you can:
     • Link an existing project with an existing quote – modify the quote and select the correct project from the Project dropdown field;
     • Add a new quote from the project detailed view.
3. Create tasks from the quote
   • After creating the project from a quote, you can quickly create tasks directly from the quoted services. This way, the tasks are automatically linked with the correct quote lines, ensuring accurate initial data.

To ensure that data on the Quoted vs Actual table remains accurate and up to date over time, you must consistently link all the project-related tasks, bills, expenses, and purchase orders to the correct quote lines. Learn more about how you can do this in the Keeping the Quoted vs Actual table up to date section.

3. How to read the Quoted vs Actual table

The Quoted vs Actual table displays all the services and products listed on the successful quote(s) linked with the project.

If the quote has subheadings for grouping the quoted services, they’ll be displayed accordingly in the QvsA table as well. This way, you can track your project’s progress on the subheading level or the more detailed service/product line level.

Click on the service/product line name to open the respective quote.

Use the expand/collapse icon on the left of the subheading to display all quoted products/services under it or summarized values for the entire subheading. You can also collapse or expand all subheadings at once by clicking the Collapse or Expand button at the top-left corner of the QvsA table.

The QvsA table includes various columns with data related to the project’s scope, progress, revenue, costs, and profit, with two values shown under each column:

• Grey values on the bottom row – the estimated values taken from the quote
• Black values on the upper row – the actual current results

Values are highlighted in red if the actual value exceeds the quoted one.

Now, let’s go through the various columns and values you can see in the QvsA table to understand what they can tell you about the state of your project’s progress and what metrics they help you track against the quoted sums:

• Scope and progress data
• Revenue data
• Cost data
• Profit data
• Not quoted section
• Totals

3.1. Scope and progress data

The Progress column shows a progress bar for in-house activities, helping you see how much of the work has already been completed, how much is yet to be done, how much of the planned time is remaining, or how much you’ve gone over time.

Here’s what each progress bar color means:

• Solid blue – completed work
• Blue striped pattern – how much work is scheduled
• Red striped pattern – scheduled overtime work
• Solid red – completed overtime work
• Grey – the remaining planned time that’s not scheduled yet

The Quantity column shows the following time values depending on whether billable time is enabled on your site:

• When enabled: Total billable hours logged and marked as done
• When disabled: Total hours logged and marked as done

Hover over the values under the Quantity column to instantly see which tasks cover these hours.

3.2. Revenue data

The Income to date column shows the total revenue you have theoretically earned based on the work completed so far. In other words, it’s the sum you could potentially invoice and recognize as earned revenue. The calculation depends on the pricing method used on the quote:

• Service prices: completed hours x service selling price (from quote)

• Role prices: completed hours x hourly selling price (of the person who did the work)
  • For example, Jane is a Junior Designer. The hourly selling price of a Junior Designer is 100 EUR. Jane logged 5 completed hours. Therefore, the income to date is 500 EUR (5 hours x 100 EUR).

The Invoices column shows the amount that has already been invoiced. To open the corresponding invoice, click on the value shown for the respective service/product. 

The indicator dot next to the value lets you quickly understand the payment status of the invoice: 

• Green – payment fully received
• Yellow – payment partially received
• Red – payment is overdue
• Grey – Payment is outstanding and not yet due

3.3. Cost data

The Labor cost column roughly indicates how much you have to pay your in-house team for the work they’ve completed so far. It is calculated by multiplying the number of completed hours by the labor cost of the respective team member.

The Cost column shows you the total sum of bills/expenses and labor costs, so you have a comprehensive overview of how much you have already spent in total.

The Bills and expenses column shows the sum you have already been billed for by your suppliers if you have outsourced the service. The indicator dot next to the value lets you quickly understand whether the payment status of the bill:

• Green – fully paid
• Yellow – partially paid
• Red – payment is overdue
• Grey – payment is outstanding and not yet due

See the Keeping the Quoted vs Actual table up to date section to learn how to ensure that all your bills and expenses are always linked with the relevant quote lines. 

The Purchase orders column shows the total sum of all purchase orders linked to the quote lines (the above value) and the quoted cost (the bottom value). This column is visible only on sites using POs, and it takes into account all POs regardless of their status.

3.4. Profit data

The Profit column shows your profit and quoted margin. It becomes relevant once you have properly logged all project-related costs and invoices. The final profit margin is calculated by deducting the values in the Cost column from the values in the Invoices column.

Comparing the final result with the margin you initially estimated on the quote helps you make an informed decision about which unit prices or time estimates to adjust next time.

The indicator dot next to the value indicates your cash flow – the difference between the money you have received and the bills/expenses you have already paid. For example, if your client has paid you 500 EUR and you have paid your supplier 200 EUR for the same service, the cash flow amounts to 300 EUR. 

3.5. Not quoted section

The Not quoted section at the bottom of the Quoted vs Actual table reflects data that is related to the project, but not linked with any of the quote lines. This can include:

• New tasks created under the project that aren’t retrospectively linked with any quote line. In this case, the task metrics like the time spent and costs incurred are displayed on the in-house row in this section.
• Bills linked to the project but not the quote lines. See the Keeping the Quoted vs Actual table up to date section to learn how to make sure such bills are reflected in the actual results. Alternatively, if you do not wish to link them with any quote lines, you can leave this information as it is.

3.6. Totals

The Total section includes the total difference between all the quoted values and the actual results. Click the expand icon to see the breakdown of the totals for all in-house and outsourced services.

4. Keeping the Quoted vs Actual table up to date

To get the most out of the Quoted vs Actual table, it’s important to keep all income and cost-related data up to date:

• If you create project-related tasks and bills/expenses from the quote, they are always automatically linked with the right quote line, and the QvsA table tracks actual results correctly.
• However, if you create tasks and bills/expenses from scratch, you need to link them retrospectively with the corresponding quote lines to make sure the QvsA table stays up to date.

Use the recommendations below to sort out the items you’ve created from scratch and ensure your Quoted vs Actual table is up to date and useful:

• Link additional quotes with the project
• Link additional tasks with quote lines
• Link events with tasks
• Link bills/expense lines with quote lines
• Create invoices from quotes or tasks

Link additional quotes with the project

If the scope of your project increases and you submit another quote to your client to cover the additional services, link the additional quote to the project. Once the additional quote is marked as successful, the services and products listed on that quote will show up in the QvsA table as well.

Link additional tasks with quote lines

If you add a new task that is related to any of the quoted products or services, link that task with the respective quote line to keep the budget up to date. Otherwise, if the task isn’t linked, its data will appear in the Not quoted section instead.

To link a task to a quote line from the quote detailed view:

1. Click the Modify linked tasks button.
2. On the relevant quote line row, click the three-dot icon and select Link with existing task.
3. Select the correct task from the Search tasks dropdown field.
4. Click Save.

Link events with tasks

If you add an event to your project, for example, “Billable strategy meeting”, it’s listed in the Not quoted section by default. To make sure it counts towards the relevant quote line:

1. Link the event with a task.
2. Link that task with the relevant quote line. When linking, you can also search the task by its ID, indicated in the URL, which can be helpful when you have many tasks named similarly.

Link bill/expense lines to quote lines

To make sure that project-related costs are reflected accurately on a quote-line level, link all project-related cost document lines with quote lines. Read more about linking bills and expenses with quote lines.

Create invoices from quotes or tasks

As invoices cannot be linked with the Quoted vs Actual table retrospectively, make sure to create all your project-related and partial invoices directly from the quote to ensure the QvsA tracks the results and payments.

Alternatively, if you use time-billing, you can create an invoice directly from the task(s) in the Time section within the project detailed view. The Quoted vs Actual table reflects the invoice if the task itself is properly linked with the correct quote line.