Scheduling Work Into Your Cashflow Forecast
Learn how scheduled milestones influence Work in Progress forecasting, why work timing matters, and how properly scheduled work contributes to a more accurate cashflow forecast.
In BCB, Work in Progress (WIP) forecasting is driven by scheduled milestones rather than the total value of a work record.
A work record's total value tells you how much work is expected to occur, but the milestone schedule determines when that value is expected to impact your forecast.
Why Are Milestones Important?
Forecasting is based on timing as well as value
For example:
- A $50,000 project scheduled next month affects your short-term forecast.
- A $50,000 project scheduled six months from now affects a later period.
Although the work value is the same, the forecast result can be very different.
Milestones allow BCB to understand when cash movement is expected to occur.
Scheduling Manually Created Work
For manually created work, review the milestone schedule and use the available milestone actions to add the income or cost schedule you want reflected in your forecast.
When creating or updating milestones:
- Check the scheduled dates
- Review forecast amounts
- Confirm the expected receipt or payment timing
- Verify the milestone reflects your planned activity
Review the resulting forecast before relying on it for planning decisions.
Work Value vs Forecast Value
The total value of a work item does not automatically determine how cash appears in your forecast.
Forecast timing comes from the milestone schedule attached to the work.
Without scheduled milestones, BCB may not know when future cash movement is expected to occur.
Manually Created Work vs Simpro Work
Not all work records behave the same way.
Manually Created Work
Manually created work can be scheduled using the milestone tools available within BCB.
Simpro Work
Work imported from Simpro is managed differently. Any changes you would like to make to a Simpro Work or Quote must be made within Simpro.
BCB brings this information over during a sync. BCB does not change Simpro data.
Why Doesn't My Work Amount Appear in WIP Totals?
If a work amount exists on the record but does not appear within WIP forecasting metrics, check whether the work contains scheduled milestones.
Common reasons include:
- No milestones have been scheduled
- Milestones do not contain forecast amounts
- Milestone dates fall outside the period being reviewed
- Changes made in Simpro have not been synced yet
Review the milestone schedule, and manually sync Simpro first before investigating further.
Better Forecasts Through Better Scheduling
The more accurately work is scheduled, the more useful your forecast becomes.
Regularly reviewing milestone schedules helps:
- Improve forecast timing
- Improve cashflow visibility
- Connect operational planning with financial planning
- Highlight future workload commitments
- Create more meaningful WIP forecasts