Project Cost Monitor - Optional Module
Track all project related costs from within DesignSmart and always know if you are within budget.
Track All Costs
Track costs project related expenses so at a glance your team will know if a project is on budget.
Easily adjust amounts
Update expenses as the project develops so that your budget projections are as accurate as is reasonably possible.
Additional Charges
Easily add freight and other additional charges to invoices.
Optional Modules
Frequently Asked Questions
I don't understand the purpose of the Project Cost Manager. Please explain.
We understand your confusion, but hopefully this explanation will resolve it.
DesignSmart is a project management system tracks the costs for items that you provide in DesignSmart for a given project. However, there can be many project related expenses that are never entered into DesignSmart, but that your team might want to track so they can monitor the overall project budget.
Take the example of travel costs. These costs are typically not entered into DesignSmart. However, using the PCM you can set up a budget for travel and it could have four sub-budget items: Airfare, Hotel, Rental Car, Miscellaneous Expenses. Within the PCM you would set up a budget for each of the four sub-budgets and they would be aggregated to become the Travel budget.
When staff travel, most of those costs will be charged to a credit card. QuickBooks will pull down those credit card charges, and the PCM will pull those credit card charges into the PCM so your team can monitor those expenses.
Other examples of expenses typically not entered into DesignSmart would include warehouse expenses, local accessory purchases, and all of those miscellaneous expenses that seem to always be larger than expected.
Can I set up the cost groups that will be tracked in the PCM?
Yes.
Is QuickBooks Required for the Project Cost Manager?
Yes, QuickBooks is required as well as DesignSmart’s QuickBooks Connector module. The reason is that PCM pulls all project-related costs from QuickBooks. If your firm uses a different accounting software, please contact us to discuss which one it is and if it could work with the PCM.
How does the PCM handle budget lines items that are over budget?
The PCM does not make any adjustments to data. Its role is to aggregate the hundreds, or thousands, of project-related costs into an easy-to-understand format, then highlight any amounts that are over budget.