Driving Project Financial Visibility with Oracle Cloud EPM Projects Module
By David Pabst, Solution Architect and Oracle Ace Pro
Welcome to the fourth installment in my series on Oracle Cloud EPM Planning’s prebuilt modules. We’ve explored the Financials, Workforce, and Capital modules, which provide structured tools to manage key planning processes. Today, we’ll focus on the Projects module, a solution designed to manage the financial planning of revenue-producing projects, capital investment projects, and internal operating initiatives.
Whether you’re forecasting project revenue, managing internal operating expenses, or planning capital construction, the Projects module helps consolidate and automate the financial impact of projects across your organization.
What Is the EPM Projects Module?
Oracle Cloud EPM Planning Projects module is a wizard-based solution that supports three distinct types of project planning:
Revenue/Contract Forecasting: For revenue-producing projects, such as construction or services, to understand profitability and cost profiles.
Self-Constructed Capital Projects: For projects like constructing a new campus or IT data center.
Internal Operating Expense Initiatives: For internal programs like marketing campaigns or employee training initiatives.
The module integrates with other Oracle Cloud EPM modules, like Workforce and Capital, to provide a comprehensive view of financial impacts.
Analyze all facets of a projects - this dashboard shows the revenue coming off of a consulting project.
Key Features of the Projects Module
Revenue and Profit Forecasting: Develop forecasts for externally facing projects to evaluate profitability and costs.
Capital Project Budgets: Create financial budgets for large investments like new buildings or IT systems, integrating directly with the Capital module. (Capturing both Opex & Capex)
Internal Expense Management: Track and manage internal initiatives like marketing programs or training events.
Workforce Integration: Assign resource roles to projects, informing workforce demand planning.
Ongoing Project Impacts: Capture the financial impacts of projects as they progress, enabling real-time updates to forecasts.
ERP Integration: Out-of-the-box two-way integration with Oracle Fusion ERP Projects, syncing project budgets and summarized actuals from vendor invoices and time cards.
Is This Module Right for You?
The Projects module is a great fit if:
You want visibility into project financials in a summarized, activity-based format (labor, design, construction).
You need to monitor the portfolio view of revenue-producing, internal, and capital projects to enable finance teams to guide the organization.
You want project owners to update estimates-to-complete on an ongoing basis.
You need to track the financial health of your project portfolio, including cash flow timing to fund invoices.
Consider Alternatives If:
You may need a different solution if:
You require a formal project request and prioritization process, such as workflows for project approvals.
You need operational project management tools to track schedules, milestones, and tasks.
You want to allocate internal project costs across functions or understand detailed client profitability, incorporating overheads like IT or sales costs.
You need time tracking for resource hours spent on internal projects.
For these scenarios, Oracle Fusion Projects or other specialized project management tools may be more appropriate.
How Does the Projects Module Work?
The Projects module simplifies financial planning for projects by:
Defining Project Types: Categorize projects as revenue-generating, capital investments, or internal initiatives.
Integrate Financial Data: Sync high-level project actuals from your AP or Project Financial tracking tool.
Assign Resources: Use workforce integration to plan labor demand and resource allocation.
Real-Time Updates: Capture and adjust ongoing project impacts, including changes to costs and revenue.
The application is quite intuitive using right-click menus and entry via Web or Excel.
The application is quite intuitive using right-click menus and entry via Web or Excel.
Why Use the Projects Module?
For organizations managing multiple project types, this module provides a centralized, automated way to align project financials with overall budgets and forecasts. By integrating with other EPM modules, it ensures:
Consistent financial reporting across projects.
Accurate allocation of resources and costs.
Real-time visibility into the financial health of project portfolios.
Conclusion
Oracle Cloud EPM Projects module is a powerful tool for organizations seeking to streamline the financial management of their project portfolios. From revenue forecasts to capital budgets and internal initiatives, the module offers a structured and integrated approach to project planning.
This wraps up the first part of the series on Oracle Cloud EPM Planning’s prebuilt modules! Whether you’re focusing on Financials, Workforce, Capital, or Projects, these accelerators provide a quick start with long-term flexibility to grow with your organization’s needs. In the next three installments we will cover Predictive Cashflow Forecasting, Strategic Workforce Planning, and Sales Planning!