Lesson 7 - Project Overheads

Table of Contents

Project Overheads - Use Cases and Benefits
Required Permissions
Accessing Project Overheads
      Revenue Overheads in Foresight
Setting Up Overheads
      One-Time Project Overheads
      Recurring Project Overheads

Project Overheads - Use Cases and Benefits

Project overhead is crucial to adequate financial and resource planning in Foresight Connect. They allow you to account for indirect costs and revenues that are not directly tied to staff work but still significantly impact project profitability. By incorporating project overheads into your planning, you can achieve a more accurate picture of your project's financial health and forecast second-degree profitability.

Overheads can include one-time or recurring costs and revenues, such as office rentals, amenities, or fixed-price project adjustments. These elements ensure that projects reflect direct labor expenses and the broader financial context in which they operate. Adding overheads to project budgets supports better decision-making, more precise financial forecasting, and a comprehensive understanding of planned and actual project outcomes.

Required Permissions

You must be assigned as its Project Manager to access overheads for a specific project.

You will need higher-level financial permissions if you require access to project overheads but are not the Project Manager.

If you do not have the necessary permissions, contact your System Administrator.

Accessing Project Overheads

Once you set the right permissions, log into Foresight as a manager and open the Projects Tab in your main navigation sidebar. Then, click on a specific project from your list to open its project profile. 

Go to the Budget Tab in the project’s profile, and you’ll see two sub-tabs: Scheduled Overheads and Actual Overheads. Your scheduled overheads are overheads you’ve predicted for future dates, and your actual overheads are currently or already being recorded.

Now, let’s talk about the different types of overheads you can set up in Foresight.

Revenue Overheads in Foresight

In Foresight, you can set up something called Revenue Overheads. Although overheads usually refer to company expenses, revenue overheads allow you to add revenue not generated by employees (such as office rentals or amenities) or in fixed-price projects. 

Setting Up Overheads

One-Time Project Overheads

One-time overheads allow you to indirectly plan additional costs and revenue for people's work and help you forecast projects' second-degree profitability.

When you open the settings for a one-time overhead, you’ll see the following fields:

• Overhead Type: this will allow you to determine whether the overhead is a cost or revenue type.
• Amount: this can be specified in your firm’s base currency, or you can change the currency and provide a currency exchange rate.
• Title: the name of your overhead.
• Auto commit: check off this box if you want to allow Foresight to automatically move overhead from “scheduled” to “actual” after the overhead’s expected date.
• Date: the expected date your firm will bear the cost or receive revenue from the overhead.
• Note: any additional information about the overhead you’d like to add.

Recurring Project Overheads

Recurring overheads allow you to plan additional recurring costs and incomes unrelated directly to staffers’  work. They help you forecast the second-degree profitability of your projects.

When you open the settings for a recurring overhead, you’ll see the following fields:

• Overhead Type: this will allow you to determine whether the overhead is a cost or Revenue type.
• Overhead Amount - can be specified in your firm’s base currency, or you can change the currency and provide a currency exchange rate,
• Prefix: the name of your overhead.
• Start and End Date: the length of time your overhead will last.
• Schedule the day of each month to commit overhead: you can use this field to choose a specific day in a given month when Foresight should move overhead from Scheduled to Actual 
• Note: any additional details about the overhead.