1. BPC
User Manual
October 2015

2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Agenda Introduction Access Draft Contract Encoding
Validation 6
Reporting

3. Introduction Objectives of BPC Overview of templates
Timeline and forecasting versions
Link to other systems
Roles
Support

4. Objectives Annual Budget 2. EDF calls for contributions
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Annual Budget
2. EDF calls for contributions
DG DEVCO  DG BUDG
Financial Forecasts
DG DEVCO  ACP Group of the Council
3.Monitoring budgetary execution
4. Reporting
DG DEVCO
DG DEVCO  EU Bud. Authority, OECD, IATI
 A new comprehensive forecasting process fulfilling each of the above objectives through the use of a single Financial Forecast system called BPC

5. Overview Encoding template
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Encoding template
SAP BPC offers a flexible encoding template :
Provide full portfolio view of decisions & contracts for a given delegation/unit using an excel interface
Allow to input forecasted data & related risk
Allow easy filters on contract lists and decisions
Allow input of comments when necessary
Perform necessary controls on the indicators online
Dashboards
SAP BPC integrates a set of easy-to-use Dashboards that:
Allow to report delegations / units figures at aggregated level
Provide a graphical view supporting validators' decisions
Summarize delegation / unit indicators
Reports
SAP BPC offers a set of standard operational and variance analysis reports that:
Provide an aggregated view of forecasts (e.g. by budget line, benefitting zone,..)
Compare forecasts with actuals and different forecast versions
Allow drill-down functionality
Workflows
SAP BPC offers a validation flow that:
Is aligned with security set-up in the unit / delegation
Ensure that all actors identified in the forecasting process are appropriately involved
Ensure that no forecasts generating negative indicators on decisions and contracts are validated

6. Timeline
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
The preparation, review and consolidation of financial forecast processes are integrated with the other reporting and monitoring processes. Deadlines have been defined in such a way that required information is provided on time in order to report to external stakeholders. The processes are supported by a strong versioning mechanism to keep track of figures entered and modified throughout the time.
Year N
Year N+1 D J F M A M J J A S O N D J
Budget circular
2nd Forecast alert from DG BUDG
Budget N+1 adopted by EP
DGs Contribution to draft budget N+1
1st Forecast alert from DG BUDG
Forecasts year N per Budget Line to DG BUDG
Draft Budget N+1 finalised by EC
Revised forecasts year N to DG BUDG
Global transfer on EC budget year N
3rd Forecast alert from DG BUDG D J F M A M J J A S O N D J
2nd call for contributions
for year N
3rd call for contributions
for year N
1st call for contributions
for year N+1 D J F M A M J J A S O N D J
FF for years N & N+1
Revised FF for years N & N+1
Monthly Monitoring of large payments
EU Budget
EDF
Financial Forecast

7. Internal monthly monitoring of large payments (No validation needed)
Versions
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Two forecasting exercises requiring validation of all needed actors in Delegation/Unit and the review of the HQ validators during the month of January and July to comply with the deadlines defined in the previous slide:
Initial & Mid-Year : Validation required by Delegations and Units before the 15th of January and July
Initial & Mid-Year Validated by HQ : Validation of HQ validators before the 31st of January and July
Year N
Year N+1 J F M A M J J A S O N D J
Initial
Mid-year
Internal monthly monitoring of large payments (No validation needed)
Initial
Initial val by HQ
Mid-year val by HQ
Initial val by HQ
NB: From September to December, an internal monthly monitoring of large payments is required for both delegations and HQ units. Indeed, for payments initially greater than 200,000€, delegations/units are required to provide DEVCO HQ with an updated forecast based on latest information known.

8. Systems SAP BPC CRIS DWH REFDATA ABAC DWH
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Every 24 hours, BPC is fed with data from CRIS DataWarehouse (for Contracts & Decisions), ABAC DataWarehouse (for payments) and REFDATA.
BPC will display data as encoded in CRIS with a 24 hours delay. This is due to the scheduling of the different systems at EC and due to the time zone importance at DEVCO (avoid putting users offline in the middle of the day).
Inbound data
"Short term" master data: on- going & draft decisions and on- going contracts
Actual figures (with AOS and / or definitive visa): decided (initial & riders), contracted (initial & riders), paid (net) and decommitted amounts (negative riders)
Inbound data
"Long term" master data: delegations / units / directorates, budget positions, benefitting zones, DAC sector code, contract types, contract (Sub)natures, budget management types
CRIS DWH
SAP BPC
REFDATA
ABAC DWH
Outbound data
"Short term" master data: draft contracts
Forecasted figures (per version): decided (initial & riders), contracted (initial & riders), paid (net) and decommitted amounts (negative riders)

9. Scope
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
In SAP BPC, forecasts are done at 3 different levels (representing different forecasting objects). They are coming from different systems and are used to forecast different amounts.
Objects
Description
Source
Amounts forecasted
Decisions
Includes statuses EC, EG, DE
Budget lines of on-going decisions must still be valid to appear on input template (excludes 6th / 7th EDF and budget lines of Annual Budget not carried forward)
CRIS
Decided amounts (expected positive riders on the decision)
Decommitted amounts (expected negative riders on the decision)
Draft Decisions (PO status)
Includes provisional status PO (only those that have already been assigned to a valid Budget Line in CRIS)
Budget lines of on-going decisions must still be valid to appear on input template
Contracts
Includes statuses EC, EG and DE
Budget lines of decisions must still be valid to appear on input template
Contracted amounts (expected positive riders on the contract)
Decommitted amounts (expected negative riders on the contract)
Paid amounts (expected invoices on the contract)
Draft contracts
When a contract with related payments is expected, a draft contract must be created in SAP BPC (status DR) so as to input forecasts on it (rather than inputting on the decision).
Draft contracts can represent calls for proposal launched by HQ Units.
SAP BPC

10. Roles HoD/HoC HoU Person in charge in FCA unit of the Directorate
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
FCA Unit & Unit D3
Verification
HoD/HoC
2nd Validation
Head of FC section (SPOC)
Global Review
Head of Cooperation
1st Validation
Nominated Project Manager
Encoding
FCA Unit & Unit D3
Verification
HoU
2nd Validation
Person in charge in FCA unit of the Directorate
Global Review
Nominated Project Manager
1st Validation
Encoding
Verify global coherence of forecasts at delegation / unit, directorate and Budget lines levels
In charge of the general coordination with SPOCs in delegations and with Geo coordinators in HQ units under his/her perimeter.
Verify global coherence of forecasts (Directorate Dashboard)
Commit to achieve forecasts submitted for year N and N+1, once validated
Ensure compliance with Financial Regulation and with contractual terms
Verify global coherence of forecasts
SPOC in delegations : in charge of the global coordination of each exercise, (2) the coordination with HQ verification units, (3) the management of user access and plug-ins installation, (4) the first-level support in the delegation, (5) the monitoring of the execution of the financial forecasts, (6) the coordination of regular updates of the forecast in the live version of BPC, (7) the coordination with daughter delegations (when applicable) and (8) Ensuring that BPC users in the Delegation have attended necessary trainings.
Verify, validate or reject and comment when relevant the forecasts for the Section's portfolio
Encode forecast + risk level +comments when needed
Proceed with the adjustments of forecasts in case of rejection by one of the next actors

11. Support General Information
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
General Information
For any issue, users must contact DEVCO Application Support functional mailbox or by phone (99000 or ).
The availability of the service starts from 08:30 until 18:00 (Brussels time) on the official working days of the Commission.
Licences
Upon arrival, departure, reallocation or absences of staff members, each Unit / Delegation must notify it to DEVCO APPLICATION SUPPORT for the management of licenses.
Update of the Delegation/Unit user list in October by the support team.
Useful links
Knowledge Base: orecasting+tool

12. Access

13. Access
Prerequisites
Access
Tips & Tricks

14. Prerequisites
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
The use of BPC implies a pre-installation of a plug-in called the "EPM Add-in".
Before connecting to the tool, the user will verify that the "EPM Add-in" is installed on his/her computer. This component of the tool is required to open the reports and input templates in the Excel interface. To make sure the installation was performed on your computer:
Open Excel
Verify that the tab "EPM" and "Data Manager" appear on the Ribbon
If you do not see the EPM Add-in in Excel, please install it by clicking on:
i. Menu / All Programs / Landesk Management / Portal Manager
ii. Select "DEVCO_EPM_AddIn_16_01" and "W7-NP_EPM_ForFirefox"
iii. Launch
iv. Wait for the installation to complete
After an Excel crash, the "EPM" and "data manager" tabs might not appear in Excel anymore. To solve this, you just need to enable the add-in in the Excel options.
Excel options tab >Add-ins
Then go to "Manage" and select "Disabled Items". You will then see the EPM Add-in and will be able to enable it.

15. Prerequisites
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
At the first connection (connection to a SAP BPC Report/encoding Template) or connection to a new computer, one option needs to be set by the user in the EPM add-in. This option, once defined by the user, will not need to be set again. The user will need to remove the "…" for empty comments:
The user must then untick two parameters in the "Display" tab to remove the window on the left of his screen
Follow the path:
EPM>Options>User Options
In the user options, go to the “Others” tab and remove the “…” next to “Empty comment”
Follow the path:
EPM>Options>User Options
In the user options, go to the “Display” tab and untick "Display EPM Context Bar" and "Display EPM Pane"

16. Access
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
The user can connect via the Intranet under the "DEVCO TOOLS" tab
The system will request the user's credentials. Users in delegations can either user their EEAS login/password or the DEVCO one.
After logging on, the user will be redirected to the access portal:

17. Access
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Confirm it is your delegation. If you have a drop-down list it means that the system registered your login for several delegation
Important announcements related to maintenance or important communications
Reporting for all (Delegations & HQ) and specific reporting requested by HQ. A report catalogue is available in the reporting part of the user manual
Action button OPEN to access the template requested. A prinstcreen is available to have a quick view on the report
The encoding template to encode your forecast and the Create & Manage Draft Contracts.
Validation template to validate or reject the forecast

18. Tips & Tricks User's To Do List for each forecasting exercise
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
User's To Do List for each forecasting exercise
STEP 1 : DRAFT DECISIONS
Create PO Decisions in CRIS that are linked to a Budget Line
During initial exercises, all draft decisions should be created before 31/12
STEP 2 : DRAFT CONTRACTS
LINK the draft contracts to the correct CRIS contracts. All forecasts will be transferred from the draft contract to the correct CRIS contract in order to have the executed amount and a positive RAP.
DELETE the contract that has no reason to exist anymore
CREATE new draft contract if needed
STEP 3 : ENCODING
UPDATE the forecast while looking at the ACTUAL in the encoding template to avoid a double count (e.g. the current month is July, you have encoded a forecast in August but the amount was executed in June which create a double count).
ENCODE new forecast if needed
VERIFY your forecast on shared decisions. Even with negative shared decisions in his portfolio, the user will be able to save and validate.
STEP 4 : VALIDATE
CONTROL the dashboard in the validation template
VALIDATE or REJECT the forecast

19. Draft decision

20. Decision Create a Decision in provisionary status (PO) in CRIS
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
If the user wants to create a Draft Contract on a future decision not yet existing in CRIS, he/she shall:
Create a Decision in provisionary status (PO) in CRIS
Fill in the Analytical breakdown (for EDF only)
3. Link it to a Budget line (by filling in the Financial Breakdown at ENCOD level)
Once the above conditions are completed and without giving any visa in CRIS, the "Draft Decision" will be automatically transferred in BPC's encoding template with a 48h delay and draft contract can be created on it.
In order to make forecasts, the user will encode a DECIDED figure equal to the amount of the decision in the month of the future ORDO visa. The Actual amount will be transferred from CRIS to BPC once the ORDO Visa is given in CRIS.

21. Decision EDF Select a decision year for 2016/2017/2018
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Select a decision year for 2016/2017/2018
Fill in at least all mandatory (bold) fields + press "Submit" (Yellow warnings are not blocking)
The Decision is created in CRIS and receives a specific ID. All related tabs are created.
Access the Rider's tab and click on MODIFY.

22. Decision EDF In the Initial Rider tab:
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
In the Initial Rider tab:
Select "EDF number" 11 by double-clicking on the corresponding yellow-field or search button
Enter a "Commitment type" + Press "Submit" or the submitting "Green V" (Yellow warnings are not blocking)
In Analytical Breakdown tab:
Select the EU Contribution, Fill in at least one "Zone Financing the action" + Press "Submit" (Yellow warnings are not blocking)
 Regarding regional decisions, GESTOPEs must also encode a "Zone Financing the action" by Country as this information is already known at this stage.

23. Decision EDF In Financial Breakdown tab:
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
In Financial Breakdown tab:
Access the "Financial Breakdown", click on NEW and select the Budget line by double-clicking on the corresponding yellow-field or search button.
Encode the total amount and select the Posting criteria by double-clicking on the corresponding yellow-field or search button.
Click on Submit (No visa is required)

24. Decision BGUE Select a decision year for 2016/2017/2018
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Select a decision year for 2016/2017/2018
Fill in at least all mandatory (bold) fields + press "Submit" (Yellow warnings are not blocking)
The Decision is created in CRIS and receives a specific ID. All related tabs are created.
Access the Rider's tab and click on MODIFY.

25. Decision BGUE In the Financial breakdown tab:
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
In the Financial breakdown tab:
No "Analytical Breakdown" required for Budget.
Click on NEW, select the Budget line (no posting-criteria required for BUDGET)
Encode the amount and click on SUBMIT. Other fields will be updated automatically. No visa is required
In the Initial Rider tab:
Enter a "Commitment type"
Enter a "Legal justification"
Click on SUBMIT (Yellow warnings are not blocking) and access the Financial breakdown

26. Draft Contract

27. Draft Contract Introduction & Lifecycle Creation Management
Creation of Draft Decisions in CRIS
FAQ – Usual questions from the users

28. Introduction What? When? Why? How? Draft contracts correspond to:
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
What?
Draft contracts correspond to:
Individual contracts not yet registered in CRIS but expected to be signed in year N and N+1
Calls for proposal launched by HQ - on-going or expected to start (aggregated estimation)
Contracts in the workflow but not yet signed by the AOS
When?
A draft contract must be created each time contracted and paid amounts are expected to impact DEVCO decisions (contracts on decisions) or DEVCO budget lines (EN contracts without decisions) in years N and N+1
Why?
By using draft contracts and linking them subsequently to CRIS contracts, SAP BPC ensures a detailed and coherent forecast breakdown.
How?
Draft contracts are managed in a simple excel template containing two sheets: one to create them and one to manage them
Draft contracts can be created on draft or on-going decisions for each delegation / unit or without decision on DEVCO budget lines (only for the Budget)

29. Lifecycle
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Draft contracts have a limited life in the forecasting tool. In the short / medium term, they should be deleted, associated to CRIS contracts or re-allocated to other draft contracts. Therefore, several mechanisms have been set up.
1. Create draft contract
2. Update draft contract
3a. Link draft with on-going CRIS contracts
Tasks
Select existing decision (if relevant) and budget line(s)
Assign to delegation (if relevant)
Define attributes (benefitting zone, (sub)nature, DAC Code,…)
Tasks
Update attributes
Delete draft contract (if finally contract signature will not occur anymore)
Tasks (for individual contracts)
Identify ID of CRIS on-going contract (newly created) corresponding to draft contract;
Link forecasts to CRIS on-going contract
3b. Re-allocate forecasts from call for proposals
Tasks (for regional or thematic call for proposals)
Initial forecasts (previous versions) made globally by thematic or delegation "chef de file" are split on individual draft contracts according to the results of the call

30. Creation
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
The "Create & Manage Draft Contracts" template is composed by two main tabs. The first one available when you open the report will enable you to create new draft contracts
Action buttons (to save draft contracts created and to refresh data in the template)
Draft contracts created today for the delegation but not yet updated in SAP BPC list (1 day delay)
Selection of draft contract number and definition of main attributes. The GESTOPE will be automatically set with the login of the user.
Link to appropriate decision (if relevant) and to budget line(s). Only decisions having active budget lines and belonging to the delegation / unit are displayed
If the user wishes to create a draft contract not linked to a decision, he / she should select "NO_DEC". If "NO_DEC" has been selected, the user can choose any budget line. If a decision has been selected, the choice will be limited to the budget line(s) of the decision.
By default the user has room to define 5 budget lines for his / her draft contract. Nevertheless, additional lines can be added using the button

31. Possible error message
Save
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Possible error message
If all mandatory fields of the draft contract have not been completed, the system blocks the saving action. This is typically the case when nothing has been mentioned for decision and budget lines. The user must return in the template and complete missing information.
Confirmation message
If all data have been correctly encoded, the system issues a message requesting the user to confirm the creation. If the user confirms, a second message is sent, proving that information has been correctly sent to SAP BPC database.

32. Manage
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
The "Create & Manage Draft Contracts" template is composed of two main tabs.
!!! All actions (ADAPT, DELETE or LINK) will have an impact the next day !!!
Draft contracts created for your Delegation
SELECT the draft contract you want to manage by changing attributes, delete or link
ADAPT the description or the attributes
DELETE your draft contract if the signature will never occur
LINK your draft contract to the recently signed contract on the related decision in CRIS. The forecast of the draft will be transferred to the CRIS contract in your portfolio
Only contracts belonging to the same decision and created within 1 year will be available for link

33. Manage - Link
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
As for previous actions, the user must select the draft contract he / she wants to treat in the step 1 of the template. 1 2
In this section, the user must then select, using the drop-down list, the recently signed CRIS contract to which he / she wishes to link the draft contract. By default, this drop-down list includes all contracts belonging to the delegation, related to the same decision as the draft contract and signed within the last year:
After selection of the CRIS contract and by pressing the button "Link contract", the user will be requested to confirm the link:
Important remark: this procedure is not applicable for draft contracts that correspond to calls for proposals launched by HQ. Actually, those draft contracts require a re-allocation of previous forecasts versions on draft contracts corresponding to the selected projects according to the results of the call (see next slide)
After one day
The draft contract will disappear from the input template and will receive a specific status.
The figures forecasted in previous versions will be re-assigned automatically to the newly created CRIS contract
For the figures forecasted in current version (version currently used to input), two cases are possible:
Draft contract and CRIS contract use the same budget line(s): forecasts are fully re-assigned in current version
Draft contract and CRIS contract use different budget line(s): forecasts are re-assigned in current version to the CRIS Contract's Budget Line

34. Impact Draft contract creation template Immediate impact
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Draft contract creation template
Immediate impact
The created contract appears as already used in the template and is not selectable anymore.
Input template
Draft contract is listed in the delegation portfolio (under its decision) and the user can start entering forecasted values on it. Nevertheless, attributes are not visible yet.
Delayed impact (after one day)
Draft contract creation template
New contracts IDs are available for creation (as IDs have been used the previous day)
Manage Draft contract template
Created draft contracts appear with their attributes as active and can be updated, deleted or linked to CRIS contract
Input template
Attributes of created draft contract are also displayed in the input template.

35. Exceptions Call for proposal
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Call for proposal
The case of calls for proposal launched by HQ requires a particular procedure in managing draft contracts. Actually, this process involves three main steps:
Until the call procedure is not finalised (when call procedure is planned, launched and performed), the number of resulting contracts, the beneficiaries and the delegations that will manage them are unknown. As such, the HQ Unit creates one single draft contract that corresponds to the global envelope of the call and encodes aggregated forecasts on it.
When the call for proposal is finalised, the HQ Unit will use a reallocation template that will create one draft contract for each selected project.
Those draft contracts are assigned to the appropriate delegations in charge that can start encoding their forecasts in the current version. It will reflect the reallocation done in the previous forecasting versions (e.g. the global forecasted envelope created by B_01 should not be reflected in their portfolio as it would significantly perturb their execution rate)
Shared Decisions
To create new contracts ("draft contracts") on a shared decision, the following steps must be respected:
• Delegation (A) / HQ unit (owner of the shared decision) is the only delegation/HQ unit allowed to create draft contracts under this decision.
• If Delegation (B) needs to create a draft contract under this shared decision, Delegation (B) must request Delegation (A) / HQ unit to generate a draft contract on its behalf.
• Thereafter, Delegation (B) can encode its financial forecasts on the newly-created draft contract that will appear in its BPC portfolio.

36. FAQ Frequent questions
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Frequent questions
"I have created a draft contract but I don't see the title and attributes in the encoding template"
The draft contract is already present in the encoding template and the user is able to encode forecast on it. The next day, he will see the attributes
"I have created a draft contract two days ago but I still don't see the attributes and the draft contract in the management part of the template"
Create an incident sent to DEVCO APPLICATION SUPPORT
"I have deleted a draft contract but the forecast has still an impact on the RAP"
The impact will be reflected the next day
"I have two draft contracts with the same ID in my portfolio"
This happens when two users create a draft contract simultaneously. He should delete one of the two contract and create a new one with a different ID. 

37. FAQ
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
"I want to link a draft contract but the CRIS contract is not available in the drop-down list"
The draft contract is not linked to the same decision as the CRIS contract. Example: The draft contract was created under NO_DEC and they want to link it to a CRIS contract with a CRIS decision  Manual Link: Copy paste the forecast of the draft contract on the CRIS contract in the encoding template and DELETE the draft contract
The CRIS contract was created in CRIS more than one year ago
"I want to create a draft contract but the decision is not available in the drop-down list"
Please refer to point II of the encoding chapter. Either the decision is belonging to another Delegation/Unit and the latter should create the draft contract for them by selecting their Delegation/Unit as Delegation/Unit in charge in the attribute. Either, the decision is not present in BPC (e.g. Unit B_01 creating a draft contract for DELEG_LK).

38. FAQ Error message : "The attribute selected is not valid"
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Error message : "The attribute selected is not valid"
The user encoded manually a wrong attribute not known by the system instead of double clicking on the cell to select it in a box.
The same error message will appear if he forget to select an attribute.

39. Encoding

40. Encoding Filter Page Components of the encoding template
Save the data encoded
Indicators
Offline Mode
FAQ – Usual questions from the user

41. Filter Page If needed the user can filter on:
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
If needed the user can filter on:
Benefitting Zone
Decision
EDF / BGUE
Generate Portfolio to see the encoding template filled with your decisions and contracts
Save your forecast
Offline Mode in order to encode without connexion required
The validation progress
Information on:
The latest refresh
The mode (OFFLINE/ONLINE),
the user and the date
Select the information needed in the template. Less information for a better printout
Legend on:
The possible errors that might occur when encoding your forecasts (e.g. "V" periodic issue)
The risk levels
Conditional formatting

42. Components
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
All decisions and their related contracts will be displayed in one single Excel sheet.
The blue lines portray the total of the decision. The grey lines stand for the total of a specific BL.
The user will be able to enter:
Decision: DECIDED & DECOMMITTED_DEC
Contract: CONTRACTED, PAID, DECOMMITTED_CTR
The user will also find certain attributes to help him/her to identify the contracts and decisions. The user will be able to filter on any of those attributes to create a custom selection of contracts / decisions.
Figures
Decided = Decided – Decommitted_DEC
Contracted = Contracted – Decommitted_CTR
Paid
The forecasted amounts are directly calculated with the forecast encoded
RAC = Decided – Contracted – Decommitted_DEC + Decommitted_CTR
RAL = Decided – Paid – Decommitted_DEC OR RAC + RAP
RAP = Contracted – Paid – Decommitted_CTR
Errors in the indicators are highlighted in Red
The user can enter comments on each line
Forecasts can be entered on a monthly basis. except on past months highlighted as actuals.
Only positive amounts must be entered in the system (decommitments) except for payments.
If the risk level is not defined by the user, the system will automatically associate it with a very low risk (risk level 1).

43. Save
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Once you have encoded your forecast and the related risk level, click on SAVE DATA to save your work.
Only when the status is succeed:
Your data has been correctly saved into the system and you can close the template
The periodic indicators (RAC, RAP & RAL) have been re-calculated: The correction you made for "V" periodic message errors (refer to Indicators section of the user manual) will be reflected and the "V" will disappear after the save

44. Indicators Global indicator in error Open the error management report
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Global indicator in error
Open the error management report
Error with "!" (1 in the filter box) in the encoding template:
Forecasted too much (e.g. they have an executed amount in June and they forecasted that amount in July, double count / They encoded on a wrong line)
Draft contract no linked (e.g. the CONTRACTED amount they forecasted was replaced by no actual as not linked to CRIS). Only a forecasted PAID amount subsists in July explaining the negative RAP
Error with "V" is a periodic issue and is explained next slide

45. Indicators Periodic indicator in error
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Periodic indicator in error
Example of previous slide on CTR_DR_FJ_0018 (worksheet "CHECK RAP")
The user encoded a PAID amount in February 2016 on a Draft Contract and a CONTRACTED amount in August 2016.
The global RAP over the years will be positive: CONTRACTED – PAID 2* = RAP 0)
However, in February the RAP is of 0 and there is no amount available to encode a PAID forecast. The contracted amount only occurs in August. So from February till August the RAP will be negative.
The user should either:
Move the CONTRACTED forecast to February
Move the PAID forecast to August
Please note that for large shared decisions, the correction can be more complex as more figures are impacting the indicator

46. Indicators
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Indicators in error on a decision with multiple Budget Lines
In this case, it is important to see on which line the correction should be done

47. Offline Mode Generate the offline version
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
This automated function enables users to share the encoding task with other users offline. An external user without license nor internet connection will be able to encode his forecast on this version. The person having shared the file will be able to upload the figures encoded online.
Generate the offline version
By clicking on the OFFLINE MODE action button, the template will be automatically generated and the system will propose to save the file on your computer. Once this is done, you can easily send the offline encoding template to your colleagues.

48. Offline Mode Upload the encoded data online 1 2
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Upload the encoded data online 1 2
In the FILE tab of the Excel, click on OPEN to select the offline version you saved previously on your computer
Enter the BPC access template and make sure you are connected (green light) 3 4
Click on the ONLINE MODE action button to put the encoding template back online
Once the mode is ONLINE, click on the SAVE DATA action button to upload the encoded figures

49. FAQ User has negative indicators on PO decision
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
User has negative indicators on PO decision
The user encoded forecasts on draft contracts under the newly created PO decision. However, the decision has no available amount as it will be reflected in BPC once the ORDO visa is given in CRIS.
The user should therefore encode a DECIDED forecast in the month he should receive the ORDO.

50. FAQ "Cannot be saved due to a work status rule violation"
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
"Cannot be saved due to a work status rule violation"
Delegation/Unit's forecast has been validated at least by the 1st validation (OPS section) and the template has been locked. If a change is needed they should ask the Head of FC Section, the HoD/U or the HQ validator to reject the forecast.

51. FAQ
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
The user notices that a contract or decision is missing in the BPC portfolio
The decision or contract is allocated to another Delegation/Unit in CRIS. The correction needs to be made in CRIS.
UNIT: The Entity in Charge should be the Unit (not a directorate)
DELEG: Delegation in charge: Delegation and Entity in charge: Directorate
Status:
Decisions: EC, EG, DE or PO (only those that have already been assigned to a Budget Line)
Contracts: EC, EG and DE

52. Validation

53. Validation
Dashboard
Detailed View
FAQ – Usual questions from the user

54. Dashboard
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
The first part shows where the user stands in the overall process. The summary of the check on the RAC, RAP & RAL (forecasts included) of the delegation is displayed. General comments can be entered at the level of the delegation (max 500 characters).
The second part of the report contains the dashboard at delegation level. This will support the user in the validation / decision-making process. This dashboard is further described in the next point.
The third part presents a forecast analysis by risk category.

55. Dashboard
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
The comments’ fields available for input of the user are highlighted in yellow. The user must click on SAVE COMMENT.
For each comment, the role, user ID of the author and the date at which the comment was entered are available. .
The indicator check will confirm to the validator that no errors are detected on the RAC, RAP, RAL for contracts and decisions belonging to the delegation. A shared decision in error will not impact the indicators and the user will be able to validate.
The validation button will only be displayed if the following conditions are met: - The user has the appropriate role in the validation process; - Indicators are all positive.
The reject button will enable the user to unlock the encoding template in order for the encoder to modify the forecast again.
The last Head of Operational Section validating will lock the encoding template to enable the next validators to work on a stable environment
A window appears so that the last Head of Ope. Section can change the status from “Unlocked" to “Submitted”
Upon forecasts rejection, the validation process returns to the first step. The input of forecasts is now allowed.
A window appears so that the rejector can change the status from “Submitted" to “Unlocked”

56. Dashboard
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Depending on the forecasting version, the first column will show:
During the INITIAL forecast: The Actual of the previous year
During the MID-YEAR forecast: The initial forecast encoded in January
The ongoing forecast reflecting the encoding template (A)
Actuals (B)
Left to implement = Full year forecast – Actual (A-B) : Will reflect the amount to be implemented before the end of the year to achieve a 100% execution rate.
Year-To-Date initial forecast: Reflect the initial forecast from January till the current month (C)
Year-To-Date execution rate = YTD forecast – Actual (C-B): Shows what should have been implemented to achieve a 100% YTD execution rate. It gives the user a good indicator on the current accuracy of his forecast.
For each amount types, the table gives the execution rate of previous year for the:
Initial Forecast validated by Delegation vs Actual
Initial Forecast validated by HQ vs Actual
Mid-Year Forecast validated by Delegation vs Actual
It gives a good indicator on the quality of the forecast made by the delegation and on the impact of the revision of the HQ validators
This section provides the validator with the RAL absorption time of the delegation / unit based on previous year's actuals, current and next year's forecasts.
A absorption rate of 4 means the delegation will need 4 years to fully pay the amount decided.

57. Dashboard
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
This section displays information on decisions (EC, EG, DE, PO and DR) contracts (EC, EG, DE) and BPC draft contracts (DR, RE) the delegation / unit is dealing with.
For each decision and contract status, the table displays the number of items dealt with and their associated financial indicators (total decided / contracted amount, based on the combined forecasts version and RAC, RAP, RAL).
This section includes a waterfall chart portraying the RAL evolution (on decisions only) from previous year actual to next year forecast. The breakdown of each component contributing to the RAL evolution from one year to another is displayed.
RAL N-1 + DECIDED – PAID – DECOMMITTED_DEC = RAL N
The summary table consists of a breakdown of the different financial amounts characterizing the financial situation of a delegation / unit, on the one hand risk-free and on the other risk-adjusted. In the breakdown, a distinction is also made in order to identify the budget support amounts.
Selection Box : In this part, the user has the possibility to select the year and the instrument (EDF, BUDGET or ALL) he / she wishes to consult the forecasts for. Based on the selection, the table and the graph will automatically adapt.
Graphs: The validator can see a distribution of risk levels by measure type (i.e. decided, contracted and paid amounts).

58. Detailed View
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
The second worksheet of the validation template gives you a portfolio overview of all your decisions and contracts with the related indicators
Risk Weighted or Risk Free
Your delegation is set by default but you can change it
View:
Encoding: Shows only the active contracts and decisions as in the Encoding Template
Reporting : Shows all contracts and decisions including the closed and cancelled ones not present in the Encoding Template
Refresh to generate the template
Show properties to see more attributes (e.g. GESTOPE, etc.)
Show Semester view
Show Decommitted (DECOMITTED_CTR & DECOMMITTED_DEC)
Attributes part
Actual and N, N+1 and N+2 forecast for the current version for each amount type.
RAL, RAP & RAC for all contracts and decisions

59. FAQ "Not at the right level for being validated"
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
"Not at the right level for being validated"
The 1st validation by OPS section should be done before the Head of FC Section can give his visa

60. FAQ "Please correct the indicators RAC RAP RAL in error"
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
"Please correct the indicators RAC RAP RAL in error"
At least one decision (RAC & RAL) or a contract (RAP) belonging to the Delegation/Unit has a negative indicator. A shared decision not belonging to the Delegation/Unit in error will not impact the RAC or RAL with a red cross.

61. FAQ Not the right number of section
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Not the right number of section
The system needs two validation at OPS section but the user communicated they have only one section in Delegation
Two solutions:
The Ops section can validate a second time with the same login
Send to DEVCO Application Support to update the number of section of the Delegation/Unit.

62. Reporting

63. Catalogue REPORT DESCRIPTION All Variance Analysis Report
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
REPORT
DESCRIPTION
All
Variance Analysis Report
Run an execution rate analysis with drill-down possibilities by financial instrument, entity in charge, nature, sub-nature, DAC code and beneficiary
Actual vs Forecast - Monthly Report
View variance between actual & forecasts on a monthly basis
Pivot Table Report
Create your own report through the use of a pivot table. The user will have full flexibility to respond to specific reporting needs
Error Management Report
View decisions and contracts in error in your encoding template and find the root cause of these errors
Required by HQ
Directorate H Report
Generate a list of contracts showing FULL YEAR and YTD execution rate on contracted and paid amounts
Directorate D & E Report
View variance between actual & forecast on a YTD and Semester View
Decision Absorption Period Report
Analyze the absorption period by decision with drill-down possibilities
Risk by Contract Report
View forecast and comment by contract and by risk level
Risk by Decision Report
Generate a list of decisions showing the RAC, RAP & RAL as well as the forecast on all risk levels by semester and FULL YEAR

64. Reporting Reporting Filters
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Risk Free = Amounts encoding template
Risk Weighted = Amounts encoded re-calculated based on the risk level
Reporting Filters
Select the year of the forecast
Decided/ Contracted/ Paid/ Decommitted_CTR/ Decommitted_DEC
Select the Delegation/ Unit/ Directorate/ DEVCO/ ALL_DG
Select the period when the forecast was validated
Full Year = Forecast vs Actual of all year
Year-to-Date = Forecast vs Actual till the current month of the year
Select figures FED / BUDGET / ALL
Select the forecast version to analyse
The present selection : See Paid Risk Weighted forecast of year 2015 validated by HQ in 2014 (validation period) for FED & BUDGET. The execution rate will be calculated on a FULL YEAR basis.

65. Reporting Initial version validated in January
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Initial version validated in January
Mid-Year version validated in July
Ongoing version (example: current month is September) N
N+1 J F M A S O N D J F M A S O N D
Initial Forecast N
N+1 J F M A S O N D J F M A S O N D
ACTUAL
Mid-Year Forecast N
N+1 J F M A S O N D J F M A S O N D
ACTUAL
Mid-Year Forecast

66. Reporting
Intro
Access
Draft Contract
Encoding
Validation
Reporting
Year-to-Date and Full-Year Execution Rate (example: current month SEP)
If the current month is JUL, the version is Mid-Year validated in year N and you select YTD, the execution rate will be very good as you compare ACTUAL vs FORECAST (in this case ACTUAL as the Mid-Year version takes actual for Semester 1 of year N).
YTD
FULL YEAR
ACTUAL
FORECAST
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
Left to Implement
NOV
DEC