Return to EDIFACT D04B Messages page.Project cost reporting message
0. INTRODUCTIONThis specification provides the definition of the Project cost reporting message (PROCST) to be used in Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) between trading partners involved in administration, commerce and transport. 1. SCOPE1.1. Functional definitionThe Project cost reporting message is used in various industry sectors when there is a requirement for all parties involved in a project to formally establish and exchange budget baseline, actual, progress, and estimate to complete cost information; technical performance measurement information; and related funding information. This information exchange is typically going from a contractor performing the work to the end customer. The purpose of this information exchange is to provide the end customer with data that describes the work that must be completed, who is doing the work, and establishes the cost budget baseline for the project. This information exchange also provides data that describes how the work is progressing against the cost baseline to determine if the project will complete on time and within budget. The work in process measurement data provides key management information to ensure the project is progressing as planned and highlights any problem areas that need correcting. Technical performance measurement data is used to determine if the project is meeting specific design or functional objectives. Periodic funding data reporting is used to track future funding requirements for the work in process. 1.2. Field of applicationThe Project cost reporting message may be used for both national and international applications. It is based on universal practice related to administration, commerce and transport, and is not dependent on the type of business or industry. The industry sectors that typically exchange project cost information include construction, aerospace, aircraft, defense, and software or support services. Various government entities such as transportation, energy, space, and defense exchange project cost information with their contractors related to construction, software development, research and development, and production. For these various government entities, this project cost information is typically part of the contractual requirements for the preparation, status, and completion of a project, particularly for departments or ministries of defense for weapon system acquisition. Although various regional and international differences do exist in the business terms used for project cost reporting, the underlying business requirements are similar. Various ministries of defense around the world have formed an international performance measurement council that has established similar policy and principles for project cost performance measurement and reporting. These international policies and principles are the underlying foundation for the data content in the Project cost reporting message. 1.3. PrinciplesThis message is designed to convey budget, actual, earned value, and estimate to complete cost data; technical performance measurement data; and related funding data about a project in a neutral data format. This information exchange provides data on how work is progressing against the original plan or budget baseline as well as specific design or functional objectives and to provide funding status related to the project. This progress information provides key management information needed to verify that work is progressing as planned, that work will complete on time and within budget, and meet project objectives. Progress payments can also be tied to the amount of work the contractor completes on the project; this reporting information can serve as the basis for these progress payments. This message can be used to exchange project cost information between commercial off the shelf or company unique program management software applications. Typically this data exchange is external to a company. This data is exchanged with a company's customers which could be a government entity, another contractor, or with one or more teaming partner doing work on a project. Data exchanged in the PROCST message can also relate to information conveyed in the Project Tasks Planning (PROTAP) message which provides more information about the tasks to be performed, who is doing the work, and when it will be done. This PROCST message provides the related cost data (budget, actual, earned value, estimate to complete and related funding requirements) and any related technical performance measurements for the work activities required to complete a project. Many times the work schedule, the focus of the PROTAP message, provides the foundation to build the cost budget baseline. This cost budget baseline serves as the foundation to measure how work is progressing against the plan (actual and earned value costs) and to develop the estimate to complete costs and related completion dates. This message does use externally maintained code lists for such details related to the contract type, program type, security references, appropriation, and funding notations. An external code list is also used to note the specific reporting formats as required by the various ministries of defense or other government agencies. Data Content This message was designed to convey high level, general information about a project and related reporting structure detail. The header section of this message is designed to convey project attributes such as contract and program type, references, descriptions, related documents, total contract monetary and percent details, end item deliverable details (how many and what is being delivered to the end customer), and contractor contact information. The detail section of this message is designed to convey information at three levels of detail. The highest level of detail is the report level. For example, the cost performance data may need to be conveyed using different reporting structures, focus on baseline changes, or forecast labor requirements. Line item information is used to indicate what report format is being conveyed. In addition, for a given report, a segment group is included in the detail section to describe out-year time frames when reporting data needs to be compressed for a project that spans many years. Within a report, the detail is further broken down by specific reporting structure elements. This is the second level of detail. This is where the budget, actual, earned value, estimate, and where needed, technical performance measurement and funding data is provided by specific reporting element references. Within a reporting structure, depending on contract requirements, the reporting structure information may need to be broken down by cost elements such as labor or material detail or more specific detail such as engineering labor. This is the third level of detail. When the third level of detail is used, generally, the budget, actual, earned value, and estimate detail data is included at this level instead of at level two (reporting structure only). However, the two levels can be combined to provide summary reporting structure cost data and detail cost element cost data. Typically the data sent is status information (weekly, monthly, or quarterly). The data will generally be used to update an application with new periodic data. In the event a contractor needs to retransmit a report, the receiving application or receiving party's business environment will dictate how the new data is managed. In some instances, the contractor may need to replan their project. In that event, it may be necessary to transmit new baseline data. Again, the receiving application or receiving party's business environment will dictate how the new data is managed. Multiple Report Formats This message has been designed to indicate the general category of cost data at the header level with the ability to indicate the various report formats at the detail level. This structure allows the message to contain one or more report formats for a given cost report category. This also allows the contractor to submit some of the required formats at one time and others at a later time, as needed. 2. REFERENCESSee UNTDID, Part 4, Chapter 2.3 UN/ECE UNSM - General Introduction, Section 1. 3. TERMS AND DEFINITIONS3.1. Standard terms and definitionsSee UNTDID, Part 4, Chapter 2.3 UN/ECE UNSM - General Introduction, Section 2. 3.2. Message terms and definitionsEARNED VALUE: Earned value represents a fundamental data component for cost performance reporting purposes. It provides the foundation to determine if work is progressing as planned. Earned value costs identify how much work has been completed for the money spent. When earned value costs are compared to the budget baseline costs, it provides an objective measure to determine how much work was actually accomplished or the schedule variance (ahead or behind) in cost terms. When earned value costs are compared to the actual costs spent on the work completed, it provides an objective measure to determine how much it cost to complete the work or the cost variance (over or under). These cost and schedule indicators highlight problem areas in a project and provides objective, statistical measures to determine if a project will complete on time and within budget. REPORTING STRUCTURES: Reporting structures represent the various coding structures used to identify work being done a project. They serve as the foundation to plan, manage, and measure work completed. Generally, the reporting structures include a Work Breakdown Structure (what) and an Organizational Breakdown Structure (who) or a combination of the two such as integrated process teams. The reporting structure coding scheme may be significant or non-significant in nature. A reporting structure that is significant in nature indicates that the next higher level in the reporting structure tree can be determined by dropping one or more characters from the end of the structure code. A reporting structure that is non-significant in nature indicates that the reporting structure uses a unique scheme of coding at each level. The next higher level code in the reporting structure tree cannot be determined by dropping one or more characters from the end of the structure code. TECHNICAL PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT: Technical performance measurements are used to quantify specific design or functional objectives that a project must meet to satisfy contract requirements. This can include such statistical measurements as speed, range, reliability factors, or other quantifiable product or process metrics. Technical performance measurements also provide an early warning about the adequacy of a design to satisfy critical technical requirements of an end product. OUT-YEAR: Many contracts that will use the PROCST message to exchange project cost information between a contractor and their customer span many years. For a large production type of contract, it can span 10, 20, or more years. For reporting purposes, many times the cost data for future years are lumped into specific period based groups such as quarters, semi- annual, annual, or remainder of contract. These future year period based groups are the out-year categories for the contract. As the contract progresses, the future year period groups are broken down into more detail to provide visibility into past, current, and near-term effort, typically into monthly reporting periods. 4. MESSAGE DEFINITION4.1. Segment clarificationThis section should be read in conjunction with the segment table which indicates mandatory, conditional and repeating requirements. The header section for this message includes project unique identifying details, general project information, details about the parties exchanging data, and any related external files. Information in the header section applies to the entire message. The detail section for this message includes the report format and reporting element cost, technical performance measurement, and funding data. The detail section is structured into three levels of detail. The highest level of detail is the report format and any associated out-year data compression details. The second level of detail is the reporting structure element. This reporting structure element can be further broken down into a third level of detail, the cost elements. Budget, earned value, actual, estimate to complete data, and technical performance measurement data can be conveyed at the reporting structure element level (level two), at the cost element level within a reporting structure element (level three), or both. The summary section provides an optional control total segment for checking purposes. 4.1.1. Header sectionInformation to be provided in the Header section: 0010 UNH, Message headerA service segment starting and uniquely identifying a message. The message type code for the Project cost reporting message is PROCST. Note: Project cost reporting messages conforming to this document must contain the following data in segment UNH, composite S009:
0020 BGM, Beginning of messageA segment to identify a single project cost reporting document category, its unique identifier, and specific message function. 0030 PRI, Price detailsA segment to identify contract pricing details including the monetary unit of measure for all monetary amounts in the message. 0040 CUX, CurrenciesA segment to identify the currencies relevant to all monetary amounts in the message. 0050 ATT, AttributeA segment to identify the contract type, program type, and security level notation. 0060 MOA, Monetary amountA segment to identify total contract monetary amounts such as the negotiated cost, contract ceiling, and target price. 0070 PCD, Percentage detailsA segment to identify total contract percentages such as target fee or profit percentage or share ratio percentages when there is a contract cost overrun. 0080 DTM, Date/time/periodA segment to identify total contract dates such as the contract start date, last time delivery date, or contract completion date. 0090 Segment Group 1: RFF-IMDA group of segments to provide information about the project, and to identify unique reference numbers for the message along with any related descriptions. 0100 RFF, ReferenceA segment to identify reference numbers related to the project such as a program, contract, contract addendum, or contract data requirements list. 0110 IMD, Item descriptionA segment to provide a description of a reference number, such as a program name or contract name. 0120 Segment Group 2: QTY-IMD-CCI-ATTA group of segments to provide information about the item under contract such as how many items are being built or delivered, a description, characteristics, and related attributes. 0130 QTY, QuantityA segment to provide the quantity of item(s) being built or delivered under a contract. 0140 IMD, Item descriptionA segment to provide a description of the item(s) being built or delivered under a contract. 0150 CCI, Characteristic/class idA segment to provide characteristic details for the item(s) being built or delivered under a contract. 0160 ATT, AttributeA segment to provide program type information such as research and development phase or production phase for the item(s) being built or delivered under a contract. 0170 Segment Group 3: PNA-ADR-SG4A group of segments to identify the parties relevant to the entire message with related contact and communication information. 0180 PNA, Party identificationA segment to provide message sender and receiver information. 0190 ADR, AddressA segment to provide address information for each named party. 0200 Segment Group 4: CTA-COM-DTMA group of segments to identify the contact, communication numbers, and related dates for each named party. 0210 CTA, Contact informationA segment to provide an authorized representative or contact person's name and department for each named party. 0220 COM, Communication contactA segment to identify the phone number, fax number, e-mail, or other communication number for the contact party. 0230 DTM, Date/time/periodA segment to identify dates associated with the authorized representative such as approved and submission dates. 0240 Segment Group 5: EFI-CED-DTMA group of segments to provide information about other documents or files that related to the entire message such as schedule, technical, text, or graphical files that provide additional project reference or management control information. Also provides details about the computing environment and related dates if needed. 0250 EFI, External file link identificationA segment to identify a related file or message along with details, such as the file name, file format, version, and data format. 0260 CED, Computer environment detailsA segment to describe the data processing environment used to create the named file such as the name of the software application, version and release. 0270 DTM, Date/time/periodA segment to provide the created, effective, processing, or other date stamp for the named file. 4.1.2. Detail sectionInformation to be provided in the Detail section: 0280 Segment group 6: LIN-ATT-DTM-SG7-SG8 A group of segments to convey the report line item information (level one) and reporting structure (level two) cost and hour details. At the report line item level, provides segments to identify which report format, contract funding and appropriation notations, and period grouping details for contracts that span many years. At the reporting structure level, provides segments to identify additional information, reference numbers, and cost and hour details. 0290 LIN, Line itemA segment used to identify the specific report line item and format the data represents. Generally relates to specific contractual data items required for the receiving customer. May use an external code list to identify the reporting line item, generally for a specific government entity. 0300 ATT, AttributeA segment used at the report level to identify contract funding and appropriation information specific to a given report. 0310 DTM, Date/time/periodA segment used at the report level to provide specific report start and stop dates or funds effective dates. 0320 Segment Group 7: RFF-QTY-DTM-IMDA group of segments used at the report level to describe the out-year time frames used to condense time phased reporting details for contracts that span many years. 0330 RFF, ReferenceA segment to identify the out-year period reference number. 0340 QTY, QuantityA segment to identify the number of reporting periods condensed into one out-year period reference. 0350 DTM, Date/time/periodA segment used to identify the span of dates condensed into one out-year period reference. 0360 IMD, Item descriptionA segment to provide a description of the condensed out-year period reference. 0370 Segment Group 8: IDE-REL-IMD-RCS-CCI-RFF-DTM-STA-FTX-SG9-SG10-SG11-SG12-SG13 A group of segments to provide reporting structure element codes, relationship information, descriptions, conditions, characteristics about the work item, other reference numbers, dates, responsible person contact information, statistical information, and associated costs and quantities. Also describes the lower level cost element details (level three) for each reporting structure along with associated statistics, costs, and quantities. 0380 IDE, IdentityA segment to identify the type of reporting structure such as a work breakdown or organizational breakdown, and structure element code. 0390 REL, RelationshipA segment to identify the reporting structure element code relationship details such as a significant or non-significant reporting structure. 0400 IMD, Item descriptionA segment to provide a description for the reporting structure code or to provide an item characteristic reference. 0410 RCS, Requirements and conditionsA segment to provide condition information about the reporting structure element, such as recurring, non-recurring, add, and non-add. 0420 CCI, Characteristic/class idA segment to provide information about a product or assembly associated with a reporting structure element. 0430 RFF, ReferenceA segment to provide reference numbers associated with a reporting structure element, such as appropriation number, contract line item number, or statement of work number. 0440 DTM, Date/time/periodA segment to provide contract period and funding start and stop dates. 0450 STA, StatisticsA segment to provide technical performance measurement statistics associated with a reporting structure element. 0460 FTX, Free textA segment to provide additional text for the reporting structure element. Generally used to provide additional details about baseline changes or problem resolution. 0470 Segment Group 9: CTA-COMA group of segments to provide a responsible person's name and communication numbers for the reporting structure element. 0480 CTA, Contact informationA segment to provide a responsible person's name and department. 0490 COM, Communication contactA segment to identify the phone number, fax number, e-mail, or other communication number for the responsible person. 0500 Segment Group 10: MOA-DTMA group of segments to provide monetary amounts associated with a reporting structure element and any related dates. 0510 MOA, Monetary amountA segment to provide monetary amounts, such as budget, earned value, actual, budget at complete, and estimate at complete. 0520 DTM, Date/time/periodA segment to provide start and end dates for any time phased monetary amounts. 0530 Segment Group 11: QTY-DTMA group of segments to provide quantities associated with a reporting structure element and any related dates. 0540 QTY, QuantityA segment to provide hour or working month quantities such as budget, earned value, actual, budget at complete, and estimate at complete. 0550 DTM, Date/time/periodA segment to provide start and end dates for any time phased quantity. 0560 Segment Group 12: PCD-DTMA group of segments to provide percentages associated with a reporting structure element and any related dates. 0570 PCD, Percentage detailsA segment to provide percentages such as technical performance measurement metrics or cost fees. 0580 DTM, Date/time/periodA segment to provide start and end dates for any time based percentages. 0590 Segment Group 13: CAV-PRC-IMD-RFF-DTM-STA-SG14-SG15-SG16A group of segments to identify cost element details associated with a reporting structure element. Provides segments to describe the cost element and associated statistics, costs, and quantities. 0600 CAV, Characteristic valueA segment to provide a characteristic value of a cost element in coded form such as labor, material, other direct costs, or subcontract costs. Can be adapted to identify standard cost elements for any given industry sector. 0610 PRC, Process identificationA segment to identify a specific functional process, such as engineering or manufacturing. 0620 IMD, Item descriptionA segment to provide a description of the cost element. 0630 RFF, ReferenceA segment to provide reference numbers for the cost element, such as a cost account or work package number. 0640 DTM, Date/time/periodA segment to provide start and stop dates for the cost element. 0650 STA, StatisticsA segment to provide technical performance measurement statistics associated with a cost element. 0660 Segment Group 14: MOA-DTMA group of segments to provide monetary amounts associated with a cost element and any related dates. 0670 MOA, Monetary amountA segment to provide monetary amounts, such as budget, earned value, actual, budget at complete, and estimate at complete. 0680 DTM, Date/time/periodA segment to provide start and end dates for any time phased monetary amounts. 0690 Segment Group 15: QTY-DTMA group of segments to provide quantities associated with a cost element and any related dates. 0700 QTY, QuantityA segment to provide hour or working month quantities, such as budget, earned value, actual, budget at complete, and estimate at complete. 0710 DTM, Date/time/periodA segment to provide start and end dates for any time phased quantity. 0720 Segment Group 16: PCD-DTMA group of segments to provide percentages associated with a cost element and any related dates. 0730 PCD, Percentage detailsA segment to provide percentages such as technical performance measurement metrics or cost fees. 0740 DTM, Date/time/periodA segment to provide start and end dates for any time based percentages. 4.1.3. Summary sectionInformation to be provided in the Summary section: 0750 CNT, Control totalA segment to provide control totals for the message, such as the total number of reporting structure elements. 0760 UNT, Message trailerA service segment ending a message, giving the total number of segments in the message (including the UNH & UNT) and the control reference number of the message. 4.2. Segment index (alphabetical sequence by tag)
4.3. Message structure4.3.1. Segment table
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