Lesson 2: Configure the time grid attribute

Tutorials : Analyzing investment using Focal Point® : Module 1: Configure the financial model : Lesson 2: Configure the time grid attribute

In this lesson, you create and configure the time grid attribute for financial analysis. You add the monetary and non-monetary streams that you determined to the time grid attribute.

Time grid attribute

The time grid attribute is used for calculations that are based on a time line. You can plan the financials of your product or products using the time grid attribute.

Prerequisites

▪ Create a workspace called Mobile

▪ Create a module in the workspace called Mobile App

▪ Create two Date attributes: Project start date and Project end date

Steps

1 In the Mobile workspace, click Configure > Attributes.

2 Click the Mobile App module, and click Add Attribute.

3 In the list of attributes, click Time Grid.

4 On the Add Time Grid attribute page, specify the details for the attribute.

▪ In the Name field, enter Project Spec.

▪ In the Description field, enter Project specification of the mobile application project.

▪ In the Alias field, enter mobile.

▪ Select Allow Investment Analysis.

▪ In the Sheets field, click Add Sheet, and then add these time grid sheets:

Name	Time interval	Date attribute	Start date	End date	Scenario type	Include in overview
High	Quarter	Selected	Project start date	Project end date	High	Selected
Likely	Quarter	Selected	Project start date	Project end date	Likely	Selected
Low	Quarter	Selected	Project start date	Project end date	Low	Selected
Actual	Quarter	Selected	Project start date	Project end date	Actual	Selected

▪ In the Rows field, click Add Row, and add these cost and benefit streams for the project:

Name	Type	Unit	Include in overview
Engineering	Cost	USD	Selected
Sales	Benefit	USD	Selected
Engineers		Engineer	Selected
License		License	Selected

Note All cost streams must have the same units. The benefits can be monetary or non-monetary. But the monetary benefit must have the same unit as that of the cost.

5 In the Display type field, select Streams.

6 Click OK to save the time grid attribute.

7 In the Time interval field, select Quarter.

Lesson checkpoint

In this lesson, you learned how to create and configure a time grid attribute for your project. For more information, see Configuring a time grid for investment analysis.

Lesson 3: Create attributes to retrieve the financial metrics