--- title: "Initiative" canonical: "https://support.appfire.com/space/DLP/2266398742/Initiative" format: markdown --- > Macro (aura-html) The Planned vs Actual costs panel for an initiative displays the cost of effort in tasks in a specific initiative and its lower levels: program increments and iterations. ![initiative-main.png](media://b6760824-59da-4fc2-85e2-e0dd1f2cc833) ## Top bar Here, you can change the period of the chart: ![financials-top-bar.png](media://66f394c5-954a-42db-a71f-d7dbfc72d8ac) You can choose a predefined value or set custom dates. The shortest period you can choose is one week and the longest is one year. Periods can be in the past or in the future (they are not constrain to a current year). Click the cost calculations icon to check the current cost calculation settings and edit them: ![financials-edit-calculations.png](media://f011a5ef-18a6-4f60-a79f-bf7a8138ff9a) ## Cost summary ![cost-panel.png](media://78a80418-fceb-4760-bde3-84cb11b121f6) Here, you can find a summary of the costs of this initiative. ### Budget The amount of money planned for a specific initiative. Click **Edit budget** next to the amount to edit it. Click **Last modified by** next to the Budget to check the date of the last edit and the editor. ### **Total Cost** Sum of all actual and estimated and non-labor costs in this initiative. A percentage of budget already used is also displayed. If the total cost is within the budget, the amount is green. If the total cost exceeds the budget, the amount is red. ### Actual cost The cost of the effort in tasks already recorded at this moment. ### **Remaining cost ** The cost of planned, future effort in tasks. ### Teams involved The number of all teams related to this initiative. Click the Manage Team hourly rate icon to go to the team rate settings. ### Progress bar Under the actual and remaining costs, you can see a bar representing the percentage of the total cost already spent. ## Total cost over time ![total-cost-over-time.png](media://8fc1cc40-170a-4129-90f5-261c254c2409) In the chart with one axis representing cost and the other time, you can check a visual representation of the cost of tasks in the initiative over time. The period setting determines the timeframe and can be changed in the upper left corner of the Planned vs Actual costs panel. ### Total cost line The dashed horizontal line represents the Total cost. You can see if the costs stay within the budget. If the total cost is within the budget, the line is green. If the total cost exceeds the budget, the line is red. ### Budget line The blue horizontal line represents the budget. ### Budget milestone line A red line that represents a budget milestone. Go to [the Budget milestones section](https://appfire.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/DLP/pages/2211351378/Financials+Administration#Budget-milestones) for more information. ### Total cost tooltip If you hold the pointer over the chart, a tooltip with a Total cost (along with its percentage value compared to the budget) for the given period is displayed. There is also a percentage value of the total cost for the period compared to the budget. The period starts at the beginning of the chart period and ends at the end of the month, pointed by your cursor. ### Expand chart Hover over the top right corner of the chart and click the expand icon to expand the view. ## Cost distribution by tasks ![Chart showing cost distribution by tasks next to a work costs breakdown.](media://925b25b4-c0bc-4eac-82f4-fbba76947621) This chart lets you see the Total cost of a specific task as a percentage share of the initiative’s total cost. ## CapEx vs. OpEx To use the this widget, you have to activate it in [the CapEx vs.OpEx settings](https://appfire.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/DLP/pages/2211351378/Financials+Administration#CapEx-and-OpEx). ![capex-opex-initiative.png](media://13bcd820-d17d-4ba9-a68c-cdc7a3d31954) **CapEx** and **OpEx** are two primary categories for classifying a company's expenses. - **CapEx** stands for **Capital Expenditure**. It's the money a company spends to buy, improve, or maintain long-term assets that will be used for longer periods - **OpEx** stands for **Operational Expenditure**. This is the cost of a company's day-to-day business operations. These are recurring costs that are necessary to keep the business running. In the Financials module you can track CapEx and OpEx expenses by assigning tasks to one of these groups based either on a custom field or Jira filters. Check [the setting page](https://appfire.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/DLP/pages/2211351378/Financials+Administration#CapEx-and-OpEx) for more details. ## Work costs breakdown This table shows information about the initiative broken down into specific tasks. You can [inline edit](https://appfire.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/SPMDRAFT/pages/1793851831) Summary, Start date End date and Team. All the other fields are read-only. You can change the module to change those details; for example, go to the Gantt module to change task details. Here you can find: - Task name - Task start and end dates - Costs - Cost Progress - percentage value of actual and remaining cost share in total cost. These values are based on effort estimate in time: **Example**:
Click to check an example The Financials module view: ![Example Financial module showing work costs breakdown.](media://e5e3690a-a387-43f2-81aa-5613db78cffe) The Resources module view: ![An example of the Resource module view.](media://5569b0be-8801-494d-8d65-4df602cb1e3a)
- Effort estimate - Team - team to which an assignee of the task is assigned. ### Expand chart Hover over the top right corner of the chart and click the expand icon to expand the view.