Overview
The Contract vs. Actual Expenses Reporting feature helps you compare contracted commitments with actual supplier expense, enabling proactive variance management.
Note: This feature is available only for customers with an ERP integration.
You can see two tabs: Analysis and Catalog. The Catalog tab allows you to view all suppliers, including those without contracts or spend data.
Watch The Demo
Watch this demo for a quick walkthrough of how to analyze Contracted vs. Actual Expenses in Tropic.
Note: For an enhanced viewing experience, click the expand icon in the top-right corner of the demo to enlarge the screen.
Click Start Demo or Play (top right corner) to begin the demo.
Tip: You can navigate back and forth between steps by positioning your mouse at the bottom of the demo screen. A progress bar will appear, allowing you to jump to different steps as needed.
Core Capabilities
Timeframe Filtering
You can filter supplier data over a variety of preset and custom time periods:
- Current Timeframes: This Fiscal Year (default), This Month, Fiscal Year to Date
- Previous Timeframes: Past Month, Past 3 Months, Past 6 Months, Past Fiscal Year
- Future Timeframes: Coming Month, Coming 3 Months, Coming 6 Months, Coming Fiscal Year
- Custom Range: You can select a custom start and end month to analyze specific periods.
Supplier Index Column Updates
Columns provide detailed variance insights:
- Contracted Expenses: Expected spend based on contracts for the selected timeframe.
- Actual Expenses: Actual spend from the accounting system for the same timeframe.
- Variance Amount: Difference between contracted and actual spend, with conditional formatting to highlight favorable (green) vs. unfavorable (red) variances.
- Variance Percentage: Percentage difference between contracted and actual spend.
Expense Details Summary
Quick filters and summaries are provided to highlight key insights:
- Uncontracted Expenses: Suppliers with actual spend but no contract.
- Overages: Suppliers where actual spend exceeds contracted spend.
- Underages: Suppliers where actual spend is below contracted spend.
- Missing Expenses Details: Suppliers with contracts but no actual spend.
- Incomplete Contracts: Suppliers with contracts in an "undetermined" status.
Setup Requirements
To access this feature, ensure your account is integrated with an ERP system. ERP integration enables the detailed spend and variance reporting required for Contracted vs. Actual Expenses analysis.
- Clean and complete contract data.
- Proper matching of actual spend data to the corresponding supplier contracts.
FAQs
Q: Why is overspending represented with a negative variance?
A: Negative variances indicate unfavorable outcomes (overspending), while positive variances represent favorable outcomes (underspending). Conditional formatting highlights these with red and green colors, respectively.
Q: What should I do if I notice data discrepancies in my report?
A: Discrepancies can occur when actual spend data isn't properly matched to supplier contracts or if contract records don’t accurately reflect spending patterns. To resolve this, review your contract records to ensure values and dates are correct. You can also use supplier matching tools to link actual transactions to the appropriate suppliers.
Additional Resources
For more training guides or documentation, please visit our Help Center. Our resources provide detailed guidance to help you navigate Tropic effectively.