Production Management (Budgeting, Schedule Tracking and Actual Cost Comparison)

This is a module that helps the finance and programming departments to work homogenously. Budgets for self produced programmes, their production schedules, expenses for each schedule at voucher levels and subsequently apportion the actual cost over the episodes produced can all be managed with this module. Budgeting and costing can be classified under multiple heads and groups. Validation of actual cost against the budget, rate checks for commonly used resources can also be done.

The module provides a limitless list of budget categories that can be defined by the users. It also provides flexibility in selecting vendors for various services depending on the quality and price of the vendor. A budget that can be created with the bifurcation of fixed and variable costs can also be done. The system dynamically calculates the per episode cost by apportioning the fixed costs over the number of episodes planned and apply the variable costs to the planned schedules.

The system also allows the planning of schedules, changes in requirements during the actual production and thus the actual cost. A comparison between the budgeted cost and the actual cost can also be made as a single view. The module tightly integrates with the amortization engine. When schedules are closed, the per episode costs are updated in the contracts and these are used in computing the cost of airing.