Actual Cost Import

Actual cost import is often where project control breaks down. The accounting system tracks costs by charge number or cost code. The project plan tracks them by Work Package. Those two structures rarely align automatically, and the manual reconciliation work required to bridge them is a persistent source of errors, delays, and cost-record inconsistencies.

Explicit Charge Number Mapping

Before any actuals are imported, users define how charge numbers from the accounting system map to Work Packages in the project. This mapping step is surfaced as a required configuration — it is not inferred in the background or handled by heuristic matching. The result is that every imported actual row lands in the correct execution element rather than requiring post-import correction, and the mapping itself is an auditable record of how the project's cost reporting structure connects to the accounting system.

Row-Level Validation

The intake surface validates each row against the project's cost elements, Work Packages, resources, and reporting periods before anything is committed to authoritative cost records. Rows with unresolved references — an unmapped charge number, an unknown resource, a cost element that does not exist in the project structure — remain in the intake surface with explicit feedback describing the problem. The planner can correct those rows and resubmit without losing any of the valid rows that already processed.

Cumulative Mode

Some accounting systems report cumulative-to-date totals rather than period actuals. In cumulative mode, ProjectXL compares the incoming cumulative total against the previously imported total for the same charge number and Work Package, and derives the current-period delta automatically. The planner does not need to calculate period actuals manually before importing.