Creating a Forecast

This walkthrough creates a cost forecast. A revenue forecast follows the same steps but starts from your Schedule of Values — see SOV revenue for the revenue-specific parts.

Step 1 — Open the editor

From the dashboard, click Create Cost Forecast (or Create Revenue Forecast). The forecasting editor opens.

Step 2 — Set the basics

1. Budget view — choose the Procore budget view that holds your line items.
2. Name — something you'll recognise later, e.g. "2026 Cost Forecast — Baseline".
3. Type — Cost or Revenue.
4. Date range — the project's start and end. This is the default span new line items inherit; you can override dates per line item later.

Step 3 — Add line items

You have two routes:

• Import from the budget view — pulls in the budget lines (cost codes, categories, amounts) as line items in one go. This is the usual path.
• Add manually — click Add Line Item and enter the details yourself for one-off lines.

Each imported line arrives with a total amount (its forecast-to-complete) and a default curve.

Step 4 — Choose a curve per line item

For each line, pick the distribution curve that matches how the money flows — linear, S-curve, front/back-loaded, bell, ramp, custom, or manual. Cashflow Manager calculates the monthly split immediately.

Not sure? S-curve (Balanced) suits most construction work.

Step 5 — Fine-tune (optional)

Expand a line to see its monthly periods. You can:

• edit any month directly (it's flagged as a manual override),
• spread a remaining balance across the open months, and
• adjust dates to reshape the whole line.

Months holding actuals or in a closed billing period are locked. See the editor guide for the full toolkit.

Step 6 — Save and activate

• Save keeps the forecast as a draft.
• Activate makes it the active forecast of its type. The active cost and revenue forecasts are what the cash flow uses. Activating a cost forecast also lets you push it to Procore's Advanced Forecasting.

Activating a forecast deactivates the previous active one of the same type — only one cost and one revenue forecast are active at a time.

Next

• See it in the cash flow: Cash flow analysis.
• Build the revenue side: SOV revenue.
• Compare versions: Comparing forecasts.