The Billing Forecast report helps your team plan ahead by showing expected billing across forecasted projects over time. It gives you a clearer view of projected billing, remaining backlog, and how future work is expected to convert into revenue.
Use this report to understand what you expect to bill in the coming months, spot gaps early, and keep forecast assumptions aligned across projects.
What this report shows
The Billing Forecast report gives you an aggregate view of projected billing across the projects in your current view. It combines historical actuals with forward-looking forecasted billing so you can see where billing is expected to ramp up, taper off, or fall short.
At a glance, this report helps you see:
recent actual billing across forecasted projects
projected billing for the next 12 months
expected billing trends over time
which projects have forecasts in place
how much future billing is still left on forecasted jobs
Where to find it
Go to Reporting and select Billing Forecast.
You can also create or edit a billing forecast from within an individual project by opening the project and going to the Forecast tab, or by clicking Create quick forecast from the pay apps tab.
Who can use this report
Access to the Billing Forecast report depends on your permissions in Siteline. Admins can typically view all company projects, while other users will only see the projects they have access to.
How forecasts work in Siteline
Billing forecasts are available for lump sum and unit priced projects. When creating a forecast, you choose:
a billing start date
a project duration
a forecast curve
If the project has already started billing, Siteline automatically adds the month associated with the project’s oldest pay app.
Creating a forecast
To create a forecast for a project:
Open the project.
Click Create quick forecast from the pay apps tab, or go to the Forecast tab and click Create forecast.
Choose a billing start date.
Enter the project duration.
Select a forecast curve.
Review the generated projection and adjust it as needed.
Siteline uses these inputs to create an initial monthly billing forecast that you can refine later.
Editing a forecast
To edit a forecast, click Edit in the top-right corner of the forecast screen.
While editing, you can:
cancel
reset changes
save your work
manually update projected billing for future months
drag points on the projection graph
apply a preset curve again
show the SOV for added reference while editing
Actual billing amounts are automatically populated as pay apps are submitted for the relevant month.
What can and cannot be edited
When editing a billing forecast:
Total contract value and Left to bill cannot be changed from the forecast view because they are based on your SOV and past pay apps.
If a project has not yet started billing, you can edit the projected billing start date.
You can extend or reduce the project duration.
You can manually edit any future month’s projected billing amount.
You can reset the forecast using Apply preset curve at any time.
Smart Allocate
If the amount remaining on a job does not match the total amount projected in the forecast, Siteline shows a Remainder value.
A positive remainder means the contract amount remaining is greater than the projected amount, so the forecast is too low.
A negative remainder means the contract amount remaining is less than the projected amount, so the forecast is too high.
Siteline provides options to quickly add or remove the difference, and you can still reset changes or manually edit months before saving.
Forecast alignment warnings
If the forecast start date does not match the date of the oldest submitted or synced pay app in Siteline, Siteline prompts you to either:
shift the forecast start date
change the projected project duration
You can test either option and use Reset changes before saving if you want to compare outcomes.
Aggregate Billing Forecast report
Within Reporting, the Billing Forecast report gives you an aggregate view of all billing forecasts in your current view.
This report is designed to help you understand billing trends across forecasted jobs, not just one project at a time. It gives you a broader planning view by combining:
the last 6 months of actual billing for forecasted projects
the next 12 months of projected billing for forecasted projects
How to use the Billing Forecast report
The Billing Forecast report helps answer questions like:
What are we expecting to bill in the coming months?
Are we forecasting enough billing to support revenue goals?
Which projects are carrying the most expected billing?
Where are we seeing gaps or drop-offs in future billing?
Which jobs still need forecasts added or updated?
How to use this report effectively
Here are a few ways to get more value from the Billing Forecast report:
Review the aggregate trend first
Start with the company-wide forecast view to understand overall projected billing trends across forecasted projects.
Compare actuals to projected billing
Use the historical actuals and future projections together to understand whether upcoming billing expectations are realistic relative to recent performance.
Look for future gaps
Review the forward-looking months to spot dips in expected billing early. This can help your team investigate whether the gap reflects project timing, missing forecasts, or overly conservative assumptions.
Keep project forecasts current
The aggregate report is only as useful as the project forecasts behind it. Review and update project-level forecasts regularly so the report stays accurate and useful for planning.
Use Quick add to fill gaps
From the aggregate report, use + Quick add to add forecasts to additional projects without leaving the reporting view.
Exporting the report
You can export the Billing Forecast report to Excel using the Export dropdown above the report.
Exports can be useful when you want to:
analyze forecasted billing outside of Siteline
share projected billing with internal stakeholders
keep a planning file for revenue reviews or forecasting meetings
Tips and best practices
Add forecasts to projects early so your aggregate view is more complete.
Revisit forecasts as project timing changes.
Use preset curves as a starting point, then fine-tune where needed.
Review the remainder value before saving to make sure your forecast aligns with what is left to bill.
Keep project-level forecasts current so the aggregate report stays useful for planning.
Related reports
The Billing Forecast report works well alongside other Siteline reports:
Billing report to compare projected billing against current-month billing activity
Cash Forecast report to understand when forecasted billing is likely to turn into cash
Overview report for a high-level pulse check across billing and collections
Project Snapshot dashboard to view billing alongside project health and financial performance