In the new Financials page for projects in Project Workspace or for planning items in SPW, users previously lacked the ability to compare actuals with planned costs if they did not capture financial baselines, or to modify planned costs for past fiscal periods if they were solely using the planned cost field to manage the project “forecast.”
With the new Display modes in the Financials page available from Q3 2025 store release of the New Project WS and SPW, users can now compare actuals to planned costs for all fiscal periods in a project or planning item’s duration, or focus only on planned values if actuals are not tracked in ServiceNow. These enhancements build on the existing capabilities of viewing the latest forecast for financials and comparing the forecast with the approved budget.
What are Display modes?
Display modes control which financial breakdown columns users can see against cost plans for the chosen time scale. Depending on the financial data they need to view and edit, users can choose between the following four display modes:
- Forecast
- Budget Allocation
- Budget vs. Forecast
- Planned vs. Actual
- Planned
The Display mode dropdown is available to the top left corner of the financials grid to the left of 'Generate labor costs' option.
Forecast:
This mode shows Actual values for past fiscal periods and Planned values for current and future fiscal periods against cost plans. It provides the latest estimate at completion (EAC) for the project duration or the filtered time scope.
Example use cases for a Project Manager:
- Reviewing the latest forecast of project costs to report to leadership.
- Quickly analyzing how much of the forecast is derived from past actuals versus future planned values.
- Reviewing actuals recorded for past fiscal periods and re-forecasting future planned values.
Budget Allocation:
This mode enables viewing, modifying and approving ‘Budget’ to a project or planning. Item. It enables users to compare Budget values approved for a time period with the latest Forecast, grouped by Expense Type or Cost Type depending on the budget attribute. In this mode, the Budget field is editable.
- Available to roles such as Portfolio Manager, who have access to approve budgets for work items.
- A funding user can enter the budget they want to approve for a time period against an expense or cost type and then formally approve it.
An example of when a portfolio manager can use this display mode:
- An IT Portfolio Manager is reviewing cloud hosting costs for the upcoming quarter.
- Budget: They had previously approved $150,000 under the Expense Type: Capex.
- Forecast: Based on current usage trends, the forecast now shows $175,000.
- The manager quickly spots the $25,000 gap and decides whether to adjust the budget or initiate cost-control measures before approving any further increases
Budget vs Forecast:
This mode compares Budget values approved for a time period with the latest Forecast, grouped by Expense Type or Cost Type depending on the budget attribute. Here, the Budget field is not editable.
- Available to roles such as IT Project Manager, who do not have access to approve budgets for work items.
- Enables project managers to analyze where costs are exceeding or remaining within budget across expense/cost types and time periods.
An example of when a project manager can use this display mode:
- A project manager notices that the ‘Budget vs EAC variance’ for the project is -$10000 from the financial widgets.
- Switches to ‘Budget vs cost’ display mode on the financials grid
- Identifies that the variance is from the cost type ‘Software Capex’ as the total ‘Actual’ costs for Software Capex for last fiscal period is over the budget value by -$10000.
Planned vs. Actuals:
This mode compares Actual values with Planned values on cost plans for past and current fiscal periods.
- Helps users analyze where actuals differ from planned costs and identify reasons for deviations.
- Users can also revise planned costs for across all fiscal periods if required.
An example of when a project manager can use this display mode:
- Reviews the planned costs for FY25: M04–M06 against the actuals recorded in the system.
- Notices that Contractor Costs for FY25: M05 are $3,000 higher than planned.
- Uses the view to investigate the deviation and learns that the variance is due to additional hours logged by external consultants.
- Decides whether to revise the planned costs for the past fiscal period or flag the overrun for portfolio-level discussion
Planned:
This mode only shows Planned values from cost plans for all fiscal periods.
- Allows users to focus solely on estimates and revise planned costs.
- Especially useful for organizations that do not manage actual costs in ServiceNow but rely on planned values to manage project financials.
An example of when a project manager can use this display mode:
- Reviews the planned costs for FY25 across all fiscal periods to understand the funding needs for a new infrastructure project.
- Focuses only on the estimated values since actuals are not tracked in ServiceNow for this customer.
- Identifies that planned hardware costs in FY25: M07 are underestimated by $5,000 due to updated vendor quotes.
- Revises the planned costs to reflect the corrected estimates, ensuring future reporting and funding requests are more accurate.
Key Takeaways
- Display modes in ServiceNow SPM Financials provide flexible views of budgets, forecasts, planned, and actual costs, tailored to different user roles and needs.
- Forecast mode focuses only on the latest forecasted values, giving users visibility into the Actuals recorded so far and the forward-looking view of expected spend across fiscal periods to aid in proactive financial planning.
- Budget Allocation or Budget vs. Cost helps funding users and project managers track variances across cost/expense types and time periods, enabling early action on overruns or underspending.
- Planned vs. Actual allows project managers to compare estimates against actuals, analyse deviations, and update past plans when necessary.
- Planned-only mode is especially useful for organizations that manage projects using cost estimates without tracking actuals in ServiceNow.
- Each mode ensures that users — whether funding owners or project managers — have the right level of visibility and control to support better decision-making without unnecessary complexity.
