SPM Financials: Project Financial Diagnostics

[Md Asim Khan]

ServiceNow SPM

Project Financial Diagnostics
Functional Reference

A comprehensive functional reference for the diagnostic & auto-fix framework that detects and repairs financial data discrepancies across Planned Cost, Actual Cost, Budget, ETC/EAC, and Benefits — with full sub-project and multi-currency support.

5 Diagnostics Multi-Currency Sub-Project Aware Auto-Fix

~95%

Investigation Time Saved

~98%

Fix Implementation Saved

5

Diagnostic Categories

1. The Problem

ServiceNow SPM financial values are cached aggregates, not live queries. When a user opens a project's Financials tab, they see values stored on pm_project, not computed on the fly. These cached values are recalculated by Business Rules when underlying records change.

Common symptoms reported in support cases:

• Planned Cost mismatch — Project planned cost doesn't match the sum of cost plan breakdowns
• Actual Cost mismatch — Project actual cost doesn't match the sum of expense lines
• Budget mismatch — Project Workspace vs Strategic Planning Workspace show different budget values
• Orphan expense lines — Expense line records with no linked cost plan
• ETC/EAC drift — Forecast cost doesn't match aggregated cost plan forecasts
• Multi-currency desync — Default currency matches but investment/project currency values are stale

Previously, each support case required writing specific fix scripts tailored to individual corruptions at different entity levels. This framework replaces that with a single generic diagnostic and fixing tool that works at any entity level — automating both detection and repair across all financial metrics.

2. What It Diagnoses & Fixes

The framework includes 5 diagnostics, each targeting a specific financial metric. Every diagnostic detects mismatches and includes an auto-fix that repairs the data.

#	Diagnostic	What It Detects	What It Fixes
1	Planned Cost	Mismatch between cost plan breakdowns and project planned cost fields	Rebuilds breakdowns from cost plans, rolls up to project, syncs to investment
2	Actual Cost	Mismatch between expense lines, cost plan actuals, and project actual cost fields	Associates orphan expense lines, rebuilds actuals from expense lines, rolls up to project
3	Budget	Mismatch between investment budget table and project budget fields	Rebuilds task breakdowns from investment budget (one-way), rolls up to project
4	ETC/EAC	Mismatch between cost plan forecast fields and project forecast/ETC fields	Recalculates ETC/EAC from the open forecast period across all currencies
5	Benefit	Mismatch between benefit plan breakdowns and project benefit fields	Rebuilds breakdowns from benefit plans, rolls up to project, syncs to investment

3. Financial Data Model

Understanding which table is the source of truth for each financial metric is critical:

Financial Metric	Source of Truth	Cached On	Currency Fields
Planned Cost	cost_plan → cost_plan_breakdown	pm_project.cost, .capex_cost, .opex_cost	Default, Investment, Project
Actual Cost	fm_expense_line (state=processed)	pm_project.work_cost	Default, Investment, Project
Budget	sn_invst_pln_invst_budget (v2) project_funding (legacy)	pm_project.budget_cost, .capex_budget, .opex_budget	Default, Investment
ETC / EAC	cost_plan.etc_cost_*, .forecast_cost_*	pm_project.estimate_to_completion, .forecast_cost	Default, Investment, Project
Benefit	benefit_plan → benefit_plan_breakdown	pm_project.benefits, .actual_benefits	Default, Investment, Project

Breakdown Types

Both cost_plan_breakdown and benefit_plan_breakdown have two breakdown types:

breakdown_type = requirement

One row per cost/benefit plan per fiscal period. These are the granular financial buckets that store per-plan amounts.

breakdown_type = task

Aggregated rollup rows at the project level per fiscal period. These power the Planning Grid UI and represent the project-level totals.

4. System Properties

Two properties fundamentally change where financial data is stored and how the diagnostics behave:

Property	Values	Controls	Impact on Diagnostics
com.snc.project.rollup.cost	true / false	Whether sub-project costs roll up to the parent project	When TRUE: validation includes all descendant projects/tasks in aggregation
glide.cost_mgmt.process_task_top_task	true / false	Whether expense lines are duplicated at the top-level task	When TRUE: expense line queries scope to the current project only. When FALSE: queries include all descendants.

5. The Five Diagnostics

Diagnostic 1 - Identify Project Planned Cost Discrepancies

When To Use

• Project's planned cost looks incorrect or out of sync
• Cost, Capex cost or Opex cost aren't matching across
• Planned cost data is inconsistent between Project Workspace and Strategic Planning Workspace
• Cost calculation sync issues between requirement vs task breakdowns vs cost plans vs project
• Multi-currency fields sync issues in planned cost fields

What It Checks

1. Requirement type breakdowns vs Cost Plan — checks that the aggregated planned cost of requirement-type breakdowns equals the cost plan total
2. Requirement type breakdowns vs Project — checks that the aggregated planned cost of requirement-type breakdowns equals the project's planned cost
3. Requirement type breakdowns vs Investment — checks that the aggregated planned cost of requirement type breakdowns equals the investment's planned cost
4. Task type breakdowns vs Cost Plan — checks that the aggregated planned cost of task-type breakdowns equals the cost plan total
5. Task type breakdowns vs Top Project — checks that the aggregated planned cost of task-type breakdowns equals the top-level project's planned cost
6. Project vs Align Core Project (only if integrations are enabled) — checks that the project's planned cost is in sync with the corresponding Align Core project

Syncs the Following Fields

Table	Default Currency Fields	Investment Currency Fields	Project Currency Fields
pm_project	cost capex_cost opex_cost	cost_invst_currency capex_cost_invst_currency opex_cost_invst_currency	cost_project_currency capex_cost_project_currency opex_cost_project_currency
cost_plan	cost_default_currency	cost_invst_currency	cost_project_currency
cost_plan_breakdown	cost_default_currency	cost_invst_currency	cost_project_currency
sn_invst_pln_invst_investment	cost capex_cost opex_cost	cost_invst_currency capex_cost_invst_currency opex_cost_invst_currency

Diagnostic 2 - Identify Project Actual Cost Discrepancies

When To Use

• Project actual cost totals don't match the sum of processed expense lines
• Time card expenses aren't reflecting on project actual cost fields
• Inconsistent actual cost between Project Workspace and financial reports
• System errors occurred during expense line aggregation
• Multi-currency projects showing incorrect actual cost conversion amounts
• Orphan expense lines causing actual cost discrepancies at the project level

What It Checks

1. Requirement type breakdowns vs Cost Plan — checks that the aggregated actual cost of requirement-type breakdowns equals the cost plan's actual cost total
2. Requirement type breakdowns vs Project — checks that the aggregated actual cost of requirement-type breakdowns equals the project's actual cost
3. Requirement type breakdowns vs Expense Line — checks that the aggregated actual cost of requirement-type breakdowns equals the total processed expense line amounts
4. Project vs Expense Line — checks that the project's actual cost equals the total processed expense line amounts
5. Task type breakdowns vs Cost Plan (top project only) — checks that the aggregated actual cost of task-type breakdowns equals the cost plan's actual cost total
6. Task type breakdowns vs Top Project — checks that the aggregated actual cost of task-type breakdowns equals the top-level project's actual cost
7. Task breakdowns vs Expense Line (top project only) — checks that the aggregated actual cost of task-type breakdowns equals the processed expense line amounts
8. Project vs Align Core Project (only if spw integrations is enabled) — checks that the project's actual cost is in sync with the corresponding Align Core project

Note: Orphan or standalone expense lines are the expenses which are not associated with cost plans. The diagnostic reports Orphan expense lines exist for these projects or any identified projects having actual cost discrepancies are reported.

Syncs the Following Fields

Table	Default Currency Fields	Investment Currency Fields	Project Currency Fields
pm_project	work_cost	actual_cost_invst_currency	actual_cost_project_currency
cost_plan	actual_cost_default_currency	actual_cost_invst_currency	actual_cost_project_currency
cost_plan_breakdown	actual	actual_cost_invst_currency	actual_cost_project_currency
fm_expense_line	amount	amount_invst_currency	amount_project_currency
sn_invst_pln_invst_investment	work_cost capex_work_cost opex_work_cost	work_cost_invst_currency capex_work_cost_invst_currency opex_work_cost_invst_currency

Diagnostic 3 - Identify Project Budget Discrepancies

When To Use

• Works for new budgeting when enable_budget_allocation_v2 property is enabled
• Project budget totals don't match cost plan breakdown aggregates
• Budget changes in Project Workspace not reflecting in Strategic Planning Workspace
• Investment Planning budget (sn_invst_pln_invst_budget) out of sync with project budget
• Multi-currency budget conversion discrepancies
• Budget rollup errors between breakdowns and project entity

What It Checks

1. Task type breakdowns vs Project
2. Task type breakdowns vs Investment Budget table
3. Task type breakdowns vs Investment

Syncs the Following Fields

Table	Default Currency Fields	Investment Currency Fields	Project Currency Fields
pm_project	budget_cost	budget_cost_invst_currency	budget_cost_project_currency
sn_invst_pln_invst_budget	amount	amount_invst_currency	—
cost_plan_breakdown	budget	budget_cost_invst_currency	budget_cost_project_currency
sn_invst_pln_invst_investment	budget_cost capex_budget opex_budget	budget_cost_invst_currency capex_budget_invst_currency opex_budget_invst_currency	—

Diagnostic 4 - Identify Project EAC/ETC Discrepancies

When To Use

• Estimate at completion (EAC) values don't match cost plan aggregates
• Estimate to Completion (ETC) showing incorrect remaining cost
• CAPEX / OPEX forecast breakdown totals are inconsistent
• After fiscal period changes or forecast recalculations
• Multi-currency forecast values showing conversion errors
• Open forecast period changes not reflecting on project entity

What It Checks

1. Cost plan forecast vs Project forecast (top project only)
2. Cost plan ETC vs Project ETC (top project only)

Syncs the Following Fields

Table	Default Currency Fields	Investment Currency Fields	Project Currency Fields
pm_project	forecast_cost capex_forecast_cost opex_forecast_cost estimate_to_completion capex_estimate_to_completion opex_estimate_to_completion	forecast_cost_invst_currency capex_forecast_cost_invst_currency opex_forecast_cost_invst_currency estimate_to_completion_invst_currency capex_estimate_to_completion_invst_currency opex_estimate_to_completion_invst_currency	forecast_cost_project_currency capex_forecast_cost_project_currency opex_forecast_cost_project_currency estimate_to_completion_project_currency capex_estimate_to_completion_project_currency opex_estimate_to_completion_project_currency
cost_plan	forecast_cost_default_currency etc_cost_default_currency	forecast_cost_invst_currency etc_cost_invst_currency	forecast_cost_project_currency etc_cost_project_currency
cost_plan_breakdown	forecast_cost estimate_to_completion		forecast_cost_project_currency estimate_to_completion_project_currency

Diagnostic 5 - Identify Project Benefit Discrepancies

When To Use

• Project benefit totals don't match benefit plan breakdown aggregates
• Estimated or actual benefits not reflecting correctly on project entity
• Inconsistent benefit data between task-type and requirement-type breakdowns
• Multi-currency benefit conversion discrepancies
• Benefit rollup errors between benefit plan breakdown and benefit plan tables

What It Checks

1. Requirement type breakdowns vs Benefit Plan
2. Requirement type breakdowns vs Project
3. Task breakdowns vs Investment
4. Task type breakdowns vs Benefit Plan
5. Task type breakdowns vs Top Project
6. Project vs Align Core Project (only if integrations are enabled)

Syncs the Following Fields

Table	Default Currency Fields	Investment Currency Fields	Project Currency Fields
pm_project	benefits actual_benefits	planned_benefit_invst_currency actual_benefit_invst_currency	planned_benefit_project_currency actual_benefit_project_currency
benefit_plan	base_estimated_benefit actual_benefit	benefit_invst_currency actual_benefit_invst_currency	benefit_project_currency actual_benefit_project_currency
benefit_plan_breakdown	base_estimated_benefit actual_benefit	benefit_invst_currency actual_benefit_invst_currency	benefit_project_currency actual_benefit_project_currency

6. Feature Coverage Matrix

Capability	Planned Cost	Actual Cost	Budget	ETC/EAC	Benefit
Diagnostic Detection	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Auto-Fix Script	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

7. How to Use

Running Diagnostics via ADT

1

Navigate — Go to Project Diagnostics in the platform navigator, then select Project Financial Diagnostics

2

Run Diagnostic — Click Run Diagnostic. The scan iterates all matching projects and reports mismatches.

3

Run Fix — Click Run Fix Script to auto-repair all identified discrepancies.

4

Verify — Re-run the diagnostic to confirm all issues are resolved.

Tip: For large instances, use the project filter to scope the diagnostic to specific projects rather than scanning the entire instance.

Multi-Currency Support

Every diagnostic automatically checks up to three currency dimensions:

Default Currency

System/functional currency. Always validated.

Investment Currency

Validated when the project's investment currency differs from functional currency.

Project Currency

Validated when the project has a dedicated project currency set.

Availability: This feature will be available out-of-the-box starting with the Brazil release. Until then, an update set for this functionality is attached to this article for immediate use.

Author: Mohammad Asim Khan · Last Updated: July 2026