The ROI Summary Cards in Profit.co's PPM Cockpit surface IRR, NPV, and Payback Period for every tracked investment. They update automatically as real cost data comes in, so you never calculate these figures by hand.
Table of Contents
- What Are the ROI Summary Cards?
- Why Do the ROI Summary Cards Matter?
- How Do I View the ROI Summary Cards?
- What Happens When You Use the ROI Summary Cards?
- How Does the Investment Flow Sankey Diagram Show Where Money Goes?
- What Are the Best Practices for the ROI Summary Cards?
- Related Articles
- What Are Some Frequently Asked Questions About the ROI Summary Cards?
What Are the ROI Summary Cards?
The ROI Summary Cards are a set of seven metric cards that Profit.co's PPM Cockpit displays for tracked investments, including Return Ratio, IRR (Internal Rate of Return), NPV (Net Present Value), and Payback Period. They're part of Investment Tracking, which rolls cost and return data up from individual projects to the portfolio level.
IRR also appears at the project level, inside that project's Cost-Benefit Analysis tab, alongside other financial indicators. NPV and Payback Period are not confirmed to appear there, so the Cockpit's ROI Summary Cards are the place to view all three metrics together.
| Metric | PPM Cockpit (ROI Summary Cards) | Project Cost-Benefit Analysis Tab |
|---|---|---|
| Return Ratio | Shown | Not confirmed |
| IRR | Shown | Shown |
| NPV | Shown | Not confirmed |
| Payback Period | Shown | Not confirmed |
Prerequisite: IRR, NPV, and Payback Period calculate from actual cost data. They rely on actual costs flowing in from the Timesheets module and budget actuals, so meaningful figures depend on that data being logged.
Why Do the ROI Summary Cards Matter?
Before these cards, judging whether an investment was paying off meant pulling cost and return figures into a spreadsheet and calculating IRR, NPV, and Payback Period by hand for every project. Profit.co now calculates all three automatically as actual costs flow in, so the numbers stay current without manual recalculation.
Because Investment Tracking rolls these metrics up from individual projects to the portfolio level, executives can compare which investments are delivering returns and which are underperforming without opening each project separately.
How Do I View the ROI Summary Cards?
Step 1: Navigate to the Cockpit
- Navigate to Portfolios and Projects > Cockpit from the left navigation panel.
Step 2: Locate the ROI Summary Cards
- Find the ROI Summary Cards section, which displays seven cards including Return Ratio, IRR, NPV, and Payback Period.
Step 3: Read the Metrics
- Review IRR, NPV, and Payback Period directly on their respective cards.
- Values recalculate automatically as actual costs flow in from timesheets and budget actuals, with no manual refresh needed.
Note
IRR is also shown at the project level, inside that project's Cost-Benefit Analysis tab, alongside Capitalization Schedule, Amortization Timeline, and Net Run Rate. NPV and Payback Period are not confirmed to appear in that tab.
What Happens When You Use the ROI Summary Cards?
| Scenario | What Happens |
|---|---|
| You log actual costs through timesheets or budget actuals. | Profit.co recalculates the ROI Summary Cards, including IRR, NPV, and Payback Period, automatically without a manual refresh. |
| You view the ROI Summary Cards at the portfolio level instead of an individual project. | Profit.co rolls up IRR, NPV, and Payback Period from every project into a combined portfolio-level figure, alongside the individual project numbers. |
| You try to edit cost or benefit figures in an approved Cost-Benefit Analysis. | Profit.co locks the Cost-Benefit Analysis from edits, and the project owner must submit an unlock request and get it approved before revising the figures that feed IRR. |
How Does the Investment Flow Sankey Diagram Show Where Money Goes?
The Investment Flow Sankey Diagram is a visual map showing how budgets flow from total portfolio costs through sub-portfolios, into individual projects, and finally into specific cost categories such as CAPEX and OPEX.
Flow width represents amount, so the widest bands show you instantly where the largest chunks of capital are allocated, complementing the ROI Summary Cards' view of whether that capital is paying off.
What Are the Best Practices for the ROI Summary Cards?
- Log timesheets and budget actuals consistently, since IRR, NPV, and Payback Period only calculate accurately once actual cost data is flowing in.
- Check a project's Cost-Benefit Analysis tab for IRR when you need a single project's figure without opening the portfolio-level Cockpit view.
- Compare portfolio-level ROI Summary Cards against individual project figures before reallocating budget, since the portfolio figures blend every project's performance together.
- Request a Cost-Benefit Analysis unlock before revising cost or benefit figures on an approved project, since edits are blocked until that unlock is approved.
- Read the Investment Flow Sankey Diagram alongside the ROI Summary Cards to see not just whether an investment is returning value, but where the underlying budget is concentrated.
Related Articles
- How do I build a time-phased budget cost plan in Profit.co Projects?
- How to Interpret CPI, SPI, and TCPI Metrics?
What Are Some Frequently Asked Questions About the ROI Summary Cards?
Yes. All ROI Summary Cards, including Return Ratio, IRR, NPV, and Payback Period, calculate from the same actual cost data flowing in from timesheets and budget actuals.
Yes, at the project level. Open a project's Cost-Benefit Analysis tab to view IRR alongside Capitalization Schedule, Amortization Timeline, and Net Run Rate. NPV and Payback Period are not confirmed to appear in that tab.
Yes. The PPM Cockpit displays seven ROI Summary Cards in total; Return Ratio, IRR, NPV, and Payback Period are the four confirmed by name.
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