Project Budget Setup

User Personas: Admin | Project Manager

The project budget is where a job's estimated costs and hours are recorded so they can be compared against what the job actually commits and spends. Without it, job cost reporting has nothing to measure against and every report reads as a bare number with no context.

You can build the budget by typing estimates in directly or by importing a spreadsheet. Importing is the faster route for anything beyond a handful of cost codes, and it can be repeated whenever the estimate changes.

To perform the actions described in this article, you must have the appropriate Project Settings permissions. See the Permissions table at the end of this article.

The project budget records your estimated cost to complete the work, not the revenue you expect to collect for it. Enter what the work will cost you: labor, material, equipment and the other cost categories.  Revenue is captured separately, through the contract amount and the Schedule of Values line items.  Entering sell prices here instead of costs will not produce an error, it will simply make every job cost report compare revenue against revenue, and your margin will read as zero.

Use the links below to jump to a topic:

• What the Budget Feeds
• Open the Project Budget
• What Is on the Budget Page
• Enter and Edit Estimates Manually
• Import Estimates into the Budget
• Manage Project Cost Codes
• Permissions
• FAQ
  • Can I re-import a budget after the estimate changes?
  • What happens to cost codes that are not already on the project?
  • Can I budget a cost code against a category it is not set up for?
  • Why are there no labor costs in my reports?

What the Budget Feeds

Everything you enter on the Budget page exists to be compared against something later. It is worth knowing which comparison each entry serves before you spend an afternoon filling the page in.

The other half of this journey, documenting the work so those comparisons have something to compare, is covered in Manage Budget Adjustments and Track Cost Commitments.

Open the Project Budget

1. Select a project from the project list
2. Select Budgets under Settings in the slide-out menu

Every procedure in this article starts from the Budgets page. You can search the page using the Search bar at the top, and sort it using the filter button beside the Search bar. 

For more on those controls, see Navigating Through the eSUB Fusion Interface.

What Is on the Budget Page

Cost code estimates can be entered for any cost category.  They are not limited by the category settings on the cost code itself.  However, it is important to make sure that the cost category is active for the cost code when setting up the project.

For how the company and project cost code lists relate, see Cost Codes Setup.

Enter and Edit Estimates Manually

Entering estimates and changing them later are the same procedure. Ensure that your Cost Codes have been configured for the project in the Project Cost Code settings. 

From the Budgets page:

1. Select the corresponding field in which you would like to add or edit
2. Use the inline fields to enter or change the budgeted values for each cost code
3. Information entered into the budget table save automatically.

Import Estimates into the Budget

From the Budgets page:

1. Select Import on the action button
2. Download the file template and fill it out with your project budget
3. Select Choose File and upload the completed template
4. Make changes using the inline validation fields if desired
5. Select Save

Do not delete any of the columns (headers) from the import template while editing in excel. This will cause errors when uploading your budgets. Ensure that any fields in required columns are populated. If you would like to not enter information for a certain budget line, simply leave them blank.

A cost code on the import form that does not already exist is created on the Company cost code list, not just on this project.  Check the numbers in your template before uploading, because a typo becomes a company-wide cost code.

If your estimate changes, fill out the template again and re-import it. The new values overwrite the existing ones, so you do not need to clear the budget first or edit rows one at a time.

Manage Project Cost Codes

Importing a budget can add and rename cost codes on the project for you. If you are entering the budget manually and need to change the project's cost codes, do it directly:

1. Go to the project, then select Cost Codes under Settings in the slide-out menu
2. Select Edit on the action button
3. To rename, select the Cost Code and edit its name
4. To change categories, select the Category field and add or remove categories
5. To assign or remove the code from this project, toggle Use for Project to Yes or No
6. Select Save

Renaming a cost code here changes it for this project only. The company list is untouched, and other projects keep the original name.

Permissions

FAQ

Can I re-import a budget after the estimate changes?

Yes. Re-importing overwrites the existing budgeted values, so you do not need to clear the budget first. See Import Estimates into the Budget.

What happens to cost codes that are not already on the project?

A cost code on the import form that does not already exist is created as a new company cost code, provided you have permission to create one. An existing code entered under a different name is renamed for this project only.

Can I budget a cost code against a category it is not set up for?

Yes. Estimates can be entered for any cost category and are not limited by the category settings on the cost code.

Why are there no labor costs in my reports?

Budgeted hours alone do not produce labor cost. The project needs a labor rate template configured before hours convert into money. See Set Up Your Project for Job Cost Reporting.