Every project has its own budget page. There you list the costs you plan (Budget Items), record the money you actually spend (the Expense Tracker), and compare the two against the project's budget.
Use it when you want to know whether a project is on budget before the money is gone.
Open the budget page
- Open Projects in the sidebar and click a project to open its detail page.
- In the All Tasks header, click Budget.
The page title reads "Budget:" followed by the project name. Press Back to return to the project.
What you see
- Four tiles: Budget, Planned Cost, Actual Spent and Balance.
- A Budget Usage bar.
- Two charts: Cost Distribution and Budget vs Actual.
- The Budget Items table with an Add Item button.
- The Expense Tracker list with an Add Expense button.
All amounts use the currency symbol from Settings.
The four tiles
| Tile | How it is worked out |
|---|---|
| Budget | The Budget you typed on the project form |
| Planned Cost | The total of all your Budget Items |
| Actual Spent | The total of all your Expense Tracker entries |
| Balance | Budget minus Planned Cost. It is shown without a minus sign, with an up arrow when you are within budget and a down arrow when planned costs are higher than the budget |
Budget Usage is Planned Cost as a percentage of Budget.
Balance compares your plan with the budget. It does not use Actual Spent. To see real spending against the budget, look at Budget vs Actual or compare Actual Spent with Budget yourself.
Charts
- Cost Distribution is a donut chart that splits your Budget Items into Labor, Materials, Travel, Equipment and Misc. Hover a slice to see its value. Until you add costs it says No cost data yet.
- Budget vs Actual compares three bars: Budget, Planned and Actual.
Budget Items
Budget Items are your planned costs, one row per piece of work or purchase. The table has the columns Task, Labor, Materials, Travel, Equipment, Misc and Total. When it is empty it says No budget items yet.
How to add a budget item
- Press Add Item in the Budget Items card.
- In the Add Budget Item dialog, type a Task Name (required, for example "Design work").
- Fill in the cost parts that apply:
- Hours and Hourly Rate. Labor is hours multiplied by the hourly rate.
- Units and Unit Price. Materials are units multiplied by the unit price.
- Travel, Equipment and Misc: a flat amount each.
- Press Add Item.
The new row shows each part and the Total for that row.
Leave a field empty or at 0 when it does not apply. A simple purchase can use only Units and Unit Price.
Expense Tracker
The Expense Tracker is a list of money you have really spent on the project, newest first. When it is empty it says No expenses recorded yet.
How to record an expense
- Press Add Expense.
- Choose the Date (required).
- Type the Amount (required).
- Optionally add a Task (a short label) and a Description.
- Press Add Expense.
Each row shows the task label (or General when you left it empty), the description, the date and the amount.
This page lets you add budget items and expenses, but not edit or delete them afterwards. Check amounts before you press the button.
How this page relates to the Dashboard
The Budget, Expenses and Revenue fields on the project form feed the Dashboard's Budget remaining card and Finance panel. The Expense Tracker on this page is separate, so entries here do not change the project's Expenses field. See The Dashboard and Project Health.
FAQ
Balance subtracts your Planned Cost, not your actual spending. It tells you whether your plan fits the budget.
Not from this page at the moment. The page only offers Add Item and Add Expense.
On the project form. Edit the project from the Projects page and change Budget. See Creating and Managing Projects.
Invoices are created on the Invoices page, not from the budget page. See Invoices.