Budgets are a good way to track the expected revenue or cost of a project against the actual. Budgets combine detailed service and expense items to compute the total budget of a project. For example, an IT consulting firm can create standard network installation and software training budgets. A budget can be standardized (with or without budget hours and units) for a recurring project type. An unlimited number of budgets can be created. After being created, they are linked to projects in the Project screen or converted into estimates. Security permissions determine who can approve a budget or modify an approved budget.
Web Suite enables you to limit the timekeepers who can record time and expenses to a project to the employees identified in the budget linked to the project. In addition, you can restrict activities and expenses to those listed in the project budget. In addition, a budget can be employed to assign employees, activities and expenses to a project in the Project Control screen.
Key Fields
These fields set the criteria for the data being entered or reviewed.
Budget ID: (required)
The Budget ID must be unique. From the drop-down menu, select the budget you want to review. If you want to create a new budget, click the New button. This field is a combination of ID and Description. When planning your budget ID structure, keep in mind ease of recall, what the ID should communicate, and other factors.
Created By:
If
desired, you can select the employee who created the budget or is responsible
for it. Assigning an employee to the budget can be helpful when
filtering reports. You can choose the employee from a list which opens
up when you click Look Up 
.
Status:
Select the budget status from drop-down menu. The options are Active, Inactive and Incomplete. When you make a budget status Inactive, Web Suite keeps the information associated with that budget, but removes it from any drop-down list that use budgets. You can make a budget active again at any time. This feature is useful when you want to archive budgets.
Description:
The budget description entered when creating a budget. This is brought forward when the ID is selected. Keep in mind that the description should allow someone to understand the purpose of the budget or its relevance.
Service Fee Schedule:
Select any Service Fee Schedule. The rates assigned in the budget can be based on a fee schedule. The Service Fee Schedule is available when budgeting services on the Service Tab.
The Service Fee Schedule is available when budgeting services in the Service Tab. Employee-Activity budget items are defined on the Services Tab. Bill rates carry forward from a linked Service Fee Schedule, Activity profile or Employee profile. When an employee or activity group is selected for a budget item, you must manually enter the bill rate. The bill rate used in a service budget can come from several sources. Web Suite automatically carries forward the bill rate values following three rules:
Pull the value from the first employee-activity combination on the SFS that matches the budget item.
If Rule 1 is not met, pull the value from the activity code used in the budget item if an activity group is not used for a budget item.
If Rules 1 and 2 are not met, pull the value rate from the employee profile if an employee group is not used for a budget item.
If no match is found, and an employee group and activity group is used for a budget item, bill rate must be manually entered.
Expense Fee Schedule:
Select any Expense Fee Schedule. The rates assigned in the budget can be based on a fee schedule. The Expense Fee Schedule is available when budgeting expense on the Expense tab.
The Expense Fee Schedule is available when budgeting services on the Expenses Tab. Employee-Expense budget items are defined on the Expenses Tab. Bill rates carry forward from a linked Expense Fee Schedule, Expense profile or Employee profile. When an employee or expense group is selected for a budget item, you must manually enter the bill rate. The bill rate used in a expense budget can come from several sources. Web Suite automatically carries forward the bill rate values following three rules:
Pull the value from the first employee-expense combination on the EFS that matches the budget item.
If Rule 1 is not met, pull the value from the expense code used in the budget item if an expense group is not used for a budget item.
If no match is found, and an employee group and expense group is used for a budget item, bill rate must be manually entered.
Show Approved Only:
Checked, it ensures that you can review details of the approved budgets only. In other words, IDs of approved budgets are only visible in the Budget ID drop-down
Labor Total:
Shows the total service amount associated with the budget. After you fill in the Activity or Activity Group, the rate will appear which can be edited. After B-Hours are entered, Web Suite will calculate the total for that service row. The total amount for labor is tabulated in this field.
Expense Total:
Shows the total expense amount associated with the budget. After you fill in the Expense or Expense Group, the cost will appear which can be edited. After units are entered, Web Suite will calculate the total for that Expense row. The total amount for expenses is tabulated in this field.
Misc. Amount:
Enables you to add some miscellaneous amount incurred. It can represent the contingency expenses for the budget.
Total:
Total of the labor, expenses and miscellaneous amount.
Show Estimate:
Opens the Estimate screen.
Budget Grid
The grid is your guide to the service and expense records related to a budget. It is a series of rows and columns. Each row is a separate service/expense record. Depending on which tab you click, Services or Expenses, details of the specific budget display in the grid. Click the column headings to sort the columns in the grid. Entries displayed on the grid cannot be edited in the grid but rather in the data entry section of Budget Activity/ Budget Expense screens.
Grid details are carried from the Budget
Activity/ Budget
Expense screen. Click 
to open the Budget
Activity / Budget Expense screen where you can edit
the details of the selected service/expense record respectively. Click
against the service/expense record you
want to delete.
Help:
Opens the Web Suite Help in the Budget section.
Print:
Opens the corresponding report enabling you to print, preview or cancel the report.
Attachments
Click to view attached files or link files to a budget record. The attached files are copied to the shared file attachment folder as specified by your administrator.
Add Activity:
Click to open the Budget Activity screen where you can add a new activity item to the budget.
Add Expense:
Click to open the Budget Expense screen where you can add a new expense item to the budget.
Options:
On the button panel, click Options to view the below mentioned fields:
Create Invoice:
Opens the Manual Invoice screen. You can create a manual invoice from the selected budget. Further editing is possible in the Manual Invoice screen before processing the invoice. The % Done value is also transferred to the manual invoice and used in calculating the total amount there.
Assign:
Opens the Assign screen where you can assign the specific budget to one or more projects.
Convert:
Opens the Convert to Estimate dialog box that enables you to create an estimate using the existing budget data. You are required to enter the Estimate ID and Estimate Description for the new estimate.
Del Budget:
This button will delete the entire budget currently displayed on the screen.
New Budget:
This button opens the new screen that enables you to create a new budget.
Close:
Closes the Budget screen and takes you to the home page of Web Suite.