Overview:

Budgets in Workbench are an essential part of controlling your job costing throughout your business. Budgets are used not only for productive jobs, but administrative jobs as well to track spending against a target. Budgets are an internal spending measurement and should match your company's methodology for tracking jobs rather than your client expectations; budgets and their corresponding reports are generally only for internal use.

Budgets are divided into types, and you can have as many budget containers as your project needs. For straightforward projects, one Original Contract budget container can be used to hold the entire budget, whereas staged projects can be divided into one container per stage to keep things organised. Variations are traditionally created in a unique container for each variation number, with the Internal Reference usually representing the sequence number. You can also send budgeted costs directly to new Purchase Orders and Work Orders through the budget screen.

This entry screen is shared by the Job Budget and Contract Budget starting screens.

Screen Guide:

General Section:

• Job is automatically populated from the selected Job. The lines below contain which job you want to allocate budget to.
• *Budget Type is one of the following:
  • Original Contract - for all budgets that were part of the original contract that was signed.
  • Approved Variations - for all variations that have been approved. The type can be changed later once the approval occurs.
  • Increased Costs - a budget type only for situations that have a cost element but no revenue. The system will not allow revenue to be entered for this budget type.
  • Other Costs - a generic type that your company can use in whatever manner it deems appropriate.
  • Recharges - a type that is used in situations where an existing budget has been recharged from your company to another by the client. These are meant to be negative budget variations or scope reductions.
  • Contract Contingency - this can be used to hold contingency amounts held for future variations or overruns.
  • Unapproved Variations (in Forecast) - Variations that are to be requested but not yet approved can be entered using this type. In Forecast means that when the forecast is generated, it will include this budget in the calculation. It is therefore recommended that only variations that are likely to move forward are entered using this type.
  • Risk (in Forecast) - this type can be used in a variety of ways, one being a place to put a positive expectation of cost that has not yet been realised (no orders, invoices, or timesheets have been created yet for the expectation). In Forecast means that when the forecast is generated, it will include this budget in the calculation.
  • Unapproved Variations (not in Forecast) - Variations that are to be requested but not yet approved can be entered using this type. Not In Forecast means that when the forecast is generated, it will exclude this budget in the calculation. It is therefore recommended that only variations that are less likely to move forward are entered using this type.
  • Risk (not in Forecast) - this type can be used in a variety of ways, one being a place to put a positive expectation of cost that has not yet been realised (no orders, invoices, or timesheets have been created yet for the expectation). Not In Forecast means that when the forecast is generated, it will exclude this budget in the calculation.
• *Budget Date determines which Year/Period this budget begins in. The budget date should either be the beginning of the contract (for Original Contract types), or the day the Variation happened or updated to when it was approved. Note that budgets which exist in a period beyond that of a report or forecast's parameters will not be included in said report.
• *Description is custom text meant to define what the budget container represents. This is important for variations to make sure your team knows what the variation signifies. This field is limited to 50 characters.
• Details is an optional field to give more definition or explanation to the budget. This field is limited to 2000 characters.
• *Client is automatically entered based on the client set in Job Maintenance or Contract Settings.
• Contact is an optional field to nominate a client contact who is responsible for the contract or variation. New contacts must be added in the Companies list under the client file or directly in People.
• *Internal Reference is a required field, and the primary link from the previous screen. The reference must be unique within the Job or Contract. For Variations, it is recommended to label each variation with the sequence number, e.g., V001, V002, etc.
• Client Reference is an optional field that can be used to label the budget something that your external stakeholders refer to it as. The typical use case of this field is when your client refers to your variations as something other than what your company traditionally labels them.
• *Year/Period is derived from the Budget Date field.
• *Currency defaults from the Contract Settings currency field.
• *Currency Rate is the manual exchange rate when dealing with foreign currency. If your company operates on floating currency, the rate can be set in Currencies.
• Created By defaults to the logged in user who created this budget.
• Approved By is the person who clicked approve. If your company does not use budget approvals, this field will remain blank.
• Workflow Type allows you to select which Workflow Type you want to use for approval purposes. You can maintain your Workflow settings following the link.

Data Entry Section:

The data entry section can be viewed in three different Input methods. Once a method is chosen and data is saved, the input method cannot be changed.

Add Bill Of Materials allows you to add Bill of Materials lines with the At Cost Element and At Revenue and Cost Element Input methods.

At Cost Element: 

This method uses the cost element in the Type field to derive data from pre-existing structures in Workbench. This aids with the build up of cost and revenue rates determined by Employee Classes, Plant Items, Stock, etc. and requires less manual entry of these fields. Using this method depends on the accuracy of the derived data.

• Job is where you can select which Job that is part of the contract to allocate budget to.
• Type begins the process of determining which cost element is being used for this line. You can select from the following types, after which the field selections on the line will change:
  • Activity allows you to enter a traditional Activity directly on the line, and will disable the Line Code and Plant Rate fields.
  • Employee provides a selection of Users, populating the cost fields with the selected user's Employee Class rate.
  • Labour changes the Line Code picker to select Employee Classes. You will still need to enter a valid Activity, Work Centre, and Quantity, but the Cost and Retail Rate fields will automatically be populated with the chosen Employee Class data.
  • Plant changes the Line Code picker to select from Plant items. Plant Rate will be populated with the default rate set up in the plant item, but can be changed if needed. The Activity will also be set to the default activity for the selected plant item, but you will need to select the Work Centre. Description, Unit, Cost Rate, and Retail Rate will also default from the plant item, leaving Quantity to be entered.
  • Item changes the Line Code picker to select from Stock items. Plant Rate will be unavailable and Activity, Description, Unit, Cost Rate, and Retail Rate will be derived from the item defaults, leaving Work Centre and Quantity to be entered.
• Line Code will change depending on the element Type being used.
• Plant Rate will display all available rates for the selected plant item in Line Code when the Plant Type is selected.
• Activity may default depending on the Type used, but this can be manually changed. Availability depends on the Activities in the global list as well as the Activity Group selected for the Job in Job Maintenance.
• Work Centre will need to be selected from the Work Centres available for the Job that exists in Job Maintenance.
• Description will default based on the previous selection, but can be modified.
• Unit is the unit of measurement for this line.
• Qty is the quantity of units being budgeted.
• Cost Rate may default based on the previous selection but can be modified to what you believe is most accurate.
• Cost is the Qty multiplied by the Cost Rate fields.
• FC Retail Rate stands for the Foreign Currency Retail Rate (if Foreign Currency is used, otherwise it is the Local Currency) and may default based on the previous selection but can be modified to what you want to sell the line for.
• FC Revenue is the Qty multiplied by the FC Retail Rate fields.
• Details is an option field to add more information or specification about the line.
• The Bin column allows you to select lines to delete. Be sure to tick each checkbox that you wish to delete then click Save.

At Activity, Work Centre:

This is the default Input selection and provides the standard Work Breakdown fields for data entry. Cost and revenue are generally manually entered unless the activity has standard rates set.

• Job is where you can select which Job that is part of the Contract to allocate budget to.
• Activity availability depends on the Activities in the global list as well as the Activity Group selected for the Job in Job Maintenance.
• Work Centre will need to be selected from the Work Centres available for the Job that exist in Job Maintenance.
• Description will default based on the Activity selection, but can be modified.
• Unit is the unit of measurement for this line.
• Qty is the quantity of units being budgeted.
• Cost Rate may default based on the Activity selection but can be modified to what you believe is most accurate.
• Cost is the Qty multiplied by the Cost Rate fields.
• FC Retail Rate stands for the Foreign Currency Retail Rate (if Foreign Currency is used, otherwise it is the Local Currency) and may default based on the Activity selection but can be modified to what you want to sell the line for.
• FC Revenue is the Qty multiplied by the FC Retail Rate fields.
• Details is an option field to add more information or specification about the line.
• The Bin column allows you to select lines to delete. Be sure to tick each checkbox that you wish to delete then click Save.

At Revenue & Cost Element:

This method begins with a revenue line that contains cost lines under it, and you can have as many revenue lines as you need. This allows you to start with a revenue amount and then build up the costs you estimate to achieve the revenue. The cost lines follow the same methodology from the "At Cost Element" Input, minus the Retail Rate and Revenue fields as they are covered by the Revenue Line. By mimicking your claim schedule structure in the revenue lines you can also easily send the revenue to an existing schedule by using the + Add to Schedule button.

Revenue Lines:

• Job is where you can select which Job that is part of the Contract to allocate budget to. Many clients use the top level job to "hold" the revenue, then allocate the cost to the appropriate Sub Job below.
• Activity availability depends on the Activities in the global list as well as the Activity Group selected for the Job in Job Maintenance. Generally the standard Revenue activity is used for this line.
• Work Centre will need to be selected from the Work Centres available for the Job that exist in Job Maintenance.
• Description will default based on the Activity selection, but can be modified.
• Unit is the unit of measurement for this line.
• Qty is the quantity of units being budgeted.
• Cost Rate is not editable on this line but rather sums the Cost Lines below.
• Cost is not editable on this line but rather sums the Cost Lines below.
• FC Retail Rate stands for the Foreign Currency Retail Rate (if Foreign Currency is used, otherwise it is the Local Currency) and should be modified to what you want to sell the line for.
• FC Revenue is the Qty multiplied by the FC Retail Rate fields.
• Details is an option field to add more information or specification about the line.
• The Bin column allows you to select lines to delete. Be sure to tick each checkbox that you wish to delete then click Save. Deleting a Revenue Line will delete all underlying cost lines as well.

Cost Lines:

• Job is where you can select which Job that is part of the Contract to allocate budget to. This can be different from the Revenue Line.
• Type begins the process of determining which cost element is being used for this line. You can select from the following types, after which the field selections on the line will change:
  • Activity allows you to enter a traditional Activity directly on the line, and will disable the Line Code and Plant Rate fields.
  • Employee provides a selection of Users, populating the cost fields with the selected user's Employee Class rate.
  • Labour changes the Line Code picker to select Employee Classes. You will still need to enter a valid Activity, Work Centre, and Quantity, but the Cost and Retail Rate fields will automatically be populated with the chosen Employee Class data.
  • Plant changes the Line Code picker to select from Plant items. Plant Rate will be populated with the default rate set up in the plant item, but can be changed if needed. The Activity will also be set to the default activity for the selected plant item, but you will need to select the Work Centre. Description, Unit, Cost Rate, and Retail Rate will also default from the plant item, leaving Quantity to be entered.
  • Item changes the Line Code picker to select from Stock items. Plant Rate will be unavailable and Activity, Description, Unit, Cost Rate, and Retail Rate will be derived from the item defaults, leaving Work Centre and Quantity to be entered.
• Line Code will change depending on the element Type being used.
• Plant Rate will display all available rates for the selected plant item in Line Code when the Plant Type is selected.
• Activity may default depending on the Type used, but this can be manually changed. Availability depends on the Activities in the global list as well as the Activity Group selected for the Job in Job Maintenance.
• Work Centre will need to be selected from the Work Centres available for the Job that exist in Job Maintenance.
• Description will default based on the previous selection, but can be modified.
• Unit is the unit of measurement for this line.
• Qty is the quantity of units being budgeted.
• Cost Rate may default based on the previous selection but can be modified to what you believe is most accurate.
• Cost is the Qty multiplied by the Cost Rate fields.
• FC Retail Rate is not used for cost lines.
• FC Revenue is not used for cost lines.
• Details is an option field to add more information or specification about the line.
• The Bin column allows you to select lines to delete. Be sure to tick each checkbox that you wish to delete then click Save.

Button Section:

• Print will generate the default budget report for sending to internal or external stakeholders. Other reports are available as well using the ^ button.
• Attachments can be added using this button. Some examples would be a budget workup spreadsheet, quotes from suppliers, etc.
• Import is available to bring in data from a spreadsheet, and has multiple import methods using the ^ key. Note that the data must match the expected column format and requirements exactly for the import to be successful.
• WFlow | Msg shows a historical audit of steps taken in the Workflow process. Sending and reviewing internal messages can be done on the separate tab.
• Cancel will interrupt the Workflow process, cancelling at whatever step it is on.
• Assign is used to pick an approver for the Budget Workflow process.
• Submit is used to begin the Workflow process.
• Create PO/WO is a shortcut to send selected lines that contain a cost amount to a Purchase Order or Work Order. The benefit of using this function is that the data you entered into the budget will be transferred to a new PO or WO, preventing the need to retype the data.
• Add To Schedule is another shortcut for selected revenue lines to be sent to an existing Contract Schedule. This saves time by not having to type out the data again in the schedule, as long as the schedule container already exists. After clicking this button, a box will pop up requiring a destination Schedule, as well as a checkbox for Separate Lines - ticking this will create individual claim lines within the destination Schedule, while leaving it unticked will amalgamate all lines within the budget into one Schedule line. Leaving this unticked for variations is suggested so that there is only one line to claim per variation, and the system will pass the Internal Reference as the Schedule Code, and the Budget Description as the Schedule Description.
• New Job Budget is useful when you need to enter multiple budgets after each other. This button creates a new blank budget for the same Job/Contract.
• Delete will attempt to delete the entire budget (not individual lines). This button will be pale red if there are budget lines present. You must delete all lines before deleting the budget container itself.
• Save will attempt to commit all entered data to the system. If there are any errors, a red bar will display at the top of the screen with the error. You must fix these errors before the data will be committed to the system. A green bar will appear if the data has been saved.

Next Steps:

Once you have finished entering data, you may wish to send the cost to a new PO or WO using Create PO/WO with the respective lines selected. You may also wish to Add To Schedule the lines containing revenue, if your Job belongs to a Contract and the destination Schedule already exists. You can also begin the Workflow approval process by clicking the Submit button.

You can quickly start a new budget using New Job Budget if there are more to enter.