Using the Budget
The Budget is a powerful tool to see how much your project will cost, using estimates and comparing to actuals. It will help track where the expenses of your projects are.
Budget Details
The Budget Details is where you will add in your expenses. It is divided into categories with subcategories beneath them:
In the above example the main category showing is 02.00 STORY and has two subcategories of 02.01 Writer(s) and 02.15 Storyboard.
Clicking into one of the items will allow you to type in a Quantity, Name, Description, Episode Number (if using an episodic project), Unit, Rate, Fringes, Actual, Paid. There are also the fields of Estimated, Payable and Variance; these are calculated automatically. The totals for each category will populate at the bottom.
- The Quantity field is where you can type in the amount of an item.
- The Name field allows you to label a particular item more specifically.
- The Description field allows you to define the item with more detail.
- The Episode Number field will allow you to choose the number of episodes the items belong to.
- The Unit field is a drop down box that allows you to choose Flat, Hourly, Daily, Weekly or Monthly.
- The Rate field is where you can type in the amount you expect to pay.
- Fringes are added to a budget when extra fees or expenses are part of the pay rates for your crew. For a more detailed description of Fringes check out this help center video.
- The Estimated field is where the expected amount will appear automatically.
- The Actual field is where you would type in what was the actual amount, over the Estimated.
- The Paid field is where you would enter the amount that was actually paid.
- The Payable field will show the over/under amount, if you overpaid or underpaid.
- Finally the Variance will show the difference between the amounts paid vs. estimated.
Also, there is an option for adding Globals to your budget as well. You would add Globals when there are variables for rates or amounts to calculate automatically for different categories. Check out this help center article for more information.
Customizing your Budget
Clicking on the plus will allow you to add a new Budget:
This is useful when you have different currencies being used at the same time. You can adjust the rate to show the correct conversion.
You can add, remove and rename accounts by using the cog/gear button in the upper right of the Budget window or the File menu > Customize:
When you click on it, the budget window will change to allow you to click on an "On/Off" option to activate/deactivate categories:
Top Sheet
The Top Sheet provides a snapshot of your overall budget. Similar to the Budget Details, clicking on the cog/gear button will allow you to add new sub categories:
The Budget window will change and you will see the various subcategories. Clicking to the +Add New Category will allow you to to add more or rename them:
The items that are grayed out are inactive subcategories.
Note: Categories/subcategories that have items associated with them cannot be deactivated
Reports
You can access different previews of your budget from the Reports section.
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Details Report |
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Rate Report |
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Fringe Report |
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Note: If desired, you can also download your Budget to a .csv file from the Budget Details window from File menu and Export to CSV.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the Budget our support team will be happy to help.