Manage Budgets

Budgets define how much time and money a project can consume, and help you measure performance against plan. Budgets can be tracked monthly or across the lifetime of a project, and alerts can notify you before they are exceeded.

Monthly Budgets

Monthly budgets are set at the project level and represent the maximum billings (hours × billing rate) available per month.

Setting a Monthly Budget

1. In the RM grid, select the field under the Month Budget column next to the project you want to budget.  It is important to note that only Billable Projects may have a budget assigned to them.  If a Project is marked as non-billable, it can still be allocated to but cannot carry a Monthly Budget.
   
2. The Project Budget modal will open. Here you can enter:
   • A budget for a single month.
   • Budgets for multiple months.
   • A lifetime budget (optional).
3. Close the modal to save your changes.

Once a budget is entered, the modal displays:

• Billings (total worked hours × billing rate).
• Budget Remaining (budget − billings).
• % of Budget Worked (billings ÷ budget).

Lifetime Budgets

Lifetime budgets represent the total budget for a project across all time.

• Lifetime budgets can be set on the Project Details page or directly in the Project Budget modal.
  
• If no lifetime budget is set, monthly budgets stand alone.
• Monthly budgets deduct from the lifetime total if one is set.

Accessing Lifetime Budgets

• From the RM grid, click into the budget cell to open the Project Budget modal. The lifetime field appears at the top of the modal.
• You can also access the Project Details page from links inside the modal.

Billing Rates and Billings

Billings connect budgets to actual worked time. ClickTime calculates billings automatically based on the billing rates assigned to employees and projects.

• Each time you allocate a staff member to a project, ClickTime looks up their billing rate.
• Billings = Hours Worked or Allocated × Billing Rate.
• This ensures budgets reflect not just time, but the cost of that time.

For example: if an employee has a billing rate of $150/hour and is allocated 10 hours to a project, the billings added to that project are $1,500.

Note: Billing rates are defined based on your Billing Rate model, which is set under Company >> Preferences. Permissions determine who can view or edit them.

Budget Alerts

Budget alerts notify you when a project’s usage hits a threshold so you can respond before the budget is exceeded.

Setting a Budget Alert

1. On the RM grid, select the Client/Project cell or click the bell icon next to the project.
   
2. In the modal, choose one or both of the following:
   • Monthly Budget Alert: Alert when total billings reach a % of the monthly budget.
   • Lifetime Budget Alert: Alert when total billings reach a % of the lifetime budget.
3. Set the percentage threshold (default is 90%).
4. Close the modal to save your changes.
   

What Happens Next

• Delivery: Alerts are emailed to the address on your ClickTime profile.
• Indicators: A darkened bell icon on the grid indicates an active alert.
• Scope: Alerts are project-specific and must be set per project.
• Billable only: Alerts are based on billable usage.

Company Lock Date

The Company Lock Date safeguards both budgets and allocations. Once set, it prevents edits to any full months prior to the lock date, protecting finalized historical data.

• Purpose: Ensures past budgets and allocations remain accurate and unchanged.
• How it works:
  • If the lock date is set within a month, that month remains editable. For example, a lock date of July 5, 2025 still allows edits to July, but not to June or earlier months.
  • Any full months before the lock date are read-only in the RM grid.
• Use case: After budgets and allocations are finalized, set a lock date to avoid accidental changes.

Tip: Only administrators can change the Company Lock Date. To adjust past months, an admin must temporarily move the lock date backward.

Best Practices

• Set budgets before entering allocations to prevent over-planning.
• Use budget alerts to stay ahead of risks.
• Review lifetime budgets to ensure monthly budgets align with the overall project.
• Revisit budgets periodically as projects evolve.

Next Steps

With budgets in place:

• Learn how to manage allocations to distribute work across employees.
• Explore the Capacity View for multi-month workload analysis.
• Use the Resource Management Dashboard to track progress against plan.