Overview
CORE allows you to create, manage, and track detailed project budgets, including both services and expenses. It provides project managers and accountants with full visibility into budgeted versus actual performance, helping you forecast costs, track profitability, and ensure projects stay within financial limits. You can build budgets from scratch or import line items from templates or existing projects. Check out details on Budget Templates here.
How To
Enable Budget Sync with Resource Allocation
Field Descriptions
| Projects > Project Center > Budget | |
| Include Phases | You can check this option if you want to view and manage a cumulative budget for your project and its related phases. This allows you to view the cumulative (total) data of a parent project along with its phases in the grid as well as KPIs. In case of 'Main' parent projects, CORE automatically shows cumulative data. In case of 'Standard' parent projects, you can choose to view the cumulative data or just that of the selected project/phase. |
| Status |
Displays the status of the project or phase directly in the budget grid. The status appears as a tag next to each project or phase and reflects the same value shown in the Project Structure screen, such as Active, Draft, Completed, or Inactive. This field is read-only and cannot be edited from the Budget screen. You can also filter the budget grid by project or phase status using the status filter above the grid. |
| Projects > Budget > Details > | |
| Budget Fee Schedule |
If you assign an existing fee schedule rates to a budget, the line item rates are then fetched from this schedule. Also, you are prompted to update the fee schedule for the project as well as its phases. The options include: Common options for all projects (with or without phases):
Additional options for parent projects (with phases):
|
| Miscellaneous Amount | It represents an additional amount or any buffer amount on top of the budgeted services and expenses for any unplanned contingencies that might occur. |
| Budget and Cost Amounts Total | These are calculated as the sum of Activity + Expense + Miscellaneous amounts. |
| Projects > Budget > Services > | |
| Total Budget | It is calculated as the sum of the Total Charge Amount of Budgeted Services + Total Charge Amount of Budgeted Expenses + Miscellaneous amount. |
| Total Remaining | It is calculated as the Total Budget - Total Spent. |
| Budgeted Profit |
It represents the difference between budgeted charge amount and cost, excluding taxes. It shows the financial margin achieved on a project. Budgeted Profit = Total Charge Amount - Total Cost Amount (for all service and expense items in the budget) |
| Resource Group | Specifies the employee or vendor group for the budget line item. It is automatically populated based on the selected resource’s default group, but can also be selected manually. |
| Resource | Resource could be an employee, an outside consultant or a contract employee. |
|
Budgeted: Hours |
Hours budgeted for the selected activity-resource combination. By default, the Budget Hours are the same as the Cost Hours. It provides managers with a powerful tool to keep their projects within budgeted hours. |
| Rate Source |
Specifies the origin or source of rates used in the budget line items. Various options for the Rate Source column are:
|
| Cost Rate | Cost Rate of a service or activity item. It is the per hour cost of service provided without any taxes. The cost rate is brought forward from Activity Items or can be entered here manually. Typically, this rate is used if you want to base your budget on the cost to the company and not the billable value. |
| Cost Amount | Cost amount of the service item. It is calculated as (Hours x Cost Rate). |
| Bill Rate | Per hour bill rate assigned to a service item. The bill rate is brought forward from Activity Items or can be entered here manually. |
| Charge Amount |
Total service charge amount being budgeted. It is automatically calculated as: [Hours x Bill Rate] x (1 + Tax 1 + Tax 2 + Tax 3) It can be matched to the contract amount of the associated project. |
|
Used: Spent Hours / Spent Amount /% Spent |
Total hours or amount used on a project. It is equal to the value of billable and non-billable time, whether approved or not. It includes taxes (Tax 1/2/3) for billable time, but excludes them for non-billable entries. It also excludes WUD and extra time. Spent = Billable Time + Non-Billable Time You can click the Spent Hours value to open the Time Entries screen filtered by the selected project, employee, and activity. If the Spent Hours value is 0, it displays as plain text and cannot be clicked. |
| % Complete | Percentage of the budget used up or completed for the service item. When you create an invoice using this budget, it uses this percentage to calculate the total amount. You can enter a decimal value as well. |
| Tax 1/2/3 | Up to three taxes can be assigned per service line item. They are summed and used to calculate the bill amount for the activity. Example: If activity GEN:TECH has a Tax 1 value of 5% and Tax 2 is 10%, when a time entry is made for GEN:TECH, 15% is added to the service amount billed. |
| Start Date | This is the start date attribute for the service line item of the budget. When importing budget into task allocation, this date becomes the allocation Start Date. The start and end dates of the budgets are also used as filters for reporting purposes. |
| End Date | This is the end date attribute for the service line item of the budget. When importing budget into task allocation, this date becomes the allocation End Date. The start and end dates of the budgets are also used as filters for reporting purposes. |
| Projects > Budget > Expenses > | |
| Resource Group | Specifies the employee or vendor group for the budget line item. It automatically populates based on the selected resource’s default group, but can also be selected manually. |
| Resource | Resource could be an employee, an outside consultant or a contract employee. |
| Units | Quantity budgeted for the selected expense-resource combination. By default, the Budget Units are the same as the Cost Units. It provides managers with a powerful tool to keep their projects within budgeted values. |
| Cost Rate | This is the default per unit cost of the expense item without any markups and taxes for proper expense tracking. If the cost of an expense varies, this can be left blank. Then, when you log expenses, you can enter the actual cost there. It passes on to the Budget Cost Rate. |
|
Spent Units / Spent Amount |
Total expense units or amount used on a project. It is equal to the value of approved billable and non-billable expenses. It includes taxes (Tax 1/2/3) and markups for billable expenses, but excludes them for non-billable entries. It also excludes extra expenses. Expenses have to be a part of the contract. Spent = Billable Expenses + Non-Billable Expenses You can click the Spent Units value to open the Expense Entries screen filtered by the selected project, employee, and expense item. If the value is 0, it displays as plain text and cannot be clicked. |
| Cost Amount | Cost amount of the expense line item before markup and taxes. The per unit cost is multiplied by the units to compute this value. Amount = Units x Cost Rate |
| Markup % | Percentage increase or decrease in the cost of an expense to determine the charge amount. If the markup percentage varies for an expense, leave this field blank and enter it when you log expenses. Do not enter the percentage as a decimal. Example: To increase the cost rate by 10.5%, enter 10.5, not 0.105. |
| Charge Amount |
Total charge amount for the expense item. It is calculated as [Units x Cost Rate x (1 + MU %)] x (1 + Tax 1 + Tax 2 + Tax 3)]. |
| % Complete | Percentage of the budget being used up or completed for the expense item. When you create an invoice using this budget, it uses this percentage to calculate the total amount to be charged. You can enter a decimal value as well. |
| Tax 1/2/3 | Up to three taxes can be assigned per expense line item. They are summed and used to calculate the bill amount for the expense. Example: If expense A has a Tax 1 value of 5% and Tax 2 is 10%, when an expense entry is made for A, 15% is added to the expense amount billed. |
| Start Date | This is the start date attribute for the expense line item of the budget. When importing budget into task allocation, this date becomes the allocation Start Date. The start and end dates of the budgets are also used as filters for reporting purposes. |
| End Date | This is the end date attribute for the expense line item of the budget. When importing budget into task allocation, this date becomes the allocation End Date. The start and end dates of the budgets are also used as filters for reporting purposes. |
| Unbudgeted Items |
When you log services or expenses in CORE, it automatically matches each entry to a budget line using these matching rules: Service Entries: CORE matches based on employee, activity, and date. Expense Entries: It looks at the employee, expense item, and date. If a match is found, the corresponding hours (for services) or units (for expenses) along with the associated amounts are displayed under the Spent Hours and Spent columns on the budget line. If no match is found, CORE creates a row, Unbudgeted Items. This row captures the logged hours, units, and costs, so that everything is tracked, even if it is not included in the original budget. |
Create Budgets
In CORE, you can create budgets from scratch or import existing budget items from a budget template or project.
To create a budget, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Projects screen from the side menu > Projects.
- In the list view, click
on a project row and select View Details. In case of a phased project, make sure you have the right project selected in the list view: parent project, phase, or sub-phase. You can also choose a relevant phase by using the phase selector drop-down at the top of the screen in the detail view.
- In the Project Center view, go to the Budget tab and click Start Budget.
-
On the New Project Budget dialog, enter the required information for the new budget. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
- Budget Fee Schedule
- Miscellaneous Amount
- Date
- Created by
- Click Create Budget. CORE will redirect you to the Budget >Services tab.
- Here you can add budget line items as needed. Click Add and enter information in the top row of the grid. In case of phased projects, you must expand the hierarchy first. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
- Resource: an employee, an outside consultant or a contract employee
- Activity
- Hours
- Cost Rate
- Bill Rate
- % Complete
- Tax 1/2/3
- Rate Source
- % Spent
- Start Date
- End Date: Check Field Descriptions above for details.
- Click Done to save the item. You can add more service line items here.
- Similarly, go to the Expenses tab and click Add to enter information in the top row of the grid. In case of phased projects, you must expand the hierarchy first. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
- Resource: an employee, an outside consultant or a contract employee
- Expense: It is referred to as Cost in the legal industry.
- Units:
- Cost Rate
- Markup%
- % Complete
- Tax 1/2/3
- Rate Source
- % Spent
- Start Date
- End Date: Check Field Descriptions above for details.
- Click Done to save the item. You can add more expense line items here.
- Next, go to the Budget > Details tab and add or edit any budget details here, if needed. Check Include Phases if you want to add or view budget details for the project and all its phases. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
Note: CORE includes the Contract Amount column even when Include Phases is turned off.
- Budget Fee Schedule
- Miscellaneous Amount
- Add more items and also a memo, if required.
- Click Save when you have finished.
- If needed, you can add and view custom fields on the Custom Fields tab for both the project budget and its individual line items.
Import Budgets
CORE provides flexibility in managing project budgets by allowing you to import budgets from an existing project or a budget template, or to create a project budget from scratch. Budget templates created in the Budget Templates screen are standalone. The Projects > Budget screen allows the import of service and expense line items from the budget templates into a project.
To import a budget, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Projects screen from the side menu > Projects.
- In the list view, click
- In the Project Center view, go to the Budget tab. In case of a phased project, make sure you have the right project selected: parent project, phase or sub-phase. You can also choose a relevant phase by using the phase selector drop-down at the top of the screen.
- Next, go to Budget > Services (or Expenses) tab and click Actions > Import Budget.
- Select one of the Source options:
- Budget Template: if you want to use any budget template from the list
- Existing Project: if you want to use an existing project from the list
- Select the relevant project or a budget template from the list.
- In case a project has existing budget line items, you can add the imported items to the existing budget or delete the existing items and replace them with the imported items:
- Add to current items
-
Replace existing item
Note: If a fee schedule is specified for a budget, then:
- if a line item matches an entry in the fee schedule (based on priority), all applicable rates are taken from the fee schedule.
- if no match is found, the rates for the copied line items remain unchanged from the original item.
- Click Import Items. All the budget line items will be imported and pre-fill the grid.
- You can check all the budget tabs to edit the budget details, if needed. Check Include Phases if you want to add or view budget details for the project and all its phases. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
- When all the information and totals look good, you can go ahead and save all the edits.
Enable Budget Sync with Resource Allocation
You can sync the project budget with resource allocation so that any addition, update, or deletion in either area is reflected in the other automatically. This eliminates the need for manual updates and ensures that budget and allocation data remain aligned and consistent.
When sync is enabled, all entries follow the P-A-R-T (Project, Activity, Resource, Time) rule, preventing overlapping records for the same combination of project, activity, resource, and time period.
When enabling sync, CORE evaluates existing budget and resource allocation data and displays an activation screen. If data exists in both areas, you can review the current state, download a backup of your data, and select a primary data source.
To enable sync between budget and resource allocation, watch this explainer video or follow these steps:
- Open the Projects screen from the side menu > Projects.
- In the list view, click
-
In the Project Center view, go to the Budget tab and click More > Enable Sync with Resource Allocation. Alternatively, click Enable Sync from the Resource Allocation Not Synced banner.
Note: This option is controlled by the Sync Budgets and Allocations on projects setting in Settings > Projects > General, which sets the default for new projects. At the project level, enabling sync applies to the selected project and all its phases. - On the Enable Sync between Budget and Resource Allocation dialog, review the current state of budget and allocation data.
- Download CSV copies of your budget and allocations for the selected project and its phases. These backups can be used to restore data overwritten during the sync.
- Select the primary data source. When Resource Allocation is selected, existing budget items are replaced with allocation data.
- Click Activate Sync.
After sync is enabled, updates between budget and resource allocation happen automatically in real time. Assignment rules and P-A-R-T (Project, Activity, Resource, Time) validations are enforced on the budget when sync is enabled.
Export Budget Line Items
In CORE, you can export budget services and expenses to the Comma Separated Values file format. CORE exports data from all available columns and not just the columns visible in the grid.
To export budget services and expenses to a .CSV file, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Projects screen from the side menu > Projects.
- In the list view, click
-
In the Project Center view, go to the Budget > Services/Expense tab and click More > Export as CSV.
- A .csv export file is created and saved on your system at the default download location, say your desktop. Click to open the spreadsheet.
You can also check the detailed video on exporting data in CORE.
Create Invoices from Budgets
You can create invoices based on the budget data as well as the billing arrangement of the project.
To create an invoice from a budget, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Projects screen from the side menu > Projects.
- In the list view, click
- In the Project Center view, go to the Budget tab and click More > Create Invoice.
- On the Create Invoice dialog, click Continue.
- You are taken to the Create Invoice screen with the budget data pre-filled.
- Add more items or memo, if required.
- Click Process and select Draft or Final.
Your invoice is created from the budget.
Convert Budgets to Estimates
Typically, budgets are used for internal purposes and estimates are created for the clients.
To convert a budget into an estimate, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Projects screen from the side menu > Projects.
- In the list view, click
- In the Project Center view, go to the Budget tab and click More > Convert to Estimate.
- On the Convert to Estimate dialog, enter the required information for the new estimate. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
- ID
- Description
- Service Markup:
- Expense Markup:
Click Save.
Email Budgets
You might want to share the budget with your managers, employees or clients via email.
To email a budget, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Projects screen from the side menu > Projects.
- In the list view, click
- In the Project Center view, go to the Budget tab and click More > Email Budget.
- On the Compose Email dialog, enter the required information. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
- To
- Subject
- Message
- Each selected budget is attached as a separate file to this email. Click Add Attachments at the bottom to attach any document to the email. You can also drag-and-drop any file into the Compose Email window from your desktop or email program.
- Click Send Message.
If the email is sent to an address that is no longer working, there is a bounce-back email sent to let you know about this. You can also check the detailed video on emailing in CORE.
Note: You cannot remove the default or system attachments. Only user-defined attachments can be added or removed. CORE restricts the file size of the attachments to 10 MB and sends the attachments as a single zipped file.
Download Budgets
You can download the details of the budget as a PDF file directly from the Budget tab.
To download a budget, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Projects screen from the side menu > Projects.
- In the list view, click
- In the Project Center view, go to the Budget tab and click More > Download Budget as PDF.
- It prompts you to save the PDF at the relevant location, say your Desktop. Click Save.