Syncing budgets and resource allocations is a powerful feature in BQE CORE that keeps your project budget and resource allocation data aligned automatically. Instead of maintaining these two areas separately, CORE ensures that any change made in one, whether adding, editing, or deleting a line item, is immediately reflected in the other. This is especially useful for companies managing both financial planning and resource scheduling who need consistent data across both areas at all times. Check out this explainer video for details.
During sync, CORE enforces the P-A-R-T rule (Project, Activity, Resource, Time) to prevent overlapping or conflicting entries and applies assignment rules to ensure only valid resources, activities, and resource groups can be selected on budget line items. Sync can be enabled at the project level from either the Projects > Budget or Resource Allocation screen, and can also be set as a default for all new projects from Settings > Projects > General.
Note: To use this feature, users must have the Sync Budgets and Allocations on projects permission enabled. Assignment and P-A-R-T validations apply only when sync is enabled. Avoid using sync if budget and resource allocation are being maintained for separate purposes, or if you do not want changes in one to automatically affect the other.
Here are the key aspects of the Budget & Resource Allocation Sync feature:
- Project-Level and Global Control: To use this feature at the project allocation level, it must first be enabled in Settings > Projects > General. This setting controls the availability of the sync option across CORE. When enabled, you can turn on sync for individual projects from the Projects > Budget tab or the Resource Allocation screen.
- Activation: When you enable sync, CORE scans the project for existing data and determines how to proceed. If no budget and allocation data exist in either area, sync is enabled directly after your confirmation. If data exists in one area only, it is used to populate the other. If data exists in both areas, you must choose a starting point before sync begins.
- Primary Data Source: When both areas contain data, you can review the current state of both budget and resource allocation, download a CSV file backup, and select a primary data source. Selecting Resource Allocation as the primary source causes CORE to replace existing budget items with entries copied from the allocation. After sync is enabled, all updates happen automatically without any additional steps.
- Real Time Two-Way Sync: After sync is active, any addition, update, or deletion in budget records is instantly reflected in resource allocation and vice versa, including batch updates. If sync fails for any reason, CORE notifies you so you can resolve the issue promptly.
- P-A-R-T Rule Enforcement: CORE checks all budget line items for conflicts on save. No two entries can share the same employee, activity, or activity group, and overlapping date range. If a conflict is found, CORE displays an error message and prevents the save. This applies to create, update, and batch update operations.
- Assignment Validation: When sync is enabled, only resources, activities, and resource groups formally assigned to the project or phase can be selected on budget line items. If no assignments have been added, any resource or activity can be selected.
- Date Handling: Start and end dates are required on budget line items when sync is enabled. If dates are not defined, CORE automatically uses the phase start and end dates when creating corresponding resource allocation entries, ensuring allocations are properly scheduled and not left open-ended.
- Resource Groups: A dedicated Resource Group column appears by default next to the Resource column in Budget. It auto-populates with the employee's default resource group when a resource is selected. If a resource group is selected instead, the Resource field is cleared on save. This field is always required and cannot be left empty. The column is available in the Column Chooser and is included in CSV exports, PDF downloads, and budget reports.
- Sync Indicators: Visual indicators in both the Projects > Budget and Resource Allocation screens show the current sync status at a glance. A label and tooltip indicate whether sync is enabled at the global level only or active at the project level. Indicators update automatically across the entire project hierarchy when sync is enabled or disabled.
- Hierarchy-Wide Sync: Enabling sync on any project or phase applies it across the entire hierarchy, so all related phases and sub-phases stay aligned without requiring individual configuration.
- Security and Access Control: The Sync Budgets and Allocations on projects permission, available to Full Access users only, controls whether the sync option is visible in both the Budget and Resource Allocation screens.
- Disabling Sync: Sync can be disabled at any time from either screen. It is a two-step process requiring explicit confirmation. After sync is disabled, budget and resource allocations must be maintained separately. Re-enabling sync triggers the activation again so you can review the current state of both areas before restarting.
Example: Consider a project where budget line items are already created, but resource allocations are not yet defined. When you enable sync, CORE uses the budget data to create corresponding resource allocation entries with the same project, activity, resource, or resource group, and dates. If budget line items do not have start and end dates, CORE uses the phase start and end dates to ensure allocations are properly scheduled. After sync is enabled, any updates to budgeted hours or dates are automatically reflected in resource allocation records, and vice versa.
Syncing budgets and resource allocations brings financial planning and resource scheduling into a single, consistently aligned view. By leveraging this feature, you can reduce administrative overhead, eliminate data inconsistencies, and give your team a reliable source of truth across both the Budget and Resource Allocation screens.