Creating budgets is an essential aspect of project management, and with Productive's Simple Budget Editor, the process becomes efficient and straightforward.
Here's a step-by-step guide to setting up a budget using the Simple Budget Editor.
1) Enable the Simple Budget Editor
To access the Simple Budget Editor, check the designated box during budget creation in the Budget Wizard.
📌 The default status of this checkbox depends on your settings in Settings > Budget.
If the "Advanced mode" toggle is ON, the Simple Budget Editor checkbox will be unchecked by default.
If the toggle is OFF, the Simple Budget Editor checkbox will be checked by default.
Regardless of the toggle setting, you can manually adjust the checkbox as needed!
2) Choose the Budget Type
In the Simple Budget Editor, you'll have three budget types to choose from: Time and Materials, Fixed Price, and Non-billable.
Each type serves different purposes, catering to various project and invoicing needs. Check out the hyperlinked articles for more insight into each budget type.
📌 If you are setting up an internal budget, you'll only be able to add Non-billable budget services since internal projects are not intended to be billed to clients and only incur costs.
Important: When creating a budget with the Simple Budget Editor, you cannot combine different billing types.
Each service line item in a budget must have the same billing type (either Time and Materials, Fixed, or Non-billable).
3) Set up Services
Select the specific service types to include in your budget.
Based on your budget type and selected billable rates, the services section adjusts to allow for customization, including assigning team members and defining the service budgets respectively.
You also have the flexibility to rename the services section opening the three-dot menu next to the section name.
📌 Select Show Custom Service Name to manually enter the service name, and Show Description to quickly describe the service for better organization.
If you feel the Simple Budget Editor is too restrictive and you want more freedom over service line items, such as adding different budget types to your budget, switch to the advanced budget editor at the bottom of the screen from the Simple Budget Editor.
📌 Once you switch to the advanced budget editor, it's not possible to revert to the simple version.
4) Customize Billable Rates and Budget Estimates
For each budget type, customize billable rates for your team and services. Additionally, set budget estimates, such as total hours per budget, total price per budget, hours per service, or budget per service, to effectively track project progress.
👉 For more information on each of these options in different budget types, head over to the Time and Materials, Fixed Price, and Non-billable budget type articles.
📌 Tip: When setting up a Time and Materials budget, checking the "Fixed cap" box locks the budget at the desired amount, thus restricting the amount you can invoice to your client, even if you go over budget and log more hours than your initial estimate.
5) The Expenses Budget
In the expenses service section, you can account for any expenses related to your budget, whether or not they are billable to your client.
Filling in the information here creates a separate section in your budget intended specifically for tracking expenses, meaning that no time can be logged against the services there (and people cannot be booked on them in the Resource Planner).
You have three options for expense billing types:
Time and Materials billing type expense
With this option, you can invoice expenses as they occur and are logged in Productive, allowing you to have a larger expense budget while only invoicing for actual expenses.
Fixed billing type expense
This option allows you to bill a fixed (pre-set) amount for each expense, regardless of the number or amount of expenses logged.
Non-billable expense type
Selecting this option indicates that the expense is not billable to the client. It remains as an additional cost in the budget, with no further billing or invoicing options.
6) Save the Changes
