How to Create a Project Budget in CrmLeaf
All editions. Requires the Budget add-on module. The module ships disabled - an Administrator must enable it for your company before any budget screen appears.
Availability: All editions. Requires the Budget add-on module. The module ships disabled - an Administrator must enable it for your company before any budget screen appears.
Overview
The Budget module answers one question for a project: are we on budget? It does this without double entry. You plan the budget only; CrmLeaf derives the actuals live from the project's existing Expenses, Timesheet entries, Purchase Orders, bills and Invoices. A budget therefore can never disagree with the operational screens it reads from.
This article covers enabling the module, choosing a plan shape, and creating the budget lines that claim the project's real costs.
How It Works
You create a budget for a project, decide whether it is a single total or an itemised plan, and give each line a source that tells CrmLeaf where its actual spend comes from. Actual amounts are never typed in and never stored.
Enable module → Create budget → Choose plan shape → Add lines and sources → Save as draft → Submit
- Actuals are never stored. They are rolled up from the project's existing records every time you view the budget.
- Any project cost that no budget line claims appears in a visible Uncategorised row, so the reconciliation is always shown rather than hidden.
- A budget can be a single total, or itemised by category, cost code, phase, task, resource or cost-type.
- Each line declares its actuals source: approved expenses in a category, approved timelog earnings for a task, committed and billed purchase items for a product, "mixed" leftovers, or a plan-only "manual" line that contributes no actuals.
- A new budget starts as a draft and follows an approval lifecycle before its amounts are locked.
- Each project has one primary budget.
- Industry templates seed the plan for you, and a seeded budget reports actuals immediately.
Who Can Use This Feature?
Administrator
- Enable the Budget module for the company.
- Configure the budget settings, including default thresholds.
- Grant the budget permissions to roles.
User
- Create a budget for a project and add its lines.
- Choose the plan shape and each line's actuals source.
- Edit a draft budget and submit it for approval.
Access depends on the modules and role assigned by your Administrator. The module has six ownership-scoped permissions: view, add, edit, delete and approve a budget, plus manage budget settings.
Prerequisites
- The Budget module is included in your plan and enabled for your company.
- The project exists and you can see it under your project visibility scope.
- You hold the add-budget permission.
- The records the actuals will come from are in place - expense categories, the project's tasks, and the Purchase module if purchase commitments are to be tracked.
For Administrators
Step 1: Enable the Budget module
What to do: Enable the Budget module for the company, then select Save. The module ships disabled, in the same way as Purchase and the vertical modules.
What to verify: A budget list is reachable and each project shows a Budget tab.
Step 2: Review the budget settings
What to do: Review the company-level budget settings, including the warning thresholds that drive alerts, before your teams create their first budgets.
What to verify: The settings reflect the tolerance your business actually uses.
Step 3: Grant the permissions
What to do: Grant the six budget permissions with the scope each role needs. Keep the approve-budget permission with the people who are accountable for project cost.
What to verify: A project manager can create a budget, and only an approver can approve it.
For Users
Step 1: Open the budget list
What to do: Check whether the project already has a budget. You can also work from the project's Budget tab.
What to verify: The project does not already have a primary budget, since each project has one.
Step 2: Create the budget and choose the plan shape
What to do: Select Add, choose the project, and choose how the plan is shaped: a single total, or itemised by category, cost code, phase, task, resource or cost-type. Where an industry template applies, use it - Construction seeds cost codes and phases from the financial plan and estimates, Solar seeds Equipment, Labour, Permits and Incentives from the solar estimate cost totals, project management seeds phases and resources from the project's tasks, and the generic template uses your company's own expense categories.
What to verify: The plan shape matches how your team already talks about the project's cost. That is what makes the report readable later.
Step 3: Enter the planned amounts and set each line's source
What to do: Enter the planned amount for each line and set where its actuals come from - approved expenses in a category, approved timelog earnings for a task, committed and billed purchase items for a product, "mixed" leftovers, or a "manual" plan-only line. Set each line's warning threshold if you want alerts at line level. Select Save.
What to verify: Every line that should track real spend has a real source. A "manual" line reports no actuals by design.
Step 4: Check the Uncategorised row
What to do: Open the budget's detail dashboard and look at the Uncategorised row. It holds project cost that no line claims. Add or widen a line until the row contains only what you deliberately left unplanned.
What to verify: The Uncategorised amount is understood and explainable, not merely small.
Step 5: Submit the budget for approval
What to do: When the plan is complete, select Submit. The budget moves to pending approval and an approval-request notification goes to the approvers.
What to verify: The budget's status is pending approval.
Field and Option Reference
| Field / Option | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Project | The project the budget belongs to. Each project has one primary budget. | Yes |
| Plan shape | A single total, or itemised by category, cost code, phase, task, resource or cost-type. | Yes |
| Planned amount | The amount you plan to spend, per budget or per line. This is the only money figure you enter. | Yes |
| Actuals source | Where the line's actual spend is rolled up from: approved expenses in a category, approved timelog earnings for a task, committed and billed purchase items for a product, "mixed" leftovers, or "manual" (plan only). | Yes |
| Warning threshold | The usage level at which a threshold notification is sent for the budget or the line. | No |
Expected Result
The budget is saved as a draft against the project, appears in the budget list and on the project's Budget tab, and its detail dashboard already shows actuals rolled up from the project's existing expenses, timelogs, purchase records and invoices, with anything unclaimed in the Uncategorised row.
Why This Matters for Service Organisations
An engagement budget is the number a services firm is judged on. The recurring failure is not the absence of a budget but its divergence: the plan lives in a spreadsheet, the cost lives in timesheets, expenses and supplier orders, and by the time someone reconciles the two the overrun has already happened. Because CrmLeaf derives actuals rather than storing them, the engagement budget and the operational screens cannot drift apart.
How It Supports Professional Services
- You plan only. Actuals are rolled up live from the project's expenses, approved timelog earnings, purchase orders and bills, and invoices - so no consultant is asked to record cost twice.
- Spend that no budget line claims appears in a visible Uncategorised row, so an engagement budget always reconciles rather than quietly under-reporting.
- A plan can be itemised by category, cost code, phase, task, resource or cost-type, which covers both a phased implementation and a plan built around named people.
- The Project management industry template plans by phases and resources, seeded from the project's tasks, so a project created from an IT Services or agency template starts with a budget shaped like its own work breakdown.
- Pointing lines at approved timelog earnings makes budget consumption move with the timesheets the team already submits weekly.
- Only approved expenses and approved timelogs count, so an approval backlog understates consumption - a discipline point, not a product limitation.
Typical Service Workflow
Engagement → Project → Budget plan → Time and expenses → Derived actuals → Billing
The roll-up from expenses, timelogs, purchase records and invoices is automatic. Deciding the plan shape, and keeping approvals current so the derived figures are complete, remain the organisation's own practice.
Other Product-Type Use Cases
The same module serves a construction firm planning by cost code from its financial plan, a solar installer planning equipment, labour, permits and incentives from the estimate, and a general business planning against its own expense categories.
Related PSA Capabilities
- How to Submit, Approve and Revise a Budget — how the plan becomes a control.
- How to Submit and Approve Weekly Timesheets — the approvals that feed timelog actuals.
- How to Manage Expenses and Reimbursements — the approved expenses a line claims.
- How to Create and Use Project Templates — the tasks a phase-and-resource plan is seeded from.
Important Notes
- Menu names and their position can differ between product editions and can be customised for your account, so your sidebar may not match these paths exactly. Use Search or your Quick Access items if you cannot find a screen.
- Budget is a paid add-on module and ships disabled. Confirm it is included in your plan before planning a rollout around it.
- You never enter an actual amount. If an actual looks wrong, correct the underlying expense, timelog, purchase record or invoice - not the budget.
- Only approved expenses and approved timelog earnings are counted, so unapproved work in progress will not appear as spend yet.
- Purchase-based lines need the Purchase module for there to be commitments to roll up.
Common Scenarios
Example: a construction project. Use the Construction template so the budget is seeded with cost codes and phases from the financial plan and estimates. The budget reports actuals from day one, without re-keying the estimate.
Example: a services project billed by time. Itemise by task or resource and point each line at approved timelog earnings, so budget consumption tracks the timesheets your team already submits.
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Possible Cause | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| No budget screens are visible. | The Budget module is disabled or not in your plan. | Ask your Administrator to enable it, or confirm plan inclusion. |
| You cannot create a budget for a project. | You lack the add-budget permission, or the project already has a primary budget. | Request the permission, or revise the existing budget instead. |
| A line shows no actuals. | The line's source is "manual", or no approved records match its source yet. | Change the source, or approve the underlying expenses or timelogs. |
| The Uncategorised row is large. | Real project cost exists that no budget line claims. | Add or widen budget lines so the cost is planned. |
| Purchase commitments do not appear. | The Purchase module is not enabled. | Enable Purchase, or use a different source for the line. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do the actual amounts come from?
From the project's existing expenses, timelogs, purchase orders and bills, and invoices. Actuals are derived live and never stored on the budget.
Can I have two budgets on one project?
There is one primary budget per project. To change an approved plan you revise it, which creates a new version.
What is the Uncategorised row?
Project cost that no budget line claims. It is shown deliberately so the budget always reconciles to the operational screens.
What is a "manual" line for?
A plan-only line. Use it to record an intended amount that has no matching operational record to roll up.