Switch on budgets and give staff permission
Before anyone can build or use budgets, a super user needs to do three things:
- Switch on the Budgets module for the whole practice.
- Decide which staff can manage templates, edit budgets and approve them.
- Optionally, set the Budgets Status for each workflow sub-system.
Before you start
You need to be a super user to see the Config menu, where all of these settings live.
1. Switch on the Budgets module
- Go to Config > System Options.
- Open the Budgets tab.
- Click Activate Budgets module.
Once the module is active, the tab says Budgets module is active. You will also see:
- Budget Templates in your practice-name menu (the first menu after your own name);
- a budget panel on each client's workflow system tab and on job cards;
- a Budgets button on the Scheduler.
To switch budgets off again, click Disable Budgets module. Your budget data is kept, so everything will still be there if you switch the module back on later.
2. Give staff permission
Budget permissions are managed with permission lists. Go to Config > Manage Staff Permission Lists and scroll down the Permission Lists panel to the four lists tagged BUDGETS. Drag a member of staff, or a whole team, from the Staff / Teams list on the left into a permission list. Click the cross next to a name to remove it.
| Permission list | What it allows |
|---|---|
| Can configure budget templates | Open the Budget Templates pages. Create templates, rename them, change their status (Draft, Active, Archived) and actual time data source, and delete templates. Add, edit and delete a template's sections and its default allocations. |
| Can edit client and job budget allocations | Add, edit and delete client-specific allocations and job budget lines. Open and edit a client's budget (the Open Budget Template button on the client card), and turn a section into a client-specific one. Open and edit a job's budget (the Manage Budget link on the job card). Confirm and unconfirm budget lines. |
| Approve budgets | Approve budget lines on a job, and reverse an approval. Also confirm and unconfirm lines. |
| Unapprove budgets | Reverse the approval of a budget line, and unconfirm lines, without being able to approve. |
Templates and client or job budgets use different permissions
Can configure budget templates covers everything on the Budget Templates pages, including sections and default allocations. Changing a particular client's or job's budget needs Can edit client and job budget allocations. Give both to anyone who does both.
Super users can do everything, whether or not they are in any list. Anyone in any of the four lists can also run the Budgets Summary report.
3. Set the Budgets Status for each sub-system (optional)
Each workflow sub-system has a Budgets Status setting. It controls whether the budget panel is shown on the job card for that sub-system.
- Go to Config > Edit Workflow Systems and open the workflow system, for example Accounts & CT.
- Open the Sub-Systems tab.
- Click the pencil next to the sub-system, for example Accounts.
- Set Budgets Status and click Save.
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Please set | The value before anyone has chosen. Budgets behave as if they are active. |
| Budgets active for sub-system | The budget panel is shown on job cards for this sub-system. |
| Budgets not active for sub-system | The budget panel is hidden on job cards for this sub-system. |
What Budgets Status does not do
Budgets Status only affects the job card. Budgets are still copied onto new jobs, and budget lines still appear on the Scheduler, whenever the sub-system has an active budget template. To stop budgets for a sub-system altogether, archive its template. See Create a budget template for a workflow sub-system.
Next step
Create your first template: see Create a budget template for a workflow sub-system.