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      How to Track Monetary Project Budgets

      All you need to know about monetary budgets, and how to track them in Timeneye

      🌟 This feature is included in the PREMIUM Plan

      In this article, we'll explain how to set, track, and monitor your monetary project budgets in Timeneye. Thanks to this feature, you'll be able to create monetary project budgets and receive notifications as the budget progresses.

      Please note: a project can have either a Time or a Monetary budget, not both at the same time.

      Before you set the project budget, here's a reminder of the project types available in Timeneye:

      1. Time&Material: A project that is billed by the hour, with billable rates. In this type of project, you typically charge for expenses as well;

      2. Fixed Fee: a project that has a set price, regardless of the time tracked. In this case, you and your client have agreed on a specific fee and that is what you'll invoice your client;

      3. Non-Billable: a project that doesn't have an hourly rate and isn't billed by the hour to a client, like an internal project. It may still have a budget, for cost management purposes.

       Monetary Project Budgets are available for Time&Material, Fixed fee, and Non-billable projects.

      How to create a Monetary Project budget

      When creating a new project, you can select the Monetary Budget option. The option is available in the Create new project dialog in the Budget field. If the Budget section is not visible immediately, you must scroll the dialog window until it appears.

      But you can also edit a project to add a monetary project budget, in the Edit section:

      Enter the monetary amount of the budget. You'll also notice that you'll be asked to enter a project hourly rate: this is necessary to help you calculate the monetary value of your time, and keep the budget under control.

      How to set a budget notification

      To make sure you don't go over budget, you can let Timeneye alert you when your budget is close to completion. You can set a notification by checking the option under the monetary amount, and decide what percentage of completion will trigger it.

      Only users with the role of PM for that project will receive the notification.

      How to track a Monetary Project budget

      On the Project status page, you'll be able to monitor the progression of the project. The colorful progression bars will serve as a guide to see how much of the budget (time, or monetary) has been used. The bars turn from green to yellow to red as the budget is used and exceeded.

      Permissions: who can see the monetary amounts?

      • Every member of the project can see the percentage of project completion;

      • For Non-billable projects, only owners can see the project amount;

      • For Fixed fee and Time&Material projects, owners, admins, and PMs can see the project amount.

      How to set a Monetary budget as recurring

      In the "Budget resets" field, you can set the budget to reset with the frequency you need:

      • If you don't check this option, the budget will never reset. Instead, it will be just a one-time total budget for the whole project;

      • If you select Weekly, the budget will reset on a day of the week of your choice on a weekly basis;

      • If you select Monthly, the budget will reset on a date of the month of your choice.

      Budgets for members, phases, tags

      Once you have set your monetary budget, you can assign portions of that budget to individual team members, phases, or tag lists. This way you can have better control over the usage of the budgets in all the steps of the project.

      Please note:

      When you add budgets for individual users, tags, and phases, the total monetary budget will update to match the sum of these individual budgets if it exceeds the original budget set during project creation.

      Here's a full video tutorial on Monetary budgets:

       

      FAQ

      Why does the Fixed fee project require a project hourly rate?

      Because it helps you understand the value of your time, even with a fixed fee, without knowing the hourly rate, it’s hard to determine if you’re undercharging or if the effort is worth the revenue.

      Please note: If you set an individual hourly rate for a user (in the Team section or the project Members detail), it will override the project hourly rate for that user's time entries.

      Why do I have to put a project fee and a budget amount as well? What's the difference?

      The project fee is the amount agreed upon with your client, essentially what they will pay you. The budget amount is a limit you set for your team to complete the project. The budget amount can be the same as the project fee, or lower to ensure a profit margin.

      Are Fixed fee projects billable?

      Not hourly. You can't log time entries as billed, but you can record invoice amounts as payments are received on the Project status page.

      Can I change the project type of an existing project?

      Yes, in the Edit section of the project. For example, you can switch from a Fixed Fee project to a Time&Material project. Just remember that reports and overviews will reflect the current project status, so time or money tracked before the change won’t be included in the new totals, though they may still factor into cost calculations if relevant.