Budget settings
Manage standard columns, accounts, cost units and reusable budget structures
System → Budget maintains shared foundations for project budgets. Depending on your permissions, you see General, Account management and Budget templates. Changes affect new budgets or the master data available in existing projects.
Because these settings directly control project budget work, this manual places them in the Projects chapter.
General: names of the first columns
General defines the names of the first three columns in newly created budget tables. Enter a clear name for each and confirm it with the tick. Empty names cannot be saved.
Choose terms understood across the organisation. Also consider integrations: with Sage enabled, the first two columns can represent debit account and cost unit and their order can be defined in tool settings.
Enabling accounts and cost units
The global switch in Account management determines whether accounts and cost units are used in every project budget as the first and second columns. Enable this only when master data is maintained and the budget workflow requires it.
An account contains:
- account number,
- description,
- classification as an expense or revenue account.
A cost unit contains a number and description. Both lists can be searched, extended and edited directly. Numbers and descriptions must be meaningful; descriptions are limited to 255 characters.
Deleting accounts and cost units
Artwork asks for confirmation before deletion. Deleted accounts and cost units appear in the corresponding recycle-bin tabs if you have access, where they can be restored or removed permanently.
Check usage before deleting
A master-data entry may be used in several project budgets. Before deletion, check whether historical assignments, imports or evaluations depend on it. Renaming is more appropriate when only its label needs correction.
Budget templates
Budget templates preserve a reusable table structure with columns, main and sub-positions, rows and existing calculations and comments. They let new projects begin with a consistent calculation.
In Budget templates, you can search, expand and edit templates with the familiar budget tools. A template is created from an existing budget table by saving it under a template name.
Important limits apply when creating and using templates:
- Sage integration columns are not copied as ordinary template columns.
- Links to specific funding sources are not retained.
- Applying a template to a project replaces its existing budget structure.
A template replaces the project budget
Before applying one, check whether the project already contains required positions, comments, calculations, assignments or imported data. This is not merely an addition of a few rows.
Recommended maintenance workflow
Daily work with positions, calculations, comments, approvals, funding sources and exports is covered under Project budget.