Once you’ve enabled Time & Budgets in your settings, the next step is to update your templates to fully leverage its features. This article will guide you through setting up budgets in your templates, adjusting dollar amounts, and selecting fee types to optimize your budgeting and tracking.
Index
Specify fee settings for work templates (or work)
For each work template or work item, you can specify how you’ll collect fees from the client by using the 'Time & Budget' tab for work items or the 'Budget' tab for work templates.
Please keep in mind the 'Budget' tab in work templates and the 'Time & Budget' tab in work and contacts will only appear if the Time & Budgets feature is enabled in Settings.
You have three options for setting up fees:
Time & Materials: Choose this option to build your billable amount based on the time tracked for the job. Your budget reflects the initial estimate, while the Fees - Time & Materials increase as actuals accrue.
Fixed Fee: Selecting this option will display the total fixed fee as a single amount rather than increasing over time. The Budget amount may differ from the fixed fee, as it is based on estimated time and costs. Typically, the budget will be less than the fixed fee unless it’s a loss leader service item (e.g., the first month of advisory services versus ongoing advisory).
Non-Billable: If you select non-billable, the Fees section on the Budget Overview will disappear because no fees will be collected for this work item.
To configure your 'Billing Settings' in a work template, go to your 'Main Menu,' select Settings, then 'Work Templates,' open the desired template, and navigate to the 'Budget' tab to set 'Billing Settings.'
Please keep in mind to set 'Fee Settings' on a per-work basis, you can access the 'Time & Budget' tab in the work item and adjust the 'Work Fee Type' there.
In the Work Kanban view, you’ll see a total of all collected fixed fees and budgeted time & materials engagements. Use the filter to view specific fee types. Actual time spent is categorized as billable or non-billable based on your Task Types.
Setting the Budget in a Work Template
To set up a budget for a Work Template, follow these steps:
1. Access the Template: Go to Main Menu > Settings > Work Templates. Open the specific template you want to edit.
2. Navigate to the Budget Tab: Select the 'Budget' tab within the template.
3. Add Budget Estimates: Click the 'Add Budget Estimate' button to input your budget and time estimates.
Please keep in mind the 'Budget' tab will only appear if the Budgets feature is enabled in Settings > Time & Budgets. Additionally, Fees will not display unless 'Time & Dollars' is selected in the Time & Budgets settings.
4. Set Billing Settings: Choose your Fee Type for the work template—options include time & materials, fixed fee, and non-billable.
5. Enter Estimates: For each estimate, provide the Role, Task Type, hourly billing rate (click 'Use Default'), and estimated time in hours and minutes. The Team Member field is typically not used in work templates but will appear in work items where resources are assigned. Once complete, the 'Estimate Total' will be calculated. Click 'Save.'
Repeat this process for all Task Types and Roles involved in the work to ensure an accurate budget. You can review the total budget in the Budget Overview or by Role, Task Type, and Team Member in the budget details table.
Once the template is set up, you can create new work based on it. Add actual time, expenses, and other details as work progresses. To have prior work inherit the budgets from this template, reset your work to the template.
Best Practice Tip: After completing the budget estimates for all roles and task types, review the Budget Overview to ensure the total hours and costs align with your expectations. If the figures are too high or too low, adjust the time estimates or billing rates as needed.
Adjust dollar amounts (by Roles and by Task Type)
In Time & Budgets, billing rates are assigned to Roles (which are inherited by colleagues) and can be customized by task types for each role.
For example: You can set an Accountant to charge $X per hour for general work, or differentiate rates by task, such as $Y per hour for Bookkeeping and $Z per hour for Admin tasks.
The Dollar Amount is the default rate used when creating estimates for a Role and Task Type. These rates can be adjusted both in templates and in individual work items.
To configure billing rates and task types:
Customize Task Types: Go to Settings > Workflow > Task Types to define and modify your task types.
Customize Roles and Billing Rates: Navigate to Settings > Colleagues > Roles to set up and adjust billing rates for different roles.
If you’re tracking budgets for both time and dollars, you can use these rates to calculate dollar amounts. Access this by going to Settings > Colleagues > Roles tab.
You can set a standard dollar amount for a Role, which will apply to all Task Types marked as billable. This ensures consistency in billing rates across different tasks associated with that Role.
Alternatively, you can assign a custom dollar amount to each Task Type individually, allowing you to specify different rates for different tasks. Note that Task Types marked as non-billable will not allow you to set a billing rate.
Once configured, you can add budgets by specifying who will perform the work (e.g., Colleague or Role), the cost (based on task type and its billing rate), and the duration. Budgets can be easily added in work templates via the 'Budget' tab or in work items through the 'Time & Budgets' tab by clicking 'Add Budget Estimate.'
Updating Billable Rates
When you make updates to Billable Rates within the job role, all work items in Planned, Ready to Start, In progress and Waiting that currently have that default rate will be updated as well to reflect the new Billable Rate.
If you have created a customized rate, they will not change.
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