Set up the project budget

You can set up the project budget in two ways:

• Create the budget manually - Add the line items one-by-one by entering the cost values
• Import the budget from an Excel file - The budget module provides a template file. You can download the file, enter the values for each budget line-item and upload it to the same module as a draft. Once added as a draft, you can make any additions, corrections, and additions to the budget at any time until it is locked to serve as the baseline. 

Tip: Linarc lets you precisely allocate budget amounts to task items in the project's master schedule from the poject budget. You can distribute the total amount from a budget line item across the relevant scheduled tasks, activities, deliverables, work packages, and other components of the project's WBS-based delivery plan. This distribution can be based on either the total monetary value or the planned quantity of work for the budget line item. Ensure to define workdone quantities in accordance with these criteria to ensure accurate tracking and reporting.

To set up the budget

• Open the budget module if it has not already been opened. To do so:
  • Click the app launcherand select 'Finance.'
  • Click 'Budget' on the top.
• Select 'Original Bid' from the options on the left
• Click 'Add Budget' on the top-right

The 'Project Budget Upload' screen opens:

You can set up the project budget in two ways:

• Manually create your Budget
• Import the budget from an Excel file

Manually create your Budget

• Click 'Create' in the 'Budget Upload' screen

• Add your budget line items one-by-one
• Ensure that each line item contains one task entry with a distinct cost code.
• Mandatory fields are highlighted with red borders.
• Enter the values for the line items under the following column headers. 
  • Cost Code - The code representing the division/category of work as per the cost code list at your company level
  • Name - The label of the work/task
  • Quantity - The numeric value of the amount of work required to be done. 
  • Quantity Unit - Units by which the amount of work done is measured (Mandatory if any value is specified in the 'Quantity' column)
  • Effort Hours - The total labor required for completion of the work, in manhours
  • Type of Calculation- Specify how the total budget amount for this line item is to be entered. The allowed strings are 'Automatic' and 'Manual.' 
    • Automatic - The total amount is calculated as a sum of the values specified for different cost types, like material, labor, equipment, etc.
    • Manual - You can enter the total budget amount directly in the next column.
  • Total Budget Amount - Enter the total budget amount if you have chosen 'Manual' in the previous column. If automatic, this field will be auto-populated using the cost values entered in the following seven fields.
  • Labor - The monetary value of the cost allotted for the wages
  • Equipment - The monetary value of the cost allocated for the use of equipment and machinery for the work
  • Subcontractor - Expenses related to external subcontracts, if any. 
  • Material - The monetary value of the cost allotted for the materials used for the work
  • Others - Miscellaneous expenses like transportation, material handling, fees paid to various vendors, agencies, and more.
  • Overhead - Operation costs that the company bears
  • Profit - The profit gained by your company from the work item 
  • Assigned To - The subcontractor company to which the line item is allotted. 
  • Contingency -  Specify the percentage of the total amount to be set aside for contingency expenses 
  • Actions - Provides controls to delete rows that were added by mistake. 
• Click '+Add Row' to add more line items
• Click the trashcan at the right end to remove inadvertently added rows
• Click 'Submit' to save your budget. You can edit the rows until the budget is locked. See Add/remove/edit budget line items to learn more.
• Once finalized, you can lock the budget. See Lock the budget to learn more

Import the budget from an Excel file

• Click 'Download' in the 'Budget Upload' screen to obtain the template for the budget in Excel file format. The template file contains the required field headers. 
• Enter the values for the line-items as explained below.

Requirements of the budget file

• Each line in the file should contain one budget line item.
• Ensure that each line item contains one task entry with a distinct cost code.

Enter the values for each line-item under the following column headers:

• Cost Code - The code representing the division/category of work as per the cost code list at your company level
• Name - The label of the work/task
• Quantity - The numeric value of the planned amount of work required to be done
• Quantity Unit - Units by which the amount of work done is measured
• Effort Hours - The total labor required for completion of the work, in manhours
• Type of Calculation- Specify how the total budget amount for this line item is to be entered. The allowed strings are 'Automatic' and 'Manual.' Leave this column blank if you want to set this on the console after uploading the budget.
  • Automatic - The total amount is calculated as a sum of the values specified for different cost types, like material, labor, equipment, etc.
  • Manual - You can enter the total budget amount directly in the next column.
• Total Budget Amount - Enter the total budget amount if you have chosen 'Manual' in the previous column. Else leave this field blank. The field will be auto-populated on the console, using the cost values entered in the following seven fields.
• Labor - The monetary value of the cost allotted for the wages
• Equipment - The monetary value of the cost allocated for the use of equipment and machinery for the work
• Subcontractor - Expenses related to external subcontracts and specialty contractors, skilled artisans, if any. 
• Material - The monetary value of the cost allotted for the materials used for the work
• Others - Miscellaneous expenses like transportation, material handling, fees paid to various vendors, agencies, and more.
• Overhead - Operation costs that the company bears
• Profit - The profit gained by your company from the work item 
• Assigned To - The subcontractor company to which the line item is allotted. This field is optional. If you want to specify the assignee company at a later time, you can do it after uploading the budget but before locking it. See Assign subcontractors to budget line items to know more.
• Contingency -  Specify the percentage of the total amount to be set aside for contingency expenses  

Save the Excel file with an appropriate name. The next step is to upload the budget file. See Upload the budget file for more.