Budget Manager is your eyes into the future, equipping you with the power to repair job budgets in time to make money on them.
Budget Manager Predicts the Future of Your Job Budgets
Budget Manager is a dynamic tool for tracking your budgeted job hours against your employees' actual hours and future schedules. This budget tracking predicts where you'll be on that budget at the end of its term. You can monitor your budgets in real-time quarterly, weekly, or monthly, and make adjustments to future schedules as your workflow requires to stay on budget. View your progress on the Budget Dashboard.
Budget Manager Video
Watch the video below, which is designed to explain how Budget Manager works and how you can quickly get started. 😎
Complete Guide to Budget Manager: A Step-by-Step Written Tutorial
What is Budget Manager?
Budget Manager is a tool that helps you track and manage job budgets by comparing your planned hours against actual worked hours and future schedules. Think of it as a health monitor for your job budgets that shows you if you're on track or need to make adjustments.
Understanding Your Dashboard
The Bubble Display
When you first open Budget Manager, you'll see colorful bubbles at the top of your screen. Each bubble represents one of your jobs:
Green bubbles mean the job is healthy and on track
Yellow bubbles are a warning sign that you should check the job
Red bubbles (on either side of zero) mean the job needs immediate attention
Think of these bubbles like a traffic light system for your budgets. The position of each bubble shows how far off track you might be - the further from center, the more attention it needs.
Getting Started: Creating Your First Budget
Step 1: Access Budget Manager
Click on "Scheduling" in your main menu
Select "Budget Manager"
You'll see a list of all your jobs
Step 2: Add a New Budget
Find the job you want to budget in your list
Click "Add New Budget" next to the job name
A new screen will open for budget setup
Step 3: Set Up Your Budget Details
Name your budget
Example: If your job is "ABC Construction," you might name it "ABC_2024"
This helps you track different years separately
Choose your start date
TIP: If you want to track the whole year, set it to January 1st
The system will automatically pull in any hours already worked since your start date
Enter your total budget hours
This is the total number of hours you expect the job to take
Example: If you think the job will take 5 hours per week for 50 weeks, enter 250 hours
Consider past data
You'll see a checkbox for "Use Past Actuals"
Only check this if:
You had this job last year
You were happy with last year's efficiency
If last year took too many hours, leave it unchecked and enter your new target
Choose your tracking intervals
Select how often you want to check progress:
Weekly (Recommended for most jobs)
Monthly (Better for very long-term projects)
Quarterly (For annual planning)
Weekly tracking helps you catch problems early
Set hour distribution
Choose "Evenly across intervals" if work will be consistent
The system will divide your total hours across your chosen intervals
Example: 250 hours ÷ 52 weeks = about 4.8 hours per week
Review and save
Look at the weekly breakdown shown
Write down the weekly hours number - you'll need it later
Click "Save" at the bottom
Critical Step: Setting Up Future Schedules
You don't have to use our scheduling to use Budget Manager, but we strongly suggest that you do to see your budgets in the future and see where you need to make adjustments.
Step 1: Access Scheduler
From Budget Manager, click "Scheduler"
Find your job in the list
Click to open scheduling
Step 2: Create a Regular Schedule
Click "Add Shift"
For "Employee," select "Choose Any Employee"
This is fine even if you don't use scheduling for employees
It's just to help Budget Manager track hours
Set up the recurring schedule:
Enter the weekly hours you wrote down earlier
Pick any consistent day of the week
Set it to recur weekly
Leave the end date blank
The exact time of day doesn't matter for budgeting
Click "Save"
Monitoring Your Budgets
Viewing the Dashboard
Click "Budget Dashboard"
You'll see a large bubble chart at the top of your screen
Each bubble represents one of your jobs
The size of the bubble indicates the job's budget size
Position on the chart shows budget health
Below the chart, you'll find a complete list of all your budgeted jobs
Click any job in the list to see its detailed breakdown
Understanding the Dashboard
Bubble Colors and Positions:
Green bubbles near center: Job is on track and healthy
Yellow bubbles: Caution needed, review job details
Red bubbles (either side of zero): Poor health, immediate attention required
The further a bubble is from the center, the more attention it needs
Finding Specific Jobs:
All budgeted jobs appear in the list below the chart
Click any job name to view its details
The bubble chart will highlight the corresponding job bubble
Each job listing shows current budget status
Understanding Your Numbers
When you click on a job in the dashboard list, you'll see:
Time Progress
Shows what percentage of your budget period has elapsed
Example: For a January 1st start date, in April you're 28% through the year
This percentage is automatically calculated based on your budget's start date
Budget Utilization
Displays the percentage of budgeted hours actually used
Example: If you've used 50 hours of a 200-hour budget, that's 25% utilized
Compare this to your time progress to see if you're on track
If utilization percentage is higher than time progress, you're using hours too quickly
Budget Variance
Shows projected over/under budget status at year end
Combines actual hours worked with future scheduled hours
Negative numbers indicate you're projected to exceed budget
Positive numbers show you're projected to finish under budget
Without future schedules, variance may show artificially high/low
Weekly Breakdown
Shows actual hours worked each week
Compares actual hours against budgeted hours
Helps identify when variances began
Useful for spotting trends or patterns in hour usage
Making Adjustments
If you're off track:
Review your weekly breakdown
Go to Scheduler
Adjust future scheduled hours up or down
This will automatically update your projections
Example: Managing a 200-Hour Job
Let's walk through a real example:
You create a budget for 200 hours
It's April (28% through the year)
You've used 50 hours (25% of budget)
Without future schedules, it shows red (unhealthy)
Adding a 4-hour weekly schedule fixes the projection
Now it shows green because the system knows you plan to continue work
To learn more about creating and using schedules for no-show alerts, check out our video and written instructions for Schedule Manager. For help on other topics, check out our Help Center.
Take a peek at our new platform, Chronotek Pro.
