> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.timetracker.in/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# How budgets work
> Understand utilisation, forecast at completion and project health in TimeTracker – what counts toward a budget and when the numbers update.
A budget turns tracked work into three numbers: **utilisation** (how much you have used), **forecast** (what the job will cost by the end) and **health** (a green, amber or red judgement).
None of them are typed in. All three are derived from time entries, rates and estimates.
## What counts toward a budget
This is the single most important rule, and it differs by budget kind.
| Budget kind | Measures | Counts unapproved time? |
| ----------- | -------------------- | ----------------------- |
| **Money** | Approved labour cost | No |
| **Hours** | All logged time | Yes |
### A money budget counts approved cost
Utilisation on a money budget is:
```
utilisation % = approved cost ÷ budget amount × 100
```
Approved cost is the sum of `cost rate × hours` for every entry a reviewer has approved, plus any adjustments.
Time that is tracked but not yet approved does **not** count. It sits in a separate figure, shown under the budget bar as "3.5h awaiting approval". A tooltip explains it: submitted time is excluded from spent and margin until a manager approves it.
This is why a busy project can show 0% utilisation. Everyone has tracked, nobody has approved. Approve the timesheets and the bar moves.
### An hours budget counts everything logged
Utilisation on an hours budget is:
```
utilisation % = all logged hours ÷ budget hours × 100
```
Every logged millisecond counts, whatever its approval state. That is deliberate. An hours budget is about capacity, and capacity is consumed the moment someone works, not the moment a manager signs off.
### What does not count
| Not counted | Why |
| ----------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Expenses | Expenses are tracked on their own axis. A money budget measures labour. |
| Time off | Leave is not project work. |
| Time on other projects | A budget is scoped to one project. |
| Estimates that have not been worked | An estimate feeds the **forecast**, not the utilisation. |
## The forecast
Utilisation tells you where you are. The forecast tells you where you are heading.
```
remaining hours = max(0, estimate hours − tracked hours)
forecast cost = cost so far + remaining hours × cost rate
forecast revenue = revenue so far + remaining hours × billing rate
forecast margin = forecast revenue − forecast cost
```
Remaining hours floor at zero. If you have already tracked more than the estimate, there is nothing left to project, so the forecast equals the actuals.
A project with **no estimates** has no remaining hours, so its forecast equals what has happened so far. Estimates are what make a forecast forward-looking.
### Completion percentage
```
completion % = tracked hours ÷ estimate hours × 100
```
With no estimate, completion is unknown rather than zero. The app leaves it out rather than showing a misleading 0%.
### Effective hourly rate
```
effective hourly rate = billable value to date ÷ tracked hours
```
This is the real rate the project is earning, blended across everyone who worked on it. With zero tracked hours it is shown as a dash with the tooltip "No tracked hours yet".
## Health
Health is a colour derived from the numbers. It is never a field you set.
Any one of these turns a project red:
* the **forecast cost exceeds the budget**
* **utilisation is 100% or more** – the budget is consumed
* **utilisation leads completion by 25 percentage points or more** – you are spending far ahead of progress
If nothing red applies, any one of these turns it amber:
* **utilisation is 75% or more** but still under budget
* the **forecast is at 90% or more of the budget**
* there is **at least one overdue task**
* there are **five or more entries pending approval**
Everything else, including a project with no budget and no estimate. An unknown number never invents a warning.
Red beats amber. Amber beats green.
### Why the 25-point rule matters
A project at 60% utilisation sounds fine. A project at 60% utilisation and 30% completion is not – it is burning budget at twice the rate it is delivering work. On current trend it needs 120% of the budget to finish.
The 25-point rule catches that while there is still time to act, rather than waiting for utilisation to cross 100%.
## When the numbers update
The figures update as facts move, not on a schedule.
| Event | What moves |
| --------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Someone logs time | Hours-budget utilisation, tracked hours, completion % |
| Someone deletes or moves an entry | Hours-budget utilisation, tracked hours |
| A reviewer approves time | Approved cost, revenue, money-budget utilisation, forecast, margin, health |
| A reviewer rejects approved time | The same figures, in reverse |
| A period is closed | Approved cost and revenue lock |
| An adjustment is recorded | Approved cost and revenue by the signed amount |
| You change the budget | Utilisation and health recalculate against the new ceiling |
The Overview reads a precomputed figure, so it stays fast on a project with a hundred thousand time entries.
## Example
Bluebird Coffee – Website Redesign, a \$40,000 money budget with a 400-hour total estimate.
**Work done so far**
| Person | Hours | Billing rate | Revenue | Cost rate | Cost |
| ------------- | ------- | ------------ | ------------ | --------- | ------------ |
| Sarah Lin | 150 | \$100 | \$15,000 | \$45 | \$6,750 |
| Jonas Bergman | 50 | \$120 | \$6,000 | \$60 | \$3,000 |
| Ana Ferreira | 50 | \$80 | \$4,000 | \$55 | \$2,750 |
| **Total** | **250** | | **\$25,000** | | **\$12,500** |
**What the panel shows**
| Figure | Calculation | Result |
| --------------------- | ----------------------- | ------------ |
| Utilisation | $12,500 ÷ $40,000 × 100 | **31.25%** |
| Completion | 250 ÷ 400 × 100 | **62.5%** |
| Remaining hours | 400 − 250 | **150** |
| Forecast cost | $12,500 + 150 × $45 | **\$19,250** |
| Forecast revenue | $25,000 + 150 × $100 | **\$40,000** |
| Forecast margin | $40,000 − $19,250 | **\$20,750** |
| Gross profit so far | $25,000 − $12,500 | **\$12,500** |
| Effective hourly rate | \$25,000 ÷ 250 | **\$100.00** |
**Health check**
* Forecast cost $19,250 vs budget $40,000 – not over.
* Utilisation 31.25% – under 75%.
* Utilisation minus completion = 31.25 − 62.5 = −31.25 – far from the +25 threshold. The project is delivering faster than it is spending.
* Forecast $19,250 vs 90% of budget ($36,000) – not approaching.
Result: **On track**, assuming no overdue tasks and fewer than five entries pending approval.
The bar reads **31% spent · 63% complete**, with the completion tick sitting well ahead of the fill.
## The Financials panel
On a project's Overview:
| Element | Shows |
| ------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Health chip | **On track**, **At risk** or **Over budget** |
| **Edit budget** button | Jumps to the Budget section in project Settings |
| Budget bar | A coloured fill for utilisation and a thin tick for completion |
| Bar caption | The exact figures, for example `31% spent · 63% complete` |
| **Forecast at completion** tile | Forecast revenue, and forecast cost when you can see cost |
| **Forecast margin** tile | Only shown when you can see cost |
| **Gross profit** tile | Billable value minus cost. Only shown when you can see cost |
| **Effective hourly rate** tile | Revenue per tracked hour |
| Pending caption | `3.5h awaiting approval · 4 entries`, with an explanatory tooltip |
| Overdue caption | `2 overdue tasks may push this forecast.` |
With no budget and no approved time, the panel shows **No budget set** and a **Set budget** button instead.
The cost tiles are **omitted**, not blanked, for someone without `time.viewCost` or `rate.viewCost`. The grid reflows. There is no greyed-out placeholder hinting at a number you are not allowed to see.
## Permissions
| Action | Capability | Roles |
| -------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------- | ----------------------------- |
| See the Financials panel and revenue figures | – (workspace member) | Any member |
| See cost, gross profit and forecast margin | `time.viewCost` or `rate.viewCost` | Owner, Admin |
| Set or change the budget | `budget.manage` | Owner, Admin, Project Manager |
## Common questions
You have a money budget, and none of that time is approved yet. A money budget counts approved cost only. Look for the "awaiting approval" caption under the bar.
Because an hours budget measures capacity, and capacity is used up the moment someone works. Approval status is irrelevant to it.
It is not wrong, it is just not forward-looking. With no estimate there are no remaining hours to project, so the forecast equals the actuals. Add task estimates to get a real forecast.
No. Health is derived, never hand-set. Change the underlying facts – raise the budget, reduce the remaining estimate, clear the overdue tasks, or approve the pending time.
Check the other amber triggers: one overdue task, or five or more entries pending approval, will do it on their own.
They are different measures on the same axis. The fill is utilisation (spend). The tick is completion (progress). Seeing the fill run ahead of the tick is the warning sign.
## Troubleshooting
| Problem | Cause and fix |
| --------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Utilisation is blank | No budget is set, or the budget amount is zero. |
| Completion is missing from the caption | No task on the project carries an estimate. |
| Effective hourly rate shows a dash | No hours have been tracked yet. |
| The forecast never changes | Nobody is approving time, or no estimates exist. Check both. |
| Health is red but utilisation looks low | The forecast probably exceeds the budget, or spend is leading progress by 25 points or more. |
| Cost tiles are missing | You lack `time.viewCost` and `rate.viewCost`. |
## Related guides
Every field on the Budget form.
Which unit measures what.
What fires at 50, 75, 90 and 100 percent.
Revenue minus cost.
The input the forecast depends on.
Two numbers that are straightforward to mix up.