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A task cap is a target for one task – “the homepage wireframes should not exceed 8 hours”. Caps are informational. They never reduce the project’s budget, never block time tracking and never fire an alert on their own.

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What a cap is for

A project budget is a single ceiling for the whole engagement. It tells you nothing about where the money is going inside the project. Caps add that detail. They let you say what each piece of work is supposed to cost, so a project manager can see which task blew through its share.

Set expectations on a task

“Auth flow: 80 hours.” Everyone working on it knows the intended size before they start.

Break a big budget into parts

Split a 600-hour project into the four or five chunks that actually matter.

Spot the task that overran

When a project goes over, caps tell you which task did it.

Give a subcontractor a target

“This piece is capped at $500.” A cap makes that number visible in the app rather than in an email.

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Caps are informational – what that means

This is the rule to internalise. The app says so in two places. On the task: “Informational only – it doesn’t reduce the project budget.” On the project Budget card: “Informational only – they don’t reduce this project’s budget. Add or remove a cap on the task itself.”
If caps did reduce the project pool, a 600-hour project with 260 hours of caps would show 340 hours available, and adding a cap would silently shrink the budget. That is a second, competing budget – which is exactly what caps are designed not to be.

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How caps sum toward the project

Caps roll up by kind. Hours caps sum with hours caps, money caps with money caps. They are never mixed. For Harbor Logistics – Mobile App, a 600-hour project: The project budget stays 600. The 260 hours of caps are a statement about three specific tasks, not a claim on the pool. Nothing stops you setting caps that total more than the budget. Caps totalling 700 hours against a 600-hour budget is legal – and is itself useful information. It means the plan does not fit the sale.

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Money caps must share a currency

Every money cap on a project has to use the same currency. A set of caps in mixed currencies cannot be summed, so it is refused rather than producing a nonsense total. In practice this is automatic: a cap inherits the project budget’s denomination.

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A cap must match the project budget

A cap is denominated the same way as the project budget. You do not choose the kind. The Budget cap section reads it from the project budget and labels the field accordingly – “In hours.” or “In USD.” If you switch a project from a money budget to an hours budget, existing money caps no longer match. Remove and re-add them in hours.

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How to add a cap

1

Open the task

Open the task in the side panel or in full view.
2

Find the Budget cap section

It shows a Current row listing any caps already on the task, and an Add cap field.
3

Enter the amount

The placeholder tells you the unit – e.g. 8 for an hours budget, e.g. 500 for a money one.
4

Click Add cap

A toast confirms Budget cap added. The cap appears in the Current row.
The cap shows with its unit: 8h for hours, 500 USD for money.

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How to remove a cap

1

Find the cap in the Current row

Each cap has an X button beside it.
2

Click the X

A confirmation dialog opens: Remove this budget cap? – “The cap stops showing against this task. Nothing else changes, and you can add it again at any time.”
3

Confirm

Click Remove cap. A toast confirms Budget cap removed.
Removing a cap changes nothing about the project’s budget, spend or health. It only stops the cap being shown.

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Where caps appear

Caps are added and removed on the task, never on the project. One writer per concern keeps the project’s list a truthful summary rather than a second editor. If a cap’s task has been deleted, the project list keeps showing it under a neutral label so you can still remove it. An orphan stays visible rather than vanishing.

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Example

Harbor Logistics – Mobile App, budgeted at 600 hours.
1

Priya breaks down the plan

She opens each of the three big tasks and adds a cap: Auth flow 80, Payments integration 120, Onboarding screens 60.
2

The project Budget card lists them

Under Task & section caps the card shows:
3

The project budget is unchanged

The Budget card still reads Total hours: 600. Utilisation is still hours logged ÷ 600.
4

Two months later

Payments integration has taken 155 hours against its 120-hour cap. The project as a whole is at 380 of 600 hours – 63% – so no alert has fired.Without caps, Priya would only know the project was 63% used. With them she knows exactly which task is 35 hours over and can act on it before the project ladder starts firing.
Check the maths: 155 − 120 = 35 hours over on that task. 380 ÷ 600 = 63.33%, which is between the 50% and 75% rungs.

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Caps vs estimates vs budgets

Three numbers, three jobs. The estimate is the number that actually does work in the engine. It drives completion percentage and the forecast. A cap is a note about intent. See task estimates and budget vs estimate.
If you find yourself setting a cap and an estimate to the same number on every task, set the estimate. It is the one the forecast reads.

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Permissions

Without the capability, the Budget cap section is hidden and the rest of the task panel renders normally. The section hides itself cleanly rather than showing an empty card. The section also checks the Budgets app is on. With the app switched off the section disappears even for someone who holds the capability.

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Common questions

No. Nothing in TimeTracker blocks tracking. A cap is a target you can see, not a gate.
No. Alerts fire on the project budget only. Caps are informational.
The Current row lists caps as a set, so more than one can exist on a task. In practice, one cap per task is the clear way to use them.
Caps are added on the task itself in the app. A cap always targets a specific piece of work.
Nothing is blocked. It is a signal worth acting on: your plan is bigger than what you sold.
Adding and removing a cap are both recorded in the workspace audit trail. The cap itself stops showing.
A cap inherits the project budget’s denomination. Mixing an hours budget with a money cap has no meaningful sum, so it is refused.

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Troubleshooting

Set a project budget

Where caps are listed read-only.

Task estimates

The number that drives the forecast.

Budget vs estimate

Three numbers, kept apart.

How budgets work

What actually moves utilisation.

Budget permissions

Who can add and remove a cap.

Task details

The panel the cap section lives in.