Edition: Business, Enterprise
User-level: Assistant project manager (can view) & above (can edit)
Budgets allow you to allocate time, fees and resources to your projects and measure performance throughout the project lifecycle.
How to access the budget
There are several ways you can access the project budget in Synergy:
Open the project
Go to project menu > Plan > Budgets
Alternatively,
Open the work breakdown > click on the dropdown in the top left-hand corner > Budget
The budget in Planning vs Delivery mode
By default, a project in proposal status will be in planning mode and a project with an active status will be in delivery mode. You can tell which mode a project is in by checking the top of the budget screen.
Planning Mode: The fee budget and resourcing are all connected. If you change the budget, the fee and resources will be updated in line with the edits made on the budget screen.
Delivery Mode: The budget, fee, and resourcing are disconnected. If you update the budget, the fee and resource plan will remain the same as before. In delivery mode, you will need to select 'Edit' in the top right hand corner of the budget before making any changes.
Change a proposal status project from planning mode to delivery mode by selecting the toggle at the top of the budget screen.
Budget categories
The budget is split into 3 categories, internal, external and expenses. Splitting your budget into internal, external, and expenses will allow you to categorise revenue on the revenue forecast.
Internal The Internal category allows you to budget for staff rates, inspection rates, lumpsum, and markup/markdown values.
External The external category allows you to create a budget for work done externally using subcontractor and supplier rates.
Expenses The expenses category allows you to budget for any expenses you will incur at this stage, for example, mileage, hotel stays, etc.
You can disable budget categories for this project by selecting the '...' in the top right-hand corner of the budget > disable categories.
Alternatively, you can disable the budget categories for all projects by:
1. Organisation menu > settings > organisation > configuration
2. Check the disable category groupings in budget checkbox near the bottom of the page.
Actions available
The phases, stages and tasks set up in the work breakdown will be pulled through to the budget screen. Phases appear as header rows, with stages then tasks grouped below each phase.
Save: Select save in the top right-hand corner to save any updates you make to the budget. We recommend doing this at regular intervals.
Expand rows: You can expand individual rows by selecting the arrow pointing towards the right of the screen.
Collapse rows: You can collapse individual rows by selecting the arrow pointing downwards.
Expand all: This expands all rows so every phase, stage, category and budget line will be visible
Collapse all: This collapses all rows so only the phases/stages will be displayed
Collapse to stages: This will collapse all rows to a stage level, showing a list of stages on this project
Collapse to categories: This will display each stage and the internal, external and expense categories under each stage
By clicking the ellipses button in the top right the following actions are available:
Expand all: This expands all rows so every phase, stage, category and budget line will be visible
Collapse all: This collapses all rows so only the phases/stages will be displayed
Collapse to stages: This will collapse all rows to a stage level, showing a list of stages on this project
Collapse to categories: This will display each stage and the internal, external and expense categories under each stage
Disable categories: this will disable the internal, external and expense categories.
Budget columns
Budget columns
Phase/Stage/Task: Displayed as set in the work breakdown—phase (blue), stage (white), and task (grey).
Budget Date/Rate: The budget date appears on the white stage line and defaults to rates effective at the project start. To apply updated rates, enter a later date. (E.g., if the project starts on 31/12 and rates change on 1/1, entering 1/1 will apply the new rates.) Select rates via the dropdown on the grey task line.
Staff (Optional): Assigning a staff member to a budget line creates a resource plan (in planning mode) and impacts budget vs. actuals if others log time against the task.
Units/Value: Represents budgeted hours per task or the value of expenses/contingency for a stage.
Rate/Markup: The rate per hour/unit for staff, site inspections, travel, and office expenses. For cash expenses, subcontractors, and suppliers, it reflects the percentage markup.
Budget Total: Calculated as rate × units for staff, inspections, travel, and office expenses. For subcontractors, suppliers, and cash expenses its the value entered + the markup percentage.
Fee/Cap: Reflects the fee set in the work breakdown.
How to add an internal budget line
1. Open the stage you want to add a budget to
Select the arrow to the left of the stage name
2. Add budget lines
By default, any stage specific tasks created in the work breakdown are listed under the stage. You can either create a task specific budget, or select 'Add+' to create a budget line for the whole stage.
3. Allocate a rate
Select the 'rate..' dropdown menu to choose a rate for this budget line. All rates listed in this drop-down are determined by the rate group set for this stage of the project.
4. Select a member of staff
Choose 'select' in the staff column to assign this budget line to a member of staff. Assigning staff to the budget is optional. The staff members available in this list are determined by the rate selected.
5. Enter the no of units/value
Enter the no. of hours this rate is needed to work on this stage in the units / value column. (You can type directly into this column)
As you enter units for the budget line, the 'Rate value/markup' and 'Budget total' columns will update accordingly.
How to add external and expense budget lines
1. Open the stage you want to add a budget to
Select the arrow to the left of the stage name you want to add a budget to
2. Add budget lines
Select 'Add+' to create a budget line
3. Allocate a rate
Select the 'rate..' dropdown menu to choose a rate for this budget line. All rates listed in this drop-down are determined by the rate group set for this stage of the project.
4 . Enter the no of units/value
For suppliers, subcontractors and cash expenses you can add the value of expenses to the units/value column. For office and travel expenses you can add the number of units of the expense item required, for example the number of miles/kilometres.
As you enter units for the budget line, the 'Rate value/markup' and 'Budget total' columns will update accordingly.
Splitting units
If multiple staff members are working on a task, enter the total estimated units, then use the split function to create separate budget lines easily.
Select split to the right of the budget line
Select the member of staff you want to assign these hours to
Enter the number of hours you want to re-allocate to an additional member of staff.
Lumpsum
A lumpsum value is available in the Internal category and can be used to enter a total value into the budget.
Select 'Add' to create a new budget line
In the rate column, scroll to the bottom and select lumpsum
Enter the lumpsum value in the value column.
Save.
How do I add a contingency to my budget?
You can use the 'markup/markdown' rate to add contingency to your budget.
Select Add under the internal budget category to add a budget line
In the rate column, scroll to the bottom and select 'markup/markdown'
Enter the contingency value in the value column.
Save
