Overview
The Budget module is the newest addition to Fieldwire's suite of Project Management tools, designed to provide a clear and structured way to manage the financial aspects of construction projects. By setting cost expectations and detailing all necessary expenditures, using the Budget module helps ensure projects stay on track financially from start to finish.
It enables thorough planning for direct costs, like materials, labor, equipment, and subcontractors, as well as indirect costs such as overheads, insurance and permits, while offering a way to monitor expenses and align them with the project's financial goals. This helps to avoid unforeseen costs and ensures transparency for all stakeholders through the process.
In order to acquire this feature on your account, you can schedule a demo with our sales team or you can purchase it with Business Plus. If you are already on Business Plus, the Budget module will be automatically added to your Account.
Table of Contents
- How to Enable PM on a Project
- Budget Permissions
- The Budget Tab
- Subcontractors Setup
- Change Orders and Budget
- Actual Cost
- Deleting Line items
- Editing and Deleting 'Actual Cost'
How to Enable PM on a Project
For information on companies and how to enable PM on a project, please see this article: How to Enable PM and Manage Companies on a Project.
Budget Permissions
To access the Budget module, you must set up a company in the Project People tab, and set it as the Lead company. Only Admins in the Lead company will have access to the Budget module.
How to set a Lead Company
To ensure that only your "company" can access and manage the Budget, set it as the Lead Company. To get started, you'll first want to go to the project People tab and then click on "Set lead company" for the company that you want to be considered the "lead".
After clicking on "Set lead company", you'll get a pop-up that indicates what the users in the Lead company can do vs users in the "Other companies" that were not designated to be the lead. For example, users in the Lead company can access and manage the Budget, but users in the 'Other companies' do not have access to the Budget module.
After you click the blue "Set lead company" button, you'll see the lead company indicated with a crown icon and "Lead company" next to it.
The Budget Tab
The Budget tab is only accessible by Admins in the Lead Company. The purpose to maintain privacy for the Lead Company as they could potentially have sensitive financial data in that tab.
The headers in this tab provide a high-level overview on the different columns and the data displayed in the Budget tab. More specifically, these columns are defined below:
- Budget items/cost codes
- Budget:
- Original = Original value of Lead company’s scope of work
- Current = Original contract + Lead company’s approved change orders
- Pending = Lead company’s pending change orders
- Cost:
- Original = Original value of a subcontractor company’s scope of work
- Current = Cost: Original contract + subcontractor’s approved change orders
- Pending = Subcontractor’s pending change orders
- Projected = Value of costs Lead company is projected to spend
- Actual = Cost incurred to date
- Forecast:
- Current over/under = Current budget - Current cost
- Projected over/under = (Original + Pending) budget - Projected cost
- Actual over/under = Current budget - Actual cost
In addition, you'll notice the high-level analytics bar up at the top where you'll be able to easily see the projected budget minus the projected cost to provide you with the projected over/under. This puts the most important budget metrics front and center and can help project managers as well as executives quickly spot trends and make data-driven decisions.
Set up Cost Codes
Cost codes are required to set up your Budget and can be used to connect line items with Change orders. On initial set up of the Budget module for your project, you will be prompted to 'Manage cost codes':
After initial set up, you can still 'Manage cost codes' from within the Budget:
You can add codes to create Budget and Change Order line items manually, starting with adding a new cost group:
Then add your codes under the cost group:
Note: Cost codes cannot be deleted when they are used in a budget line item or when they are used in ANY change order.
Import Cost Codes
It is possible to import cost codes by uploading an Excel file. Fieldwire provides a template to get started, which can be downloaded from the import modal seen below.
When importing cost codes from an existing .xls or .xlsx file, please make sure Tier 1 and Tier 2 code cells are stored as 'text.' If the cell is formatted as a 'number' instead of 'text', you will receive an error code when you upload it. This cell formatting is what is used in the template to ensure that if your code starts with a '0', such as "01", Excel does not remove the "0" and makes it appear as "1."
Create (or Import) Budget Line Items
Once the company and cost codes are set up, it is time to start creating the Budget line items. On first set up, this will be the third step, and you will have the option to manually add new budget line items, or import your line items from an Excel file.
Budget line items consist of the following:
- Cost Code
- Cost Type
- Original Contract Value
Note: Cost codes can have multiple cost types
Import Budget Line Items
If you choose to import your Budget line items, you can also download a template, to ensure your Excel file is formatted correctly, from within the 'Import budget' modal:
Once you have completed the three initial steps to set up your Project's Budget, the set up steps will be replaced by your new Budget. You can still add new line items and import your Budget:
Note: Budget line items cannot be deleted when they are assigned to a subcontractor, they are used in a change order, or when they are used in an actual cost.
Lock/Unlock Budget
To lock the original Budget and start assigning items to subcontractors:
- Click on the blue Lock budget button on the right-hand side of the screen.
- On the new pop-up, ensure the budget number looks correct
- Click Lock budget on the new pop-up
If you need to edit the Original Budget and/or Original Cost values, you will still be able to do so:
- Click Unlock budget
- Read the pop-up message to ensure that this is what you want to do
- Click the red Unlock budget button the pop-up message
- Click the pencil icon(s) next to all of the original budgets and costs that you need to change
- Click the blue checkmark next to the new amount
- Click on the blue Lock budget button on the right-hand side of the screen once again
- Confirm this choice by clicking the Lock budget button on the new pop-up
Activity Feed
Throughout the Budget creation process, those who can access the Budget module will be able to keep track of the changes made to line items, including changes to Budget, Cost, and more. Users will also be able to add notes to the activity feed to help maintain an audit trail.
To access the activity feedback, you need to do the following:
- Navigate to the Budget module
- Make changes to your Budget or Cost line items
- On the line item where you made the update, click on that line item to bring up the side panel
- Select the Activity tab
Here, you will be able to see all of the changes that have been made to that line item as well as add any relevant notes to the feed.
On the Activity feed of individual line items, you can also link existing files and forms! This creates a simple way to manage documentation, right from the Budget activity tab. To add a file and/or form:
- Navigate to the Budget tab
- Select the individual line item where you want to add the file/form
- Click the Activity tab
- Click + Add attachment or link
- Choose to "Attach from Files", "Link from Forms", or click + Upload new file
- Select the file/form you want to attach to that line item's Activity feed
- Click Add notes
The form/file will then be added to the Activity feed with a time/date stamp.
Subcontractors Setup
If there are 3rd party subcontractors on the project, select the “Subcontractor” cost type when creating a budget line item. Once you lock the budget, an "Assign to” button will appear next to the subcontractor line items. Click on this button to bring up another modal where you can assign the line item to the subcontractors company in your project as well as set the original cost. Once you're finished, click “Assign”.
If you assigned the line item to the incorrect subcontractor's company, you can choose to Reassign or Unassign it even if the budget is locked. To do so
- Navigate to the Budget modal
- Click the kebab menu (⋮) shown in the screenshot below
- Select Reassign or Unassign depending on what you are looking to accomplish
- If you choose to unassign the line item, the Assign to button with reappear
Note: The option to Unassign will only be available if there are no change orders linked to that line item. If you try to unassign it with change orders linked, you'll receive an error message.
Change Orders and Budget
The Change Orders and Budget modules are inherently connected with creating and choosing cost codes.
After you create a change order, select a cost code so the cost lands in the budget.
Once you're done filling out the Change order, click the “Send” button and select “Submit for approval” then send it to your client.
The change order status will update to “Pending approval”.
The value that you input on the change order will appear in the Budget module, specifically in the "Budget" section in the 'Pending' column, and the corresponding cost code that was linked to it, as shown in the screenshot below.
Once the change order is approved it will update the “Current” column in the Budget module.
Subcontractor Change Orders
After you create a change order, request the cost from a subcontractor by clicking on the "Send" dropdown button and then clicking "Request cost".
Note: Subcontractors must be a project user in order to have Change Orders assigned to them.
The change order status will update to “Requested” and the subcontractor will receive an email notification.
If the subcontractor does not fill out the change order in Fieldwire and, instead, sends it back to you, you can submit it on their behalf by clicking “Actions” and “Submit on behalf”.
You can then fill in the change order on behalf of the subcontractor, selecting the corresponding cost code. Once you're done filling it out, click the blue "Submit on behalf" button.
The subcontractor's change order cost will appear under the “Cost” side of the budget in the “Pending” column as well as the corresponding cost code that was linked to it.
Once the change order is approved it will update the “Current” column in the Budget module.
Actual Cost
To add an actual cost to any line item, click on it and a side sheet will appear:
Select the 'Cost' tab:
Click on '+ New cost':
In the modal add in your new cost name, cost value, and any attachments and click Create:
Once the Actual cost is created it will appear in the side sheet for the budget line item and in the Actual column in the budget table.
Note: Multiple actual costs can be added for any line item.
Import Actual Costs
Admins can bulk import actual costs from ERP systems to quickly compare project spending against budgets.
To do so:
- Navigate to the Budgets tab
- Click Import
- Select Import actual costs
- If you haven't already done so, download the template by clicking Download template to ensure your actual costs import properly
- Utilize the provided Excel template to collect all of the relevant data that you want/need imported into Fieldwire
- Click Select file or drag and drop your updated Excel file into the upload box
Step 5 - Below is a screenshot to provide a basic example of how to best utilize the Excel template
After you have successfully uploaded the spreadsheet, the names and values of your Actual Costs will be added to their respective line items.
If your Excel template does not upload successfully, an error reason will be displayed. In the example from the screenshot below, a cost code in row 2 of my spreadsheet does not match with an existing cost code in the project so I need to check which cost codes I currently have on the project and cross-reference it with what I have on the spreadsheet to ensure they match.
If you believe you are receiving the error message incorrectly, please reach out to support@fieldwire.com for further investigation.
Deleting Line Items
When you need to Delete line items you must follow the below steps:
- Unlock the Budget.
- Delete line items by their individual row or by their group (shown below).
- The trash icon appears when hovered over the rows.
Note: Line items can't be deleted if they have an actual cost, change order, or subcontractor associated with that line item so those connections need to be removed in order for it to be deleted.
Editing and Delete 'Actual Cost'
Teams can now edit or delete the actual cost of budget line items. Anyone with access to the 'Budget' modal can make these changes, and the total 'Actual Cost' will update automatically.
To edit or delete the Actual Cost, do the following:
1. Go to the Budget modal
2. Click on the line item with the Actual Cost you want to edit or delete
3. Select the Cost tab
4. Click the kebab menu (⋮) next to the Actual Cost you want to edit or delete
5. Select Edit or Delete
6. Confirm your selection (Save or Delete)
Watch process below:
More Information
- Introduction to Change Orders in Fieldwire
- Introduction to RFIs in Fieldwire
- The Submittals Workflow in Fieldwire
Budgets in Fieldwire