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This article applies to:

  • Product: Legal Tracker
  • Subject: Budget
  • Audiences: Company

Approving, Editing, or Rejecting Budgets

Use the budgeting tools in Tracker to manage spending by law firms. If any required data is missing in a budget, the budget cannot be approved.
The Pending Budgets page (
Financial
>
Budget Review
) shows any matter or matter group with a budget or with accrual data that requires review. If accruals are at the matter group level, only the matter group will be shown, not the matters assigned to the matter group. However, if at the same time a law firm matter budget has been modified for a matter assigned to a matter group, the individual matter is shown. The matter group will not be shown unless there is some independent reason for the matter group to be displayed on the page.
Using this page
Change how the budget information is grouped
Click and drag columns to the
Drag a column header and drop it to group by that column
 area.
To remove a filter, click the X icon.
Limit the number of pending budgets shown
Use the view selectors to filter by pending budgets, budget type, and/or date to filter by from the appropriate dropdown list, then click
Change view
Filter the View
To Filter by
Options
Pending budgets
Select one of the following from the drop down list:
  • My Pending Budgets shows your pending budgets.
  • All Pending Budgets shows your pending budgets and the pending budgets of the delegator(s) who have granted you the authority to approve their budgets. Available for Company System Administrators only.
  • Delegator name shows the pending budgets of the delegator who has granted you the authority to approve their budgets. Each delegator is listed separately in the drop down menu.
Budget type
Shows only the budget types of the selected type. You can filter by the available budget types:
  • No budget type filter selected shows all budgets.
  • Law firm - Initial shows the opening budget from the law firm.
  • Law firm - updated shows any updates to the law firm’s budget.
  • Law firm - departmental budget shows the departmental budget from the law firm. This filter is only available if law firm budget is the source of the departmental budget and the law firm’s initial budget is entered.
  • Law firm - reforecast shows the law firm budget reforecast. This filter is only available if law firm budget is the source of the departmental budget and the law firm enters the reforecast as required.
  • Company - departmental budget shows the departmental budget from the company. This filter is only available if company budget is the source of the departmental budget and the company is required to enter the budget amount.
  • Company - reforecast shows the company budget reforecast. This filter is only available if company budget is the source of the departmental budget and the company is required to enter the reforecast amount.
Date filter
Displays only the budgets last revised within the chosen period for approval. The Date Filter options are:
  • Budget Revised Date Filter shows all budgets
  • Last 30 Days
  • Last 60 Days
  • Last 90 Days
Approve pending budgets
You can approve individual budgets, multiple budgets you select, or all budgets that appear on the page.
  1. Click
    Financial > Budget Review
     in the left navigation.
  2. Select
    Approve
     in the dropdown to the left of each pending budget you want to approve.
  3. On the toolbar, select
    Approve selected
    , or
    Select all on page
     to select all budgets at once.
note
Approved budgets no longer appear on the Budget Review page after it is refreshed.
Edit a pending budget before approval
  1. Click
    Financial > Budget Review
     in the left navigation.
  2. Select
    Edit/Reject
     in the dropdown to the left of each pending budget you want to edit.
  3. Update the budget information.
Field Reference
Section
Column
Description
Budget
Fiscal Year Total
Total allocated fiscal year budget
Budget
AFA Total
AFA totals are included if the firm has a flat/fixed/capped AFA and
Matter Lifetime Costs
 is selected. The total is the sum of the firm's Flat/Fixed/Capped AFA total.
Budget
YTD Total
The matter’s fiscal year-to-date total budget amount (fees + expenses) for the specific vendor
Budget
Life Total
The matter’s total allocated budget with the vendor (fees + expenses) for the life of the matter
Budget
YTD Fees
The matter’s fiscal year-to-date budget for fees with the specific vendor
Budget
Life Fees
The matter’s total allocated budget (fees only) with the vendor for the life of the matter
Budget
YTD Expenses
The matter’s fiscal year-to-date budget for fees with the specific vendor
Budget
Life Expenses
The matter’s allocated budget (expenses only) with the vendor for the life of the matter
Spending
YTD Total
The total amount already spent, fiscal year-to-date, across approved invoices and invoices in-approval for fees, expenses and tax on the matter with the specific vendor
Spending
Life Total
The total allocated amount already spent, for the life of the matter, across approved invoices and invoices in-approval for fees, expenses and tax on the matter with the specific vendor
Spending
YTD Fees
The total amount already spent, fiscal year to date, across approved invoices and invoices in-approval for fees on the matter with the specific vendor
Spending
Life Fees
The total allocated amount already spent, for the life of the matter, across approved invoices and invoices in-approval for fees on the matter with the specific vendor
Spending
YTD Expenses
The total amount already spent, fiscal year-to-date, across approved invoices and invoices in-approval for expenses on the matter with the specific vendor
Spending
Life Expenses
The total allocated amount already spent, for the life of the matter, across approved invoices and invoices in-approval for expenses on the matter with the specific vendor
Variance
YTD Total
The amount reflecting fiscal year to date spend amount minus (-) total budget amount for the fiscal year-to-date.
Variance
Life Total
The amount reflecting spend life total minus (-) budget life total
Variange
YTD % Spent
The percentage reflecting spend for fiscal year to date divided by budget amount for the fiscal year to date. The color indicates whether the amount is over or under budget:
  • If the amount is less than 100% of the budgeted amount, the indicator is blue.
  • If the amount is more than 100% of the budgeted amount, the indicator is red.
Variance
Life % Spent
The percentage reflecting spend life total divided by budget life total. The color indicates whether the amount is over or under budget:
  • If the amount is less than 100% of the spend life total, the indicator is blue.
  • If the amount is more than 100% of the budgeted amount, the indicator is red.
  1. Click
    Approve budget
     on the toolbar.
Reject budgets
  1. Click
    Financial > Budget Review
     in the left navigation.
  2. Click
    Approve
     next to each pending budget you want to edit and select
    Edit/Reject
    .
  3. Click
    Reject budget
     on the toolbar.