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Budgets

View the Matter Budget

To view the budget for a matter, access the applicable matter then click
Budget
. The topics below provide details about the features and sections under
Budget
.

Budget View Selector

The budget view selector lets you view the entire budget history (every budget revision) for a matter. Select the budget revision you want to view from the view selector under the
BUDGETING
 collapsible section then click
Change view
.

Budget Status

The
Budget Status
 section displays the following information:
  • Who last revised the budget and if the budget is pending approval or acknowledged.
  • Comments from the last person who revised the budget.
The Budget Status section also indicates if the budget has been locked by a company user.
note
Only company users can lock or unlock budgets.

Actual vs. Budget

The Actual vs. Budget section has two parts: the year-to-date budget and the life-to-date budget. Obviously, both sets of data are important to the company, which needs to manage to its internal fiscal year budget and understand the total estimated budget for the entire matter.
Tracker refers to the year-to-date budget as the "fiscal year budget." Regarding the fiscal year budget:
  • The budget is determined by the company's fiscal year. The fiscal year may not be the calendar year. It will have been set up by the company's Tracker Coordinator.
  • The data for the
    FY Actual Billings
     row is based on the billing period of the invoices of law firms or vendors (as opposed to the date posted or date approved). If no invoices were posted that have a billing period in the current fiscal year, two hyphens (--) display.

Budget Spreadsheet

The budget spreadsheet shows the monthly detail of the budget. It includes a breakdown of fees and expenses as well as a description of the activities that are to occur each month.
note
For monthly budget spreadsheets, the text above the spreadsheet indicates if the total matter budget is more than the amount that has been allocated in the budget spreadsheet. This occurs because the total matter budget is entered separate from the budget spreadsheet. For example, the total matter budget for a matter is $50,000, which will be spread out over several years, but the budget spreadsheet might only have been completed for the first year only.
If the budget is a phased budget for litigation, Tracker displays the phases in the spreadsheet. If a phase spans fiscal years, the phase will display in both fiscal years. For example, the Discovery and Post Discovery Motions phase runs from April 2003 through January 2004, and is displayed in both years.

This article applies to:

  • PRODUCT: Legal Tracker
  • Subject: Budget
  • Audiences: Firm