Plan and create personnel budget

Note:

To create budget, you must have Manage access rights to the Budget and at least Read access rights to those activities and participants, you want to assign budget for (see "Roles, access levels, and access rights").
In addition, the current plan version must be in the Edit mode (see "Manage workspace plan versions").

Tip: It is recommendable to create activities and participants before creating a personnel budget.

To create budget for other costs, e.g. goods and services, please read "Plan and create budget items".

Follow the instructions below to plan a personnel budget.

1

Click Budget in the main menu and then click + Add Budget at the top right.

The Add Budget button in the Budget section

2

A sidebar opens where you define the personnel budget:

Sidebar of a personnel budget item

Activity: Select the activity for which you plan the budget.
Participant: Select the participant the budget is planned for.
Cost category: Select the personnel cost category of the type Rate to plan effort with a rate. To enter costs only, select a personnel cost category of the type Fix instead.
Cost rate: Appears once a participant and a Rate cost category are selected. Choose one of the participant's personnel cost rates. If the participant has no rates yet, create them in its Financial Profile first (see "Create and edit personnel cost rates"). If the selected rate is not enabled for budgeting or not valid for the project period, the sidebar shows "The selected Cost Rate is disabled for Budgeting." To change a rate, edit it in the participant's Financial Profile, not in the budget item; EMDESK then asks whether to update the costs or the effort of the budget items that use it.

Cost rate dropdown with the participant's personnel cost rates

To plan effort without costs, choose Time only:

The No rate option in the Cost rate dropdown

Effort: At the top of the sidebar, enter the planned effort next to the cost. The unit follows the selected cost rate; to change it, click the unit (e.g. Person-months (PM)) and choose Person-months, Person-days or Person-hours:

Unit dropdown with Person-months, Person-days and Person-hours

Tip: The Person-Months, Person-Days and Person-Hours columns are hidden in the Budget table by default. Switch them on via Table Settings to see the planned effort in the list.

Cost (€): Calculated automatically from effort and rate. You can also enter the cost first; the effort is then calculated from the rate. The indirect costs are shown next to it; they come from the indirect cost rate that covers the participant and the cost category (see "Create and edit indirect cost rates"). Funding is calculated automatically from the funding rules.
Description (optional): Enter a description of the personnel budget.
Tags (optional): Classify and label the budget with tags (see "Using tags").
Period: By default, a budget item covers the whole duration of its activity (e.g. M1 - M36) and moves with it when the activity is rescheduled. To plan it for part of the activity only, switch on Customize Period, click the first month and then the last month of the period in the month bar. The period can only lie within the activity. If the activity is moved later, the customised period moves along and is shortened if it no longer fits.

3

When all information is filled in, click Save at the bottom of the sidebar.

Note: Activity, participant and cost category should be set for every budget item. If one of them is missing, the item is still listed in the Budget table, with an empty value in that column. Such items are not included in the totals in the Workplan, Participants and Analytics.

Note: Read here how to delete budget items.