Budget Requests
If you are using the e-billing features of Collaborati Spend Management (CSM), you can send budget requests to offices for approval. Each combination of office and project (a Matter or Dispute) uses one budget request. The cost estimates for an approved budget post to the appropriate Account records for that project.
After a office receives a budget request and enters their cost estimates, they submit the request back to you, the client. When CSM receives the budget request, it can go through an approval workflow, much like invoice approvals do. Instructions for handling workflow are found in Workflow.
Depending on your CSM configuration, TeamConnect can automatically generate and send budget requests to offices when activating the accounts for a matter. See the CSM Administration Guide for this configuration process.
You create budget requests manually or you receive them from Collaborati. If you receive them from Collaborati, see Budget Requests Created by Offices for more information. If you create budget requests manually, refer to the following flowchart.
You can access budget requests from several locations in TeamConnect:
- CSM Settings
- A portal pane in your home page
- A Matter or project record
- An Office record
- Pending approvals
- Budgets Requests link under Finance
Creating a Budget Request
Budget requests are often created automatically, but you can create them manually if necessary.
See the Collaborati Spend Management Configuration Guide for information about the settings that affect automatic budget request creation.
To create a new budget request
- Select one of the following options:
- On the Budget Requests page, click the New button.
- Click the New Budget Request link from the CSM Settings page or from a Office record page.
- Complete the general fields. See Budget Request Fields table for field information.
- Enter the amounts you want to allocate for the account in the Starting Amount column.
- After you complete the general fields, click Save.
The budget names information in a new budget request does not become editable until the general information is saved.
Finally, the Notes field allows you to enter instructions or comments that will be visible to you and the office.
Budget Request Field Descriptions
The tables below contains Budget Request field descriptions. The fields that you see may vary based on your system settings and assigned rights.
Budget Request Fields
|
Field |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Name |
Assign a name to this request. It is helpful to have matter identification as part of the name, and to use a name that will be familiar to the office. |
|
Office |
Choose a office for the request. (If you clicked the New Budget Request from a Office record page, this field is pre-populated for you.) Auto- suggest and search features are available for this field. |
|
Matter |
Choose a matter for the request. (If you clicked the New Budget Request from a Matter record page, this field is pre-populated for you.) Auto-suggest and search features are available for this field. |
|
Request Date |
Type in a date value, or click the calendar icon to use the date picker. |
|
Due Date |
Type in a date value, or click the calendar icon to use the date picker. |
|
Status |
This field is not editable. The initial status for all new budget requests is Not Submitted. |
Note: The creation of Budget Requests is limited to accounts with a Period End Date that falls in the future, which means that accounts from the previous quarter/year cannot be incorporated into a newly created Budget Request.
Submitting a New Budget Request
Budget requests are submitted by changing the phase of the request to Submit. The request will be sent to the office during the next synchronization performed by Collaborati Spend Management.
Budget Requests Created by Offices
Under some conditions, offices using Collaborati are allowed to rebudget a matter-to create a new budget request for the matter. Although uncommon, it is possible that the office is doing a rebudget process at the same time that you are creating a budget request for the same matter. This conflict will be detected during synchronization, and handled as follows:
- If you have created a budget request, but have not submitted it, the office's budget request will take precedence over the one that you created. Your budget request will be changed to status "Cancelled".
- If you have created a budget request and submitted it, yours will take precedence over the one that the office just created. The office's budget request will be changed to status "Cancelled". Your budget request will appear in Collaborati.
- If you recently deleted one or more matter accounts, those accounts will be removed from any office-created budget request during synchronization. The budget request itself will remain open.
Editing a Budget Request
A budget request can be edited when its status is Not Submitted or Pending Approval.
Office and Matter cannot be edited after the request is created.
Name and Request Date can only be edited if the phase is Not Submitted.
Adjusting Budget Requests
The Budget Account section lets you make changes to budget requests while in the workflow process.
To adjust budget requests
- Open the appropriate budget request.
- In the left pane, click the Budget page.
- The Budget Accounts section displays all budget accounts associated with the matter that appears in the Matter field.
- Adjust budget amounts in the Starting Amount field.
You can only make changes to budget accounts if the budget request status is Not Submitted.
The Budget and Period columns are always visible, but the visibility of other columns in this section vary based on the status of the request, the stored value, and whether or not you are in edit mode. Additionally, the amounts in a field may shift to different field when you save the budget request.
Budget Accounts Section
|
Field |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Budget |
The name of the budget account associated with the matter. This field is not editable. |
|
Period |
The period start and end date for this account. This field is not editable. |
|
Starting Amount |
The amount proposed by the client. In edit mode, you can revise the information in this field if the current status is Not Submitted. This field is always visible and is populated when a budget request is created automatically or manually. |
|
Office Proposed |
The amount proposed by the office in Collaborati. This field is not editable. This field is blank when a budget request is created automatically. |
|
Previously Adjusted |
The amount that may be adjusted by a user, only during workflow. An amount may appear in this field if the status is Pending Approval and at least one budget account has a value for that field. This field is not editable, and is blank when a budget request is created automatically. |
|
Accepted Amount |
The amount suggested by the client after the request is submitted. This amount overrides the current value. If a budget request is in Approved status, this column always displays a value. This value may be from the Accepted Amount, Office Proposed, or Starting Amount column, depending on which of these columns displays a value. This field is not editable, and is blank when a budget request is created automatically. |
|
New Accepted |
The new amount that is suggested by the client. This amount is saved to the Accepted Amount field after the request is submitted. For a new budget request, this field is blank. If an amount is entered in this field, and you click Save, the following happens:
In edit mode, you can revise the information in this field if the current status is Pending Approval. |
Submitted, Approved, or Rejected Status
After a budget request is submitted, the following applies:
- If the status is Submitted, only the Starting Amount column is visible.
- If the status is Approved, only the Starting Amount, Office Proposed, and Accepted Amount columns are visible and accounts are adjusted.
- If the status is Rejected, only the Accepted Amount column is visible. Final values are passed back to the Collaborati office.
Canceling a Budget Request
A budget request can have its phase changed to Cancel if its status is presently one of the following:
- Submitted
- Office Review
- Pending Approval
- Rejected
- Error
If a Submitted budget request is canceled, the status becomes Not Submitted.
In all other cases, the status becomes Canceled.
Deleting a Budget Request
A budget request can be deleted if its status is presently one of the following:
- Not Submitted
- Approved [and Synchronized]
- Canceled [and Synchronized]
Handling Budget Request Workflow
Budget requests that are returned from a office become pending approvals in workflow, in the same manner that invoices are subject to approval. For details about how to approve or reject a workflow item, see Workflow.
Workflow information about a budget request is available from the Workflow link while viewing a specific request. The request also has a Office Notes field that may contain comments from the office.
When you approve a budget request, the Current Budget amounts in the request are posted to the related Account records. When you reject a budget request, its status becomes Rejected, and the rejection is sent to the office during the next Collaborati Spend Management synchronization.