Budget Settings
The Budget Settings page is where users with the appropriate rights can change settings that control the behavior of TeamConnect Financial Management, as well as create and edit budget templates and fiscal years. Users must be a member of the Budget Settings and Fiscal Year Admin group to access the Budget Settings page.
The following steps describe how to configure the General page from Budget Settings. Field descriptions are provided in a table below.
After you update and save the General settings page, the changes take effect for users automatically.
To set up General settings
- Select the Admin tab.
- Click the Budget Settings link under the tab bar.
- The General page should display. Otherwise click the General link in the left pane.
- Click the Edit button.
- Edit the fields based on descriptions in the Budget Settings - General Page fields table.
- Select a save option.
Budget Settings - General Page Field Descriptions
|
Field Names and Descriptions |
Default Value |
|---|---|
|
Enable Global Template To enable a global budget template for all new budgets, select the check-box. If this setting is enabled, users will not be able to use any other budget template other than the defined global template when creating a budget. Selecting the check-box will cause a drop-down list containing all existing budget templates to appear. Select the desired budget template from the list. See Creating or Editing Budget Templates for more information. |
Enable Global Template— Disabled (check-box cleared) |
|
Default Time Period Defines the default time period for the budget template. This setting only affects budgets created with templates that have no time-based parameters. See Budget Template Parameters for more information. Select one of the following:
Note: if both Life of Matter and Time Period budget options are needed, then set the default to Life of Matter. |
Default Time Period—Year |
|
Global Start Date Defines the earliest start date for all accounts created in TeamConnect Financial Management. For installations with no existing account records, this field is editable from Budget Settings. For installations with existing account records, this field is not editable from Budget Settings and must be edited directly in the database, along with the existing accounts. Note: Starting from FMR version 6.3.2 onwards, this field has been deprecated and will not be visible. Important: Incorrectly editing this field in the database could lead to problems with your TeamConnect instance. Please contact Mitratech support for more information. |
Default Global Start Date— 1/1/2005 |
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Global End Date Defines the latest end date for all accounts created in TeamConnect Financial Management. For installations with no existing account records, this field is editable from Budget Settings. For installations with existing account records, this field is not editable from Budget Settings and must be edited directly in the database, along with the existing accounts. Note:
Important: Incorrectly editing this field in the database could lead to problems with your TeamConnect instance. Please contact Mitratech support for more information. |
Default Global End Date— 12/31/2025 |
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Enable Cost Centers on Invoices To enable the Cost Centers page on Invoice records, select the check-box. See Cost Centers for more information. This setting does not enable the Cost Centers page on any custom object view, such as Dispute and Transaction Invoice. |
Enable Cost Centers on Invoices—no checkmark |
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Enable Cost Center Allocation on Invoices Specifies whether users can edit cost center allocations for an individual invoice. |
Enable Cost Center Allocation on Invoices—no checkmark |
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Budgetable Items Limit This value controls the number of budgetable items (budget template parameters) that can be created during budget creation. Users will encounter the following error if they attempt to create a budget that results in the creation of a number of budgetable items that exceeds this value: You have exceeded the limit of {2,000} budgetable items by {X}. |
Budgetable Items Limit—2,000 |
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Enable Posting Without a Budget Specifies whether users can post an invoice that is not associated with an account. Select this checkbox to enable posting without an associated account. When this setting is enabled and a user posts an invoice, the system creates an account and automatically associates the account with the invoice. |
Enable Posting Without a Budget—no checkmark |
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Accrual Reversal Settings These settings specify whether the Accruals column on the Budgets page of matters automatically updates when you post a non-accrual invoice:
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No Accrual Reversals |
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Vendor Role Settings These settings define the default roles that are selected during the creation and editing of budgets:
To remove vendor roles, click the corresponding red X icon in the Action column of the list of vendor roles. |
Vendor Role Settings—None |
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Enable Override Security By default, users who cannot view a matter or vendor will not see the matter and vendor names on the Budget tab of invoices. If Enable Override Security is set to Yes, users will see the Matter and Vendor names. Note: The users will still not be able to open the Matter or Vendor tabs. This option only adjusts the Budget tab. |
No |
Creating or Editing Budget Templates
A Budget Template is a saved record that defines which parameters will be used when the template is used to create a budget. Users who are members of the Budget Settings and Fiscal Year Admin group have the ability to create, edit, and delete budget templates from the Budget Settings page.
Default Budget Templates
There are three default budget templates that are installed with TeamConnect Financial Management. These default templates can be edited if needed.
- Monthly Budgets
- Phase and Task Code Budgets
- Quarterly Budgets
To create a new budget template
- Select the Admin tab.
- Click the Budget Settings link under the tab bar.
- Click the Templates link in the left pane.
- Click the New button.
- Enter the following required fields:
- Name
- Description
- Parameters
- Select any other settings as needed. Edit the fields based on descriptions in Budget Template Settings - General Page Field Descriptions.
- Select a save option.
To edit an existing budget template
- Select the Admin tab.
- Click the Budget Settings link under the tab bar.
- Click the Templates link in the left pane.
- Click the name of the budget template you want to edit.
- Click the Edit button.
- Adjust the settings as needed. Edit the fields based on descriptions in Budget Template Settings - General Page Field Descriptions.
- Select a save option.
Budget Template Settings - General Page Field Descriptions
|
Field Names and Descriptions |
Default Value |
|---|---|
|
*Name The name of the Budget Template. |
Enable Global Template— Disabled (check-box cleared) |
|
*Description A description of the Budget Template. |
Description—Blank |
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*Parameters Budgets are comprised of parameters and their values. Each parameter is individually defined when a budget is created. At least one parameter must be selected for the budget template to be saved. These are the available parameters:
See Budget Template Parameters for more information. |
Parameters—None |
|
Line Item Codes These check-boxes will appear if Phase and Task Codes is selected as a budget parameter. By default, none of these check-boxes is selected. The Line Items must be defined in TeamConnect Setup, on the Task Categories and Expense Categories tabs of the Line Item Object Definition. See Creating and Defining Objects for more information. |
Disabled (check-box cleared) |
|
Life of Matter Estimate Selecting this check-box enables the Life Of Matter field on the Budget creation wizard and Budget Summary page. It also enables the Total Not Budgeted field on the Budget Summary page. |
Life of Matter Estimate— Disabled (check-box cleared) |
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Allow Invoicing Above Budget Totals Selecting this check-box enables users to post invoices, expenses, and tasks above the allocated budget amounts. |
Allow Invoicing Above Budget Totals—Disabled (check-box cleared) |
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Enable Internal Expense Budgeting Selecting this check-box causes the Internal Expense Codes check-boxes to appear. The selected Internal Expense Codes check-boxes determine which Expense categories can be budgeted for. See Expenses for more information. |
Enable Internal Expense Budgeting—Disabled (check- box cleared) |
|
Internal Expense Codes These check-boxes will appear if Enable Internal Expense Budgeting is selected. By default, none of these check-boxes is selected. The Internal Expense Codes must be defined in TeamConnect Setup, on the Categories tab of the Expense Object Definition. See Creating and Defining Objects for more information. |
Disabled (check-box cleared) |
|
Enable Internal Task Budgeting Selecting this check-box causes the Internal Task Codes check-boxes to appear. The selected Internal Task Codes check-boxes determine which Task categories can be budgeted for. See Tasks for more information. |
Enable Internal Task Budgeting—Disabled (check- box cleared) |
|
Internal Task Codes These check-boxes will appear if Enable Internal Task Budgeting is selected. By default, none of these check- boxes is selected. The Internal Task Codes must be defined in TeamConnect Setup, on the Categories tab of the Task Object Definition. See Creating and Defining Objects for more information. |
Disabled (check-box cleared) |
Budget Template Parameters
When creating or editing a budget template, there are five available budget template parameters to choose from:
- Year
- Quarter
- Month
- Vendor
- Phase and Task Codes
Three of these parameters are time-based: Year, Quarter, and Month. If any of these parameters is included in a budget template, all budgets created with that template will default to budgeting by year, and not by life of matter.
Important: Any time you create new task or expense codes, you must edit your existing templates to include the new items. They will not be inherited automatically.
Refer to this article Automatic Account Creation Template Mapping article for more information.
Budgeting by Life of Matter
To budget by life of matter instead of by year, the Default Time Period setting in Budget Settings must be set to Life of Matter. See Budget Settings for more information.
Additionally, life of matter budgets must be created using a budget template without any time-based parameters (Year, Quarter, and Month). Life of matter budgets have no fiscal year. Instead, budgeting is done by vendor or codes or both.
Budgeting by Year
Budgets created using a template with a time-based parameter (Year, Quarter, and Month) will be budgeted by year. Values budgeted to months "roll up" into quarters, which in turn "roll up" into fiscal years.
Budgets created using a template with only vendor or code parameters will still be budgeted by year if the Default Time Period setting in Budget Settings is set to Year.
Note: If you want to enable budgeting by internal expense or task codes, you cannot budget only by the Year parameter. You must budget by Quarter or Month, or Vendor or Phase and Task Codes.
Budget Parameter Hierarchy
When multiple budget parameters are included in a budget template, the budgeted values "roll up" into the other budget parameters, based on the following hierarchies. These hierarchies cannot be restructured.
Matter (Actuals)
- Year
- Quarter
- Month
- Quarter
- Vendor
- Codes (Task and Expense Categories)
- Internal Expenses
- Expense Categories
- Internal Tasks
- Task Categories
Matter (Allocated)
The hierarchy for time-based parameters in allocated matters is listed below. However, not all time- based parameters are necessary. Any included time-based parameters will automatically include its parent parameters, up to the fiscal year. For example, if only Quarter is selected, both Quarter and Year will be used.
- Year
- Quarter
- Month
- Quarter
The hierarchy for non-time-based parameters in allocated matters is listed below. If any time-based parameters are included as well, the following non-time-based parameters will be placed in the hierarchy under the last child time-based parameter.
- Vendor
- Codes (Task and Expense Categories)
- Internal Expenses
- Expense Categories
- Internal Tasks
- Task Categories
Creating or Editing Fiscal Years
Creating Fiscal Years
A Fiscal Year is a defined period of time that is used for calculating annual finances. TeamConnect Financial Management allows you to define your fiscal years individually, including support for 52/53 week fiscal years.
Important: You must know the earliest fiscal year you plan to ever budget against, and create it first. TeamConnect Financial Management rules will prevent you from creating fiscal years that precede existing active fiscal years that have items posted against them.
Important: It must be emphasized that care should be taken to ensure that fiscal years are created accurately. Editing fiscal years can become complicated when multiple fiscal years exist, or when budgets and accounts have been created. See Editing Fiscal Years for more information.
Important: If you have upgraded from an older version of TeamConnect Legal Matter Management to TeamConnect Financial Management, you must create fiscal years that match your old existing fiscal years if you want to import your old existing account records using Account Conversion Tool.
To create a new fiscal year
- Select the Admin tab.
- Click the Budget Settings link under the tab bar.
- Click the Fiscal Years link in the left pane.
- Click the New button.
- Enter the following required fields:
- Fiscal Year Name
- Year
- FY Start
- After selecting the FY Start date, more fields will appear on the page, automatically populated based on the selected FY Start date. Adjust these fields as necessary. Every field on the page is required. See Fiscal Year Settings - General Page Field Descriptions for more information.
- Select a save option.
When creating a fiscal year, the end date is automatically set depending on the chosen start date. If the start date is set to the first day of any calendar month, the end date will be automatically set to one year from the start date, minus one day.
If the start date is set to any other day other than the first day of any calendar month, the end date will be automatically set to 52 weeks, or 364 days, after the chosen start date. This allows the subsequent fiscal year to start on the same day of the week as the previous fiscal year. Since a 52- week fiscal year is shorter than a calendar year, a 53-week fiscal year is required approximately every five years to "catch up." These 53-week fiscal years must be adjusted manually during the fiscal year creation process.
Important: The fiscal year will fail to save if any of the months or quarters have overlapping dates, or if there are any gaps between any of the months or quarters. Additionally, if any other fiscal years exist, the new fiscal year will also fail to save if there is any overlap or gaps between existing fiscal years and the new fiscal year.
Editing Fiscal Years
Existing fiscal years can be adjusted, with some caveats. There are two cases in which you will be unable to edit your fiscal year, each accompanied with an error message when you attempt to edit the fiscal year.
"This fiscal year is not editable because another fiscal year exists after it. Please see the documentation for instructions on how to proceed."—This error message appears if there are fiscal years that follow the fiscal year you are trying to edit. A fiscal year cannot be extended if another fiscal year follows it. To edit the fiscal year, you would first have to delete all following fiscal years, then adjust your intended fiscal year. The deleted fiscal years could then be recreated.
"This fiscal year is in use. Please see the documentation for instructions on how to proceed."—This error message appears if any budgets or accounts exist on the fiscal year you are trying to edit. In this case, please contact Mitratech Services to make adjustments to your fiscal year.
To edit an existing fiscal year
- Select the Admin tab.
- Click the Budget Settings link under the tab bar.
- Click the Fiscal Years link in the left pane.
- Click the fiscal year you want to edit.
- Click the Edit button.
- Adjust the fiscal year dates, periods, and months as needed. See Fiscal Year Settings - General Page Field Descriptions for more information.
- Select a save option.
Fiscal Year Settings - General Page Field Descriptions
|
Field Names and Descriptions |
Default Value |
|---|---|
|
*Fiscal Year Name The name of the Fiscal Year. This field is user-defined and can be set to whatever value you want. |
Fiscal Year Name—Blank |
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*Year The calendar year of the Fiscal Year. This field is automatically populated based on digits entered in the Fiscal Year Name field. For example, if you enter the Fiscal Year Name as FY14, the Year field will be automatically populated with 2014. You can edit the Year field if the automatically populated year is not correct. This field must contain a numeric value. |
Year—Blank |
|
*FY Start The start date of the Fiscal Year. Selecting this field will cause all the following fields listed in this table to appear on the page. They are automatically populated with information based on the starting date you choose. |
FY Start—Blank |
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*FY End The end date of the Fiscal Year. If the FY Start date is set to the first day of a calendar month, the FY End date will be automatically set to one year from the FY Start date, minus one day. (For example, if the FY Start date is set to 3/1/2014, the FY End date will be automatically set to 2/28/2015.) If the FY Start date is set to any day that is not the first day of a calendar month, the FY End date will be automatically set to 52 weeks from the FY Start date, minus one day. (For example, if the FY Start date is set to 3/2/2014, the FY End date will be automatically set to 2/28/2015.) |
FY End—Based on FY Start field |
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Q# Start The start date of the quarter. There are four fields, for Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. The Q1 Start field must match the FY Start field, and is automatically populated to match the FY Start field. After selecting the FY Start date, each subsequent quarter's start date is automatically populated with the date 13 weeks and one day following the previous quarter's start date. |
Q# Start—Based on FY Start field |
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Q# End The end date of the quarter. There are four fields, for Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. After selecting the FY Start date, each quarter's end date is automatically populated with the date 13 weeks following the corresponding quarter's start date. |
Q# End—Based on FY Start field |
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Month # Name The name of the month. There are 12 fields, for the 12 months of the calendar year. These fields are automatically populated with the matching names of the calendar month that contains the starting date for the fiscal month. |
Month # Name—Based on FY Start field |
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Month # Start The start date of the month. There are 12 fields, for the 12 months of the calendar year. The Month 1 Start field must match the FY Start field, and is automatically populated to match the FY Start field. After selecting the FY Start date, each subsequent month's start date is automatically populated with the date four weeks and one day, or five weeks and one day following the previous month's start date. The pattern for month length is 4-4-5, meaning that the first and second months of each quarter are four weeks long, while the third and last month of each quarter is five weeks long. |
Month # Start—Based on FY Start field |
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Month # End The end date of the month. There are 12 fields, for the 12 months of the calendar year. After selecting the FY Start date, each month's end date is automatically populated with the date four weeks or five weeks following the corresponding month's start date. The pattern for month length is 4-4-5, meaning that the first and second months of each quarter are four weeks long, while the third and last month of each quarter is five weeks long. |
Month # End—Based on FY Start field |