Budget alerts email the people running a project when its spending passes a percentage of the budget, for example 80%. They keep reminding them every few days while the project stays over, so an overrun doesn't go unnoticed.
A project needs a budget first. See entering a project budget.
Turn on alerts for your account
Alerts only go out when an Administrator has turned them on for the whole account. While this switch is off, no project sends alerts, whatever its own settings.
Go to Settings › Project Management Settings. Only Administrators can open this page.
Turn on Enable Project Budget Alerts. It saves straight away.
Under Default Budget Alert settings for New Projects, set what new projects start with: Send email alerts when project reaches a percentage of project budget, Calculate time amount based on Cost rate, Only deduct billable hours from the budget, Count Project Expenses towards use of Budget, and Send budget alert reminders every so many days.
The defaults only apply to projects created from now on. Existing projects keep their own settings, so set those in each project.
Set up alerts on a project
Open the project's settings from the ⋮ menu next to its name, and go to Billing & Budget.
Check the Budget Type and budget. The alert panel doesn't appear for No Budget.
Tick Budget alert and fill in Alert at … % of budget consumed.
Choose what counts towards the budget. For Total Project Fees, pick Include timesheets based on their: Billable Rate or Cost Rate, and whether to Include Expense Amount. For hours budgets, choose whether to Only deduct billable hours from the budget.
Set When budget threshold exceeded, send alerts every so many days, then click Save changes.
On the Members tab, click each person who should get the alerts and tick Receive Project Budget Alerts. People added on this tab start with it unticked.
The same people who can change a project's settings can set up its alerts: Administrators and Finance Managers on any project, Portfolio Managers on projects they're members of, and Project Managers with Can Manage this Project's Settings on that project.
Who receives the alerts
Alerts go only to members of the project, so an Administrator who isn't a member doesn't get them. Customer contacts never do. Everyone who receives them needs Receive Project Budget Alerts switched on twice: on their project membership, and in their User Profile (Profile tab, under Notifications). See managing your user profile.
Budget Type | Who receives the alert | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
Total Project Fees | Administrators and Portfolio Managers on the project, and Project Managers with both Can Manage this Project's Settings and Can manage Project Member Cost & Billable Rates | Total budget, total spent and the percentage used |
Total Project Hours | Administrators and Portfolio Managers on the project, and Project Managers with Can Manage this Project's Settings | Budget, spent and remaining hours |
Category Hours | The same as Total Project Hours | Each category over the threshold, with its budget, spent and remaining hours |
Person Hours | Each person with Budget Hours who passes the threshold gets their own figures. Administrators, Portfolio Managers and Project Managers with Can Manage this Project's Settings get a list of everyone over. | Budget, spent and remaining hours per person |
On a Person Hours project, only people who have Budget Hours and time on the project themselves receive alerts, managers included. Finance Managers don't receive budget alerts through that role.
When alerts are sent
- Avaza checks budgets once an hour. The first alert goes at the first check after spending goes above the threshold. At exactly 80% of the budget, an 80% alert hasn't been sent yet.
- While the project stays above the threshold, the alert repeats every so many days, as set on the project. If spending drops back below, no alert is sent.
- Alerts stop when the project is archived or its status is Complete.
- Spent is calculated the same way as the Spent column on the All Projects page, leaving out rejected time and fixed amounts. See how Spent is calculated.
- The Project Budget Analysis report compares many projects' budgets with what's been tracked, but it ignores the choices of what counts towards the budget on the Billing & Budget tab, such as Include Expense Amount or Only deduct billable hours from the budget. So its figures can differ from an alert's.
Each alert comes from no-reply@mail.avaza.com with the subject "Project Budget Alert:" and the project's name. Its Analyse Spend In Detail button opens the Project Profitability report for the project. To stop alerts for one project, click Turn off budget alert notifications for this project in the email and confirm Disable Alerts. That unticks Receive Project Budget Alerts on your membership of that project only.
Not receiving budget alerts?
Check these in order:
- The account switch: Enable Project Budget Alerts is on in Settings › Project Management Settings.
- The project: Budget alert is ticked, the budget is more than zero (for Person Hours and Category Hours, on each person or category), and the project isn't archived or Complete.
- The threshold: spending is above the percentage. Compare the project's Spent and Budget on the All Projects page, or open the Project Profitability report.
- Your membership: you're a member of the project and Receive Project Budget Alerts is ticked for you on the Members tab. It's unticked for people added there, and the email's turn-off link unticks it too.
- Your profile: Receive Project Budget Alerts is on in your User Profile, under Notifications.
- Your role: see the table above. A Project Manager needs Can Manage this Project's Settings on the project, and for Total Project Fees also Can manage Project Member Cost & Billable Rates.
- Timing: after an alert, the next one waits for the number of days set on the project.
- Your mailbox: look for mail from no-reply@mail.avaza.com in your spam or junk folder.
If everything checks out and alerts still don't arrive, contact support.