Fohlio’s Budget Analysis module is designed to help you manage your project budgets more intelligently. It replaces traditional cost tracking tools with a structured system that connects budgeting, specifications, purchasing, and invoicing into one workflow.
Accessing Budget Analysis
You can access the Budget Analysis section from:
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The top-right corner of your Project Sheet
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The Area Navigator >The Budget Analysis shortcut
Purpose of Budget Analysis
Budget Analysis helps you:
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Plan and manage budgets by area or category
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Track spending against your planned budget
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Compare specifications and actual purchases
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Analyze variances to improve financial decisions
Grouping Budgets
Based on your workflow, you can view budgets either by:
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Area (e.g., Kitchen, Lobby)
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Category (e.g., Furniture, Lighting)
Sections of Budget Analysis
The Budget Analysis table has three main sections to lead you through budgeting journey:
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Budgeting (Planned budget)
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Specification (Expected cost)
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Purchasing (Actual Cost)
Each section provides insight into a different part of your budget tracking process.
1. Budgeting
Budget Fields
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Planned Budget: Enter the expected budget for each area or category.
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Item Count: Set the number of unique items you plan to include. This does not refer to item quantity.
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Percentage: This is for the soft cost, to add as additional to the planned budget
Soft Costs and Contingency
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Add soft costs as percentages or fixed values.
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Add contingency as a percentage of the total budget, if needed.
2. Specification
- Mapping Columns
You can map a total column from your Project Sheet to be used as Extended cost for budget comparison.
This column must be a total column, that Include quantity in the formula (e.g., Unit Cost × Quantity)
You can map the column by clicking on the 2 arrows from the header of Extended cost columns.
Key Columns
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Extended Cost: Total cost based on your mapped column.
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Budget Consumed: How much of the planned budget has been used.
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Variance and Variance %: The difference between planned and actual values.
3. Purchasing
This section allows you to compare actual purchase and client billing data against your planned budget.
- Supplier Side
Includes:
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Purchase Orders
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Supplier Invoices
- Client Side
Includes:
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Client Proposals
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Client Invoices
You can track:
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What was planned vs what was purchased
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What was specified vs what was invoiced
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Differences between proposal and invoice totals
Additional Options
You can customize your budget analysis using the following settings:
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Include or exclude components in totals
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Show or hide empty areas/categories
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Include or exclude contingency in soft cost totals
Column Selector
You can show or hide columns to simplify your view:
If you are not utilizing all of the columns in your budget analysis you can hide them from your view to keep focus on what you are actually using.
Exporting Data
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If you are looking to share the budget analysis, or keep it as backup, You can download the full Budget Analysis table as an Excel file
Best Practices
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Always map a column with formulas that include quantity.
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Choose grouping (area or category) based on how you track your project internally.
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Review budget variance regularly to stay on track.
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