FAQ: What's the difference between Set and Interval budgets?
When creating a budget in Zudello, you define how the budget period and amounts are structured using the Budget Interval setting. The two main approaches are effectively "Set" (using the "Total" interval) and "Interval".
1. Set Budget (Interval = "Total")
- Structure: You define a single Start Date and End Date for the entire budget period. You enter one total budgeted Amount for each budget line (dimension combination) covering that entire period.
- Evaluation: Transactions are checked against the single budget line amount as long as their date falls between the budget's Start and End Dates. The concept of monthly or quarterly tracking isn't inherent in the budget structure itself (though reporting might allow grouping by month).
- Use Case: Simple annual budgets, project-specific budgets with a defined start/end and total cost, situations where spending doesn't need to be tracked against smaller time increments within the overall period.
2. Interval Budget (Interval = "Yearly", "Quarterly", "Monthly", "Weekly")
- Structure: You define an overall Start Date and End Date for the budget period. Zudello then automatically breaks this period down into the chosen intervals (e.g., 12 monthly columns, 4 quarterly columns). You enter a specific budgeted Amount for each interval on each budget line.
- Evaluation: How transactions are evaluated depends on the Evaluate Budget As setting (Rolling, Current, or Total):
- Current: Compares against the amount budgeted for the specific interval the transaction falls into.
- Rolling: Compares against the cumulative budget amount up to the transaction's interval.
- Total: Compares against the total budget amount across all intervals for that line.
- Use Case: Budgets where spending needs to be tracked and controlled within specific time increments (e.g., managing monthly departmental spending, tracking quarterly project milestones). Allows for more granular control and variance analysis per interval.
In Summary:
- Use Set (Total Interval) for simple, lump-sum budgets over a defined period.
- Use Interval (Monthly, Quarterly, etc.) when you need to define and track budgeted amounts for specific increments within the overall budget period, allowing for different evaluation methods (Current/Rolling/Total).