Create budgets and spending lines

Budgets and spending lines are elements that allow you to manage the expenses of your company in a clear and efficient way. Let's see in this article what are budgets and spending lines on LittleBig Connection platform, and how to configure them as a Company Administrator or Buyer.

Within this article

• Definition of a budget and spending lines
• Set up a budget
• Set up a spending line
• Add a spending line to an entity

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Definition of a budget and spending lines

Every budget is linked to a specific currency, and you may create several budgets, depending on the use that your company gives the platform. 

In order to use a new currency, it will be necessary to create a new budget in the desired currency. For this reason, you will not be able to have an entity with spending lines in different currencies. 

It is only possible for the users with roles of Company Administrator and Buyer to create and modify any budgets and/or spending lines. 

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Set up a budget

First of all, you will need to create a budget which will later on be associated to the spending lines you wish to link it to. To do so:

1. Go to the Entities tab and click on Budgets and spending lines

2. Once on the new page, click on Create a new budget

3. In the form that will appear, please fill in the required fields: 

   • Budget information: name, external identifier, dates, and currency

   • Managers: fill in the person responsible for this budget and their deputy, choosing from the collaborators with an Administrator or Buyer role.

   • Settings: enter the budget amount, and an additional budget if desired. You also have the possibility to leave internal notes as comments on this page and to display them on the reports.

4. Once you have filled in these details, click on Save at the bottom of the form

You will now see the budget you have just created displayed on the Budgets and spending lines page.

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Set up a spending line

Once the budget has been created, you now need to create the spending lines that will be associated with that budget. These lines are there to allow you to manage and segment your budget.

1. Go to the Entities tab and click on Budgets and spending lines
2. Below the budget you have just created, click on (+)
3.  In the form that will appear, please fill in the required fields: 

   • Spending line information: name, external identifier, dates, and amount above which the buyer must validate the expense, (for anything below this amount, the proposal selected will be directly validated, without going through the buyer. The calculation is made over the duration of the Purchase Order)

   • Managers: fill in the person responsible for this spending line and their deputy. They may be different from the ones in charge of the budget. These people will have a Administrator or Buyer role and can be validators of the platform's Purchase Orders.

   • Total amounts: enter the total amount for the spending line

4. Once you have completed these steps, click on Save

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Add a spending line to an entity

Once the spending line has been created, you need to add it to the different entities you want.

Only Company Administrators can assign spending lines to entities within the platform.

To do so:

1. Go to the Entities tab and click on Manage entities
2. Then, open the burger menu of an entity and click on General settings
3. Within the Spending lines and workflows section, click on Add to a spending line
4. Choose the relevant spending line from the drop-down menu and click on Add
5. Click on Save and continue to save the changes made

After saving your changes, you can then select the spending line configured, whenever you are creating your Request for Proposals