Explaining your budget numbers
A budget you can defend in a room full of owners needs more than a column of figures. Three views sit alongside the grid: a record of why each number is what it is, a three-year history, and a...
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A budget you can defend in a room full of owners needs more than a column of figures. Three views sit alongside the grid: a record of why each number is what it is, a three-year history, and a breakdown of what is actually driving the fee increase.
Switch between them with Grid, History, Attribution, and Scenarios at the top of the budget editor.
Record why a number is what it is
Every budget line can carry an explanation. Open a line and fill in as much as you have:
- Explanation: what changed and why, in your own words.
- Budget Basis: what the figure rests on, such as a signed contract, a quote, or a trailing average.
- Evidence Date: when that basis was current.
- Confidence: how firm the number is.
None of it is required. The point is that when someone asks about a line six months from now, the answer is on the line instead of in your memory.
Group headers show how many of their lines are evidenced, so you can see at a glance where the thin spots are before a board meeting rather than during one.
This is internal. Residents cannot read budget explanations, bases, or confidence levels. Those fields are visible only to staff, building managers, board members, and PMs.
Compare three years at once
The History view puts four columns side by side for every line.
The four columns, with both variances.
| Prior Year Actual | Current Year Budget | Current Year Forecast | Next Year Budget | YOY Var | YTD Var |
Current Year Forecast is calculated the same way every time from the property's own posted activity. Run it twice on the same data and you get the same answer, which is what makes it usable in a board packet.
Properties on the PREMIUM plan can swap an individual line's forecast to an AI-generated figure using Forecast Source. The swap is per line, not per budget, so you can use it on the two or three lines where judgement helps and leave the rest calculated. The choice sticks with the line.
See what is driving the increase
The Attribution view answers the only question owners really ask: where is the increase coming from?
It shows the baseline total, the draft total, and each group's Share of Increase. Those shares add up to the headline percentage exactly. They are not rounded independently and left to nearly agree, so you can read a group's share off the table and put it in a letter without checking the arithmetic.
If the property has no contribution total on file, the view says so plainly rather than showing a percentage it cannot stand behind.
What is not exported
The history and attribution tables are for working and presenting on screen. They do not export this release. The two registry reports are this release's export surface.