> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://camp-site.co.uk/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Budgeting

> Create a budget cycle, split it by department, lock salaries, then spend the leftover on rota, hiring, and other line items.

## Overview

Budgeting is where Finance and heads of department run an operational cycle. Open **Budgeting** from the Finance sidebar (`/finance/budgeting`).

You can open it with payroll view or manage permission, or with department or organisation budget permission. Heads of department do not need full Finance access.

The nine-lane flow is:

1. Cycle setup. An organisation admin or allocator creates a budget cycle.
2. Department allocation. Split the total across departments, then lock.
3. Salaries come off first. Pay is locked. The rest becomes the leftover pot.
4. Head of department line items. Spend leftover on named lines.
5. Rota-linked spend. Publishing a tagged rota draws a line down live.
6. Recruitment-linked spend. Budget a role (name, grade, PT/hourly, hours, days) → preview → Approve. Hourly stays tentative until shifts complete. Hires can also debit a tagged recruitment line.
7. Salary benchmarking. Market data feeds pay and recruitment when licensed. Otherwise org pay bands.
8. HR and Finance oversight. Dashboard, flags, and exports.
9. Close the cycle. Lock, review variance, roll leftover or reset. Leftover can feed the next split.

Spine: Create cycle → Split by department → Salaries lock → Heads spend leftover → Rota and hiring draw down → HR and Finance watch → Close and report → next split.

## Create a cycle

Create a cycle with a name, dates, and a total organisation pot in GBP. People with set-rules permission can choose whether to **pro-rate salaries to this cycle**. Cycle pay is a separate figure from current salary. When pro-rate is on, cycle pay uses `(annual / 12) × cycle months`. When it is off, cycle pay uses the full annual amount.

Cycle settings also cover department over-allocation, line-item over-allocation, rota overspend (hard-block or warn), and leftover at close (roll into the next split, or reset). Anyone who can open the cycle can read those rules. Changing them needs set-organisation-budget-rules, full budget access, or payroll manage.

Closing a cycle makes it read-only. Approved rises stay in the cycle record. They do not change payroll rates by themselves.

## Cycle workspace

Open a cycle to work in four sections:

* **Cycle.** Name, dates, total pot (when you can see it), and settings sit side by side. Who-can-see-what and permission keys open from the information control. This is lane 1. There is no fifth tab.
* **Departments.** Propose amounts, then finalise to lock. Salary allocation comes off automatically. Heads spend the leftover on line items (events, recruitment, rota staffing, equipment, or other). Tag a line as rota or recruitment so those workflows can draw it down.
* **People.** One people table. Current salary and **Cycle pay** are different columns. Every column has a filter. Pay-band Below / Meets / Exceeds meters stay as the local benchmark.
* **Oversight.** Organisation total (when you can see it), salary versus leftover, spend by category, alerts, pay-band mix, and a CSV export in the tools menu. Close the cycle from the header.

Department amounts cannot exceed the organisation pot unless a user has over-allocation permission. Line items cannot exceed the leftover pot unless that same exception applies.

## Who can view what

Visibility is by surface, not by a second product. Heads of department never see the organisation total, on the cycle list or inside a cycle. Draft cycles stay with Finance and organisation viewers until the cycle is opened.

| Lane | What | Who can view | Who can change |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1. Cycle setup | Budgeting in the Finance sidebar | Finance with payroll view or manage, organisation budget view, all-budgets view, full budget access, or a head of department with manage-own-department. Rota-only remaining view does not open this page. | Nobody. The link is view-only. |
| 1. Cycle setup | Cycle list | Same as the sidebar. Organisation totals, remaining, and people counts are hidden unless the person has organisation view, all-budgets, allocate, full access, or payroll view or manage. | Create a cycle: allocate, full access, or payroll manage. |
| 1. Cycle setup | Draft cycle | Finance and organisation viewers only. Heads of department do not see a draft until it is opened. | Allocate, full access, or payroll manage can edit the draft and open it. |
| 1. Cycle setup | Organisation total pot and notes | Organisation view, all-budgets, allocate, full access, or payroll view or manage. Heads never see the organisation total or organisation notes. | Allocate, full access, or payroll manage. Closed cycles are read-only. |
| 1. Cycle setup | Cycle settings | Anyone who can open the cycle can read the current rules. | Set-organisation-budget-rules, full access, or payroll manage. Allocate without set-rules can still save name and dates. |
| 2. Department allocation | Every department pot | Organisation view, all-budgets, allocate, full access, or payroll view or manage. | Allocate, full access, or payroll manage, and only while pots are still proposed. |
| 2. Department allocation | Own department pot | The head of that department plus anyone who can see every pot. | Heads cannot change the proposed amount. Only allocate roles can set and finalise pots. |
| 2. Department allocation | Finalise / lock pots | Everyone who can open Departments can see locked versus proposed. | Allocate, full access, or payroll manage. Over-allocation is blocked unless the person also has allow-over-allocation. |
| 3. Salaries come off first | Salary allocation figure | Organisation viewers see every department. Heads see only departments they manage. | Nobody types this. The system recalculates from HR pay records and cycle pay. |
| 3. Salaries come off first | People: current salary and cycle pay | Organisation viewers see everyone in the cycle. Heads see people in their department only. Cycle pay is not current salary. | Allocate or payroll manage can edit a proposal. Closing the cycle freezes it. |
| 4. HoD line items | Leftover pot and line items | Organisation viewers see every department. Heads see only their leftover and line items. | After lock, the head of that department, allocate, or full access can add line items. |
| 5. Rota-linked spend | Rota week remaining chip | People on a rota tagged to a line item receive view-linked-rota automatically. This permission does not open Budgeting. | Nobody edits the chip. Publishing or unpublishing the rota draws the line down or reverses it. |
| 6. Recruitment-linked spend | Vacancy budget line picker, advertising spend, pending hire, **Budget a role** | Link-requisition, manage-own-department, or allocate. The picker only lists recruitment line items the person is allowed to see. Heads can budget a role from Departments after pots lock. | The same people can link a vacancy. Pending hire cost migrates when the starter is activated. Role Approve reserves (fixed) or holds tentatively (hourly). |
| 7. Salary benchmarking | Pay-band meter and hiring market range | Anyone who can open People or the hiring form. Licensed market data stays idle without credentials. Empty lookups use org pay bands only. | Pay bands are edited under HR, not here. |
| 8. HR and Finance oversight | Organisation tiles, category table, alerts, CSV | Organisation view, all-budgets, full access, or payroll view or manage for org-wide figures. Heads see leftover and category spend for their department only. | CSV is an export, not an edit. |
| 9. Close the cycle | Close, variance, leftover rollover or reset | Anyone who can open Oversight can see the leftover policy and remaining figures they are allowed to see. | Allocate, full access, or payroll manage. Closed cycles cannot be reopened. |

### Permission keys

| Key | Opens Budgeting | Sees | Cannot |
| - | - | - | - |
| `budget.view_org` | Yes | Drafts, organisation total, every department, People, Oversight, CSV | Allocate, add line items, set rules, or close on its own |
| `budget.view_all` | Yes | Same organisation-wide figures as organisation view | Change allocations or rules on its own |
| `budget.allocate_departments` | Yes | Organisation total and every department (needed to split the pot) | Change cycle rules without set-rules |
| `budget.manage_own_department` | Yes, without full Finance | Active and closed cycles. Own department leftover, line items, and people | Drafts, organisation total, other departments |
| `budget.allow_over_allocation` | No | Nothing extra. Exception flag during allocate or line-item save | Open Budgeting on its own |
| `budget.view_linked_rota` | No | Remaining chip on a tagged rota. Granted automatically to that team | Open Budgeting or edit line items |
| `budget.link_requisition` | No | Recruitment line items the person is already allowed to see | Open Budgeting on its own |
| `budget.manage_org_rules` | No | Cycle settings and organisation defaults when they can already open the cycle | Create a cycle or split departments without allocate |
| `budget.full_access` | Yes | Organisation totals, every department, settings, Oversight, close | Nothing in this workspace. Not seeded onto Finance roles |
| `payroll.view` | Yes (legacy Finance) | Organisation totals and Oversight | Allocate, add line items, set rules, or close |
| `payroll.manage` | Yes (legacy Finance) | Organisation totals. Counts as allocate, set-rules, and close | Nothing extra beyond the budget keys it already implies |

### Default role grants

| Who | Granted | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| Organisation admin | Every organisation budget permission | Can see organisation totals, allocate, set rules, and close |
| Roles that already have payroll manage | Organisation view, all-budgets, allocate, allow-over-allocation, set-rules | Legacy Finance path |
| Roles that already have payroll view | Organisation view and all-budgets | Watch totals. Cannot allocate or close |
| Department manager, manager, head of operations, head of HR, head of finance | Manage-own-department and link-requisition | Open Budgeting without full Finance. Own department only |
| Rota members on a tagged rota line item | View-linked-rota (automatic) | Remaining chip only |
| Full budget access | Standalone key, not seeded onto Finance roles | For a person who must see organisation figures without a payroll role |

## Rota and hiring

When a line item is tagged for rota, publishing a rota draws that remaining amount down. The rota week toolbar shows remaining budget when a linked line exists. If publish would overspend, the cycle can hard-block or ask for confirmation.

When a line item is tagged for recruitment, a hiring request can pick it as the funding source, record advertising spend, and hold a pending hire cost. When the starter is activated from a signed offer, that pending cost migrates off the leftover pot.

Hiring managers can also **Budget a role** from the Departments tab after pots are locked. Enter the job name, pay grade, part-time or hourly, hours per week, and days per year, then preview and Approve. That directs the projected cost from the department leftover pot:

* **Part-time (fixed):** reserves the projected amount on Approve.
* **Hourly:** places a tentative hold on Approve. Actual deduct posts when a completed rota shift uses the same role name as the budgeted job. Other shifts in the department do not draw this hold down.

There is no separate Finance or CEO offer-approval chain. Money gating for hiring is this department role budget.

## Local salary benchmarking

Campsite does not scrape market sites. A licensed market-data adapter stays idle until credentials are configured. Until then, lookups use **org pay bands** (and any cached licensed rows). You will see that range on hiring proposed salary, and Oversight counts how many people sit below, at, or above their band.

## Related

* [Payroll](/docs/features/finance/payroll)
* [Pay bands](/docs/features/hr/pay-bands)
* [Headcount](/docs/features/hr/headcount)
* [Payslips](/docs/features/hr/payslips)


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