The budgeting feature in the SingleCase system allows for efficient management of future billing in cases where you have agreed with the client on a total or partial budget or a price cap.
As users, you can easily add new budgets, log time against them, and track how close budgets are to being exhausted. The feature also supports automatic grouping of entries during invoicing—helping you generate client-ready invoice attachments.
Budget Setup
In the settings of each case file you're responsible for (e.g., as a manager or coordinator), under the Billing section, you can now select Billing Type: Based on Budget (instead of the default Hourly Rate by Role).
On the right-hand side, you'll then see Budget Management. You can:
Add one or more budgets (give them a name and price/cap).
Mark existing budgets as “Completed” using the pencil icon (so they’re no longer available for logging).
Create a budget without a price (e.g., for extra work, ongoing non-budgeted activities, etc.)
Don’t forget to save the new billing type using the Save button at the bottom right.
Time Logging – Mandatory Budget Selection
Once the first budget is set up for a case file, users must choose an activity when logging time. Unlike standard case files, a general list (e.g., default “Other”) won’t be available—only the predefined budgets.
Keep this in mind when setting up budgets—if you want to allow logging outside of the set budgets, create a special one with no price, such as “Ongoing Work on Case.”
Time Logging – Budget Depletion Alerts
When entering a time log, a warning appears if the selected budget is close to being exhausted—right after switching to the relevant budget activity. An orange color appears when the budget is nearing its limit, and red when it has already been exceeded.
Budget Monitoring on the “To Be Invoiced” Page
For budgeted case files, additional lines show budget consumption.
The first amount indicates the current value of logged time for invoicing at the hourly rate. The second shows the remaining budget amount.
Budgets are color-coded by status:
Green: Budget not close to being exhausted
Orange: Nearing exhaustion (over 70%)
Red: Exceeded
Budgets without a cap/price only show the current logged value.
Only budgets with at least one time entry are displayed.
Ongoing Invoicing of Budgets
We’ve also considered scenarios where a budget is invoiced continuously. On the To Be Invoiced page, these cases are indicated with both the remaining and original budget amount shown.
Example: You have a one-year contract with a public sector client with a price cap of CZK 1,200,000. You invoice slightly over CZK 100,000 monthly. By October, the page shows a remaining budget of CZK 150,000—suggesting that the cap may be exceeded before year-end.
Invoice Preparation
In the Invoice Preparation stage, time logs are automatically grouped by budget. If multiple budgets are used on a case, you won’t have to guess which entries belong to which group.
You can still edit entries, increase/decrease billed hours, and move logs between budgets. You can even remove hours from a budget and bill them outside of it. The system recalculates remaining budget amounts automatically, which you can easily check right on the invoice preparation page (where the remaining budget reflects the current invoicing status).
⚠️ You can rename auto-created groups, but don’t delete them—unless you intend to invoice the entries outside of the budget.
💡 Final Tips
Budgets without a price can be used to automatically sort time logs by client representative—simplifying invoice preparation. Users won’t need to enter the client rep’s name manually.
Don’t be afraid of time-limited budgets—if a client agrees to a budget valid for 12 months, indicate the time frame in the budget name (e.g., “Budget May 2024 – April 2025”). Just don’t forget to mark it as “Completed” at the end—automatic deactivation doesn’t happen.
Create an “Extra Work” budget (again, without a price) if you want to split work between the agreed scope and anything beyond it. This will save you from complex discussions once the original budget runs out.
Want to keep your client updated about the remaining budget? You can easily copy the remaining amount from the “Unspent Budget Amounts” section into the name of an invoice group or into a client summary.