Budget Tracking
Know exactly what your project costs. is.team calculates costs from your team's logged hours and hourly rates — giving you a real-time view of spending without leaving your board.
Overview
Budget tracking connects two things you already have:
Logged Hours × Hourly Rate = Project Cost
Every time someone logs hours on a task, the cost updates automatically.
Set a budget on your board and you'll see a progress bar that goes from green to yellow to red as spending increases. The entire setup takes about 2 minutes.
Before You Start
Info
Budget tracking requires the Time Tracking feature. Make sure your team is logging hours on tasks — either with the built-in timer or manual entries.
You'll need workspace owner permissions to set up rates and budgets. Team members can view the budget progress but cannot see financial details like rates and costs.
Choose your currency
The workspace currency determines which symbol appears next to all monetary values — rates, costs, and budgets.
- Click your workspace name in the top-left corner to open Workspace Settings.
- In the General tab, scroll down to Currency.
- Select your currency from the dropdown (e.g.
$ USD,€ EUR,£ GBP). - Click Save.
Tip
Supported currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, TRY, CAD, AUD, JPY, INR, BRL. You can change this at any time — existing values stay the same, only the displayed symbol changes.
Set hourly rates for your team
Each team member needs an hourly rate. This tells the system how to convert their logged hours into a monetary cost.
- Open Workspace Settings → Team tab.
- Hover over a team member and click the pencil icon (edit button).
- In the Edit Member modal, enter their Hourly Rate.
- Click Save changes.
- Repeat for each team member.
Example
Here's a typical rate setup for a small software team:
| Member | Role | Hourly Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Alex | Senior Developer | $800/hr |
| Sam | Junior Developer | $400/hr |
| Jordan | Designer | $500/hr |
Warning
If a member has no hourly rate, their logged hours will still appear in the timesheet, but their cost will be $0 in budget calculations. Set a rate for everyone you want to track costs for.
Set a board budget
Each board can have its own budget — useful when different boards represent different projects or clients.
- Click the gear icon next to your board name to open Board Settings.
- In the General tab, find Budget Tracking and toggle it on.
- Choose what to track:
- Money spent — best for client billing or project cost tracking. Calculates: logged hours × hourly rate.
- Hours spent — best for internal hour caps. Tracks total logged hours, ignores rates.
- Enter the maximum amount — e.g.
25000for a $25,000 budget, or120for 120 hours. - Click Save changes.
Which type should I choose?
Money spent
Use when you bill clients by the hour, or when you need to know the actual dollar cost of a project. Requires hourly rates to be set.
Hours spent
Use when you have a fixed hour allocation — like “this project gets 100 hours this quarter.” No hourly rates needed.
Viewing Your Budget
Once set up, open Analytics → Budget tab to see your full cost overview.
Progress Bar
The color-coded progress bar gives you an instant sense of where you stand:
Summary Cards
Total Hours
Sum of all hours logged by all team members on this board.
Total Cost
Hours × rate for each member, summed together. Only visible to workspace owners.
Budget
The maximum amount you set in Board Settings.
Contributors
Number of team members who have logged time on this board.
Member Breakdown Table
The table shows a row for each team member who has logged time. As a workspace owner you see:
| Member | Hours | Rate | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alex | 32.5h | $800/h | $26,000 |
| Sam | 18.0h | $400/h | $7,200 |
| Jordan | 12.0h | $500/h | $6,000 |
| Total | 62.5h | $39,200 |
Use the Date range filter to narrow the view to a specific week, sprint, or billing period.
Real-World Example
Scenario: “Acme Website Redesign”
A 3-person team is redesigning a client's website. The client has approved a $50,000 budget.
Setup:
- Set workspace currency to
$ USD - Set rates: Alex $800/hr, Sam $400/hr, Jordan $500/hr
- Create a board called “Acme Redesign”
- In Board Settings → Budget Tracking → Money spent → $50,000
After 2 weeks of work:
| Member | Hours | Rate | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alex | 28h | $800 | $22,400 |
| Sam | 15h | $400 | $6,000 |
| Jordan | 20h | $500 | $10,000 |
| Total | 63h | $38,400 |
Result: $38,400 of $50,000 spent = 76.8% → progress bar is green. The team has $11,600 remaining. If Alex logs 15 more hours, the total would reach $50,400 and the bar would turn red.
Permissions
Financial information is sensitive. Here's exactly who can see what:
| Information | Workspace Owner | Team Member |
|---|---|---|
| Set/edit hourly rates | Full access | Hidden |
| View hourly rates | Visible | Hidden |
| View total cost | Visible | Hidden |
| View cost per member | Visible | Hidden |
| Set board budget | Full access | Cannot edit |
| View logged hours | Visible | Visible |
| View budget progress % | Visible | Hours only |
| Set workspace currency | Full access | Cannot edit |
This means a team member will see “15.7h spent” but never “$7,850 spent” or anyone's hourly rate.
Tips & Best Practices
Start with hours, upgrade to costs later
If you're not sure about rates yet, use 'Hours spent' mode first. You can switch to 'Money spent' later once rates are configured.
Check the budget weekly
Open Analytics → Budget at the start of each week to catch overspending early. Yellow means it's time to have a conversation about scope.
Use date range filters
Filter the budget view by date range to see costs per sprint or per month — useful for recurring billing cycles.
Set realistic budgets
A good starting point: estimate the total hours, multiply by the average hourly rate, then add 20% buffer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if I don't set a budget?
That's fine. You can still see total hours and costs in the Analytics → Budget tab, you just won't have a progress bar or spending limit. Budget is optional.
Can I set different rates per board?
Not yet — rates are set per member at the workspace level. If a team member charges different rates for different clients, update their rate when switching projects.
What happens when the budget is exceeded?
Nothing is blocked. The progress bar turns red and shows the overrun amount. Budget tracking is informational — it never prevents anyone from working or logging time.
How do I remove a budget?
Open Board Settings → toggle Budget Tracking off → Save changes. The logged time data is preserved, only the budget limit is removed.
Can members see each other's rates?
No. Hourly rates and all cost-related data are only visible to workspace owners. Members see hours logged and budget progress as a percentage, but never monetary values.
Does deleting a task remove its worklogs?
Yes. When a workspace owner deletes a task, all associated time entries (worklogs) are automatically deleted, which updates the budget calculations.