> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://portavi.gitbook.io/portavi-docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://portavi.gitbook.io/portavi-docs/budgets/reserves.md). # Reserves Portavi follows PMBOK's model for reserves, which is about *containment*, which pot sits inside which, rather than three equal buckets.

``` cost baseline = work estimates + contingency reserve project budget = cost baseline + management reserve ``` ## Contingency reserve Money for **identified** risks: the things in your risk register that might cost money. * Sits **inside** the cost baseline * Released on the project manager's own authority * Spending it is normal project management, not an escalation ## Management reserve Money for **unknown unknowns**: what nobody anticipated. * Sits **outside** the cost baseline * Drawing on it is a governance act that formally moves the baseline * Spending it is an escalation, by design ## Why the distinction matters {% hint style="info" %} Because the cost baseline **is** the Budget at Completion that earned value measures against, folding contingency into it would move every CPI, EAC and VAC figure in the product. Keeping the containment right is what makes the earned-value numbers mean what they say. {% endhint %} ## Where reserves can be set All three levels (project, programme and portfolio) can hold both kinds. Contingency is a project-level instrument in the standard, so it belongs on projects as much as above them. ## Tracking reserve usage Every spend entry records which pot paid for it: baseline, contingency or management. The Budget tab shows how much of each reserve remains. {% hint style="info" %} A reserve with nothing drawn against it shows **undefined** coverage rather than infinite. No overrun to cover is not the same as infinite protection, and Portavi does not report it as though it were. {% endhint %}