> 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/setting-a-budget.md).

# Setting a budget

Projects, programmes and portfolios can each carry a budget. Set one during the creation wizard, or later from the entity's **Budget** tab.

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## Total or monthly rate

Which one you get is decided by whether the work has a finish date; you do not choose it directly:

| The work                     | Gets                                                         |
| ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Has a target completion date | A **total budget**: the cost baseline for the whole thing    |
| Is open-ended                | A **monthly rate**                                           |
| Is a portfolio               | Always a **monthly rate**: portfolios never have an end date |

{% hint style="warning" %}
**Totals and rates are never added together.** They are different quantities, so every workspace-wide figure in Portavi is either a count or a breakdown by shape, never one blended number. A figure adding a £500,000 baseline to a £20,000/month rate would be the most authoritative-looking wrong number in the pack.
{% endhint %}

### Changing between them

If you give an open-ended project a completion date, Portavi offers to prefill the total from monthly rate × duration. It is a suggestion you can accept or dismiss, never a silent write.

## What you set

* **Cost baseline** (or **monthly budget**): the money
* **Check-in cycle**: how many weeks between confirmations. See [Check-ins and spend](/portavi-docs/budgets/check-ins-and-spend.md)
* **Contingency reserve** and **management reserve**: optional. See [Reserves](/portavi-docs/budgets/reserves.md)

Every money field names your workspace's currency, so there is no ambiguity about what "500,000" means.

## Currency

Set per workspace in **Settings → General**, detected from your region at signup. All budgets in a workspace use one currency; Portavi does not convert between them.

## Who can set a budget

The entity's owner, or a PMO manager.

## Skipping it

The budget step in every creation wizard is skippable. A project created without one simply shows the Budget tab's first-time setup form when you get to it.