Company Budget Settings

Company budget settings control global behavior for all budgets in your organization. These settings establish defaults and configure how budgets interact with bookings.

Accessing Budget Settings

1. Navigate to Budgets
2. Click the Settings tab or gear icon
3. Modify settings as needed
4. Click Save

Settings Overview

Require Budget for Booking

Controls whether users must have an assigned budget to book travel.

When to Enable

• Strict budget control: Every booking must be against a budget
• Complete spending visibility: No untracked travel expenses
• Policy compliance: All travel must be pre-approved via budget

When to Keep Disabled

• Gradual rollout: Not all employees have budgets yet
• Contractors/guests: Some users shouldn't have budgets
• Flexibility: Some travel shouldn't require budget tracking

Default Enforcement Mode

Sets the default enforcement mode for new budgets.

How It's Used

When creating a new budget, the enforcement mode field is pre-populated with this default. Administrators can still change it per budget.

Recommendation

Start with Warn When Exceeded as the default:

• Provides visibility into over-budget bookings
• Doesn't block users unexpectedly
• Can be tightened per-budget as needed

Budget Reservation Timing

Controls when budget is reserved during the booking process.

On Request (Recommended)

Pros: Prevents two users from using the same budget; most accurate availability during concurrent bookings; safe for shared pool budgets

Cons: Budget locked during approval wait; abandoned bookings hold budget until timeout

On Approval

Pros: Budget only locked when likely to proceed; less impact from abandoned bookings

Cons: Multiple requests may exceed budget simultaneously; approval decisions based on stale availability

On Confirmation

Pros: Maximum flexibility; no pending reservations

Cons: Highest overspending risk; budget availability inaccurate during booking

Pending Reservation Settings

Include Pending in Availability

Controls whether pending reservations count against available budget.

Example:

Total: $5,000
Spent: $3,000
Pending: $500

Include Pending = Yes → Available: $1,500
Include Pending = No  → Available: $2,000

Pending Reservation Timeout

How long pending reservations remain before automatic release.

What happens:

• A background job runs periodically
• Reservations older than the timeout are released
• Released amount returns to available budget

Choosing a timeout:

Approval Expiration

How long approved requests remain valid before budget is released.

What happens:

• After approval, user has this long to complete payment
• If not completed, budget reservation is released
• User would need to re-request

Refund Settings

Credit Refunds to Budget

Whether refunds add back to budget.

Enable when:

• You want accurate spending tracking
• Cancelled trips should free up budget
• Refunds are a normal occurrence

Disable when:

• Budgets are "one-way" (spend only)
• Finance handles refunds separately
• Refunds shouldn't increase available budget

Refund Credit Period

Which period receives the refund credit.

Current Period:

Booking: January (Period 1, closed)
Refund: March (Period 3, active)
Credit goes to: Period 3 ← User gets more budget now

Original Period:

Booking: January (Period 1, closed)
Refund: March (Period 3, active)
Credit goes to: Period 1 ← Accurate history, no impact on current

Recommendation: Use Current Period for practical budget availability. Use Original Period for accurate historical reporting.

Notification Settings

Send Budget Alerts

Whether to send notifications for budget events.

Alert Recipients

Who receives budget alerts.

Example configuration:

Alert Recipients:
- finance@company.com
- travel.admin@company.com
- budget.owners@company.com

Default Values

When settings haven't been configured, these defaults apply:

Saving Settings

After modifying settings:

1. Review changes in the form
2. Click Save or Update Settings
3. Changes take effect immediately
4. New budgets will use new defaults
5. Existing budgets retain their settings

Best Practices

Start Conservative

Begin with defaults that are safe:

• Require Budget: No (don't block users unexpectedly)
• Enforcement: Warn (visibility without blocking)
• Reservation: On Request (prevent overspending)
• Include Pending: Yes (accurate availability)

Enable Notifications

Set up alert recipients early:

• Finance team for budget oversight
• Department managers for their budgets
• IT/admin for technical issues

Review Timeout Values

Default 72-hour timeout works for most:

• Shorter (24-48 hours) for fast-paced environments
• Longer (168+ hours) for complex approval chains or international bookings

Match Refund Behavior to Needs

Consider your finance processes:

• Real-time budget management → Current Period
• Accurate historical reporting → Original Period

Settings Interaction Matrix

Understanding how settings work together:

Related Topics

• Enforcement Modes - How enforcement works
• Consumption Lifecycle - Reservation timing
• Monitoring - View alerts and violations