Budget Resolution

When a user books travel, the system must determine which budget (if any) applies to them. This process is called budget resolution and follows a clear priority hierarchy.

Resolution Hierarchy

The system checks for budgets in this order:

Priority	Source	Description
1 (Highest)	User Override	Budget assigned directly to the specific user
2	Role Assignment	Budget assigned to the user's company role
3 (Lowest)	None	No budget applies - spending is unrestricted

User-Level Assignments

User-level assignments are direct assignments of a budget to a specific user, overriding any role-based assignment.

Characteristics

Highest priority - Always takes precedence over role assignments
Time-bounded - Can have optional effective from/until dates
One budget per user - A user can only have one direct budget assignment
Override mechanism - Designed for exceptions to role-based budgets

Time Bounds

User assignments can have optional date ranges:

Field	Description	If Not Set
Effective From	When assignment starts	Immediately effective
Effective Until	When assignment ends	Never expires

Example Timeline:

January 1: Assignment starts (effectiveFrom)
January - February: Assignment is active
March 1: Assignment ends (effectiveUntil)
March onward: User falls back to their role's budget

Example: Temporary Budget Override

Scenario: Alice normally has a $3,000/month budget via her "Manager" role. During Q1, she's leading a high-travel project and needs $10,000/month.

Solution: Create a user-level assignment:

User: Alice
Budget: "Project Lead Q1 Budget" ($10,000/month)
Effective From: January 1
Effective Until: March 31

Result:

Jan-Mar: Alice uses the $10,000 budget
Apr+: Assignment expires, Alice uses role budget ($3,000)

Role-Level Assignments

Role-level assignments apply a budget to all users with a specific company role.

Characteristics

Bulk application - One assignment covers many users
Lower priority - Overridden by user-level assignments
No time bounds - Active as long as user has the role
One budget per role - A role can only have one budget assignment

How Role Resolution Works

System finds the user's role in their company
Checks if that role has a budget assignment
Verifies the assigned budget is active (not deleted or deactivated)
If all checks pass, the role's budget applies to the user

Example: Role-Based Budgets

Company Role Structure:

Role	Budget	Amount
Member	Basic Travel	$2,000/month
Manager	Manager Travel	$5,000/month
Executive	Executive Travel	$15,000/month

User Assignments:

User	Role	Effective Budget
Alice	Manager	Manager Travel ($5,000)
Bob	Member	Basic Travel ($2,000)
Carol	Executive	Executive Travel ($15,000)

No Budget (Unrestricted)

If a user has neither a user-level nor role-level budget assignment, they have no budget applied.

Behavior with No Budget

No spending limits enforced
No approval required for budget reasons
Spending still tracked in general order history
Policy rules may still apply (separate from budget)

Example: No Budget Scenario

Company Setup:

Role "Contractor" has no budget assigned
User "Dave" is a Contractor with no user-level assignment

When Dave books:

System checks for user-level assignment → None found
System checks role-level assignment → "Contractor" role has no budget
Result: No budget applies, booking proceeds without budget restrictions

Resolution Result

The resolution returns information including:

Field	Description
hasBudget	Whether a budget applies to this user
source	Where the budget came from: USER, ROLE, or NONE
budget	The budget details (name, amount, currency)
roleId	The role ID (if source is ROLE)
effectiveFrom/Until	Assignment dates (if source is USER)