Budget Collaboration via BillingPoint
Onit’s new Budget feature provides an efficient, collaborative way to submit requested budgets within BillingPoint. In this how-to guide, you’ll get a step-by-step overview of how to work with the Budget feature within BillingPoint.
1. When the budget is requested the specified Vendor Billing Contact will receive an email that looks like this (and all users will see the budget request in their BillingPoint account).
NOTE: You will receive reminder notifications until the client-specified Vendor Submission Window (the number of days the vendors will be able to provide budget values) closes. Details for the submission window are displayed at the top of the budget submission page.
2. To send in the requested budgets, navigate to the Budgets tab within BillingPoint. Matters where budgets are requested will show up there. The Budgets tab is searchable and sortable.
3. Click into the budget you’d like to work on; a screen like this will appear. Fill out the requested amounts and any vendor comments you’d like to make.
From there, you can submit individual budgets with the “Submit to Client” button or submit all budgets with the “Submit All Budgets” button.
4. You’re also able to bulk submit budget values. For bulk submissions, first download the budget template.
5. Fill out the downloaded Excel document for each budget.
6. Upload the budget spreadsheet.
Remember to only upload the updated, downloaded .xlsx file, only define one budget per matter per row, and double-check matter names and numbers.
7. Review for accuracy and make any needed corrections; once you’re satisfied, submit the budget to the client.
8. After submission, when you log into the BillingPoint budgets screen, the budget details are now listed as “Pending Approval” under “Status.”
Budget Reforecasting Notes
As in budget requests, you will receive an email and BillingPoint notification of the request; reforecasts will also have a submission window displayed at the top of the budget submission page.
The vendor will have the option to submit “no changes” to their previous budget values; if no changes are submitted the budgets will be automatically returned to their previous state prior to reforecasting.
Any budget value changed during the reforecast process will be re-routed through the approval workflow.
Reforecast budgets can be submitted via the same bulk spreadsheet upload or manual submission covered above.
Important Things to Remember
If you fail to submit a budget value within the submission window, the client user can provide a value on the vendor’s behalf.
Invoices are associated with a budget upon their submission. The client can choose to implement billing rules related to the budget to apply errors or warnings to invoices.