--- title: How do I use the budget-to-actual report? description: "How to use the Budget to Actual report in Clean Smarts: set shift budgets, open the report under Time Tracking, read Budgeted vs Assigned vs Actual, use variance colors, Trends, and export." --- [Skip to content](https://support.cleansmarts.com/how-do-i-use-the-budget-to-actual-report#main-content) [![](https://support.cleansmarts.com/hs-fs/hubfs/cleansmarts_logo_white_med.png?width=320&height=110&name=cleansmarts_logo_white_med.png)](https://www.cleansmarts.com/) Open main navigation Close main navigation - [Contact us](mailto:support@cleansmarts.com) [Contact us](mailto:support@cleansmarts.com) How can we help you? - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. 1. [Clean Smarts Knowledge Base](https://support.cleansmarts.com/?hsLang=en-us) 2. [Web Portal](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us) 3. [Pay Rates and Job Costing](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us#pay-rates-and-job-costing) # How do I use the budget-to-actual report? ## Use Budget to Actual to compare budgeted, assigned, and actual hours and labor costs by user or location, including Summary and Trends views, variance badges, drill-downs, and Excel export. The **Budget to Actual** report compares what you planned to staff and pay against what you assigned and what people actually worked. Use it to answer: - In which locations have we scheduled more or fewer people than what is in our service agreement? - Are our labor rates higher than our budgeted rates? - Are people working more or fewer hours than they have been assigned? **Applies to:** Managers and payroll staff with **Timetracking (Edit)**. The **Dollars** view, cost columns, and rate options require the **Costs** module (Expert plan). Setting shift budgets needs location edit access; setting employee pay rates needs **Users (Edit)** and **Costs**. --- ### Before You Start - **Budgets live on shifts (and jobs), not on the report itself.** The report only reflects **Budgeted cleaners per shift** and **Budgeted labor rate** you set when you create or edit a shift or work order. - **Budgeted hours appear only when you group by Locations.** Switch the row view to **Locations** to see the **Budgeted** column. **Users** and **Both** show Assigned and Actual (and variance), but not Budgeted hours. - **Hours vs dollars.** Everyone with time-edit access can run the report in **Hours**. Switch to **Dollars** only if your role includes **Costs**. --- ### Setting Budgets on a Shift To get useful Budget to Actual numbers, make each shift match your service agreement and expected labor cost. 1. Open **Manage Locations** from your profile menu in the bottom-left corner, or press **Ctrl/Cmd + K** and search for the location name. 2. Open the location, then open the **Shifts & Inspections** tab. 3. Select a shift (or create one). In the shift editor, expand the **Budget** section. 4. Set **Budgeted cleaners per shift** to the number of people that should cover the shift. Whole numbers are usual; decimals (for example `2.5`) are allowed when a fractional headcount matches your agreement. 5. Enter the **Budgeted labor rate** and currency. Cost is calculated hourly. If your contract is a fixed dollar amount for the shift, divide that amount by the shift length to get an hourly rate. 6. (Optional) Turn on **Hold to budget** if you want Clean Smarts to help keep staffing at the budgeted headcount. 7. (Optional) Choose a **Default pay code** for time logged against the shift. 8. (Optional) Turn on **Pay users the budgeted labor rate** if people on this shift should be paid the budgeted rate instead of their normal employee rate. 9. Save the shift. You can also open a shift from the calendar or from Budget to Actual itself: in **Locations** view, click a **Budgeted** value to open that location's scheduled shifts for the date, then select a shift to edit. --- ### Setting Employee Pay Rates Assigned and actual **costs** use each employee's pay rate (unless a shift override or pay-code rate applies). 1. Open **Manage Users** from your profile menu, or press **Ctrl/Cmd + K** and search for the user. 2. Open the user's **Time & Pay** tab. 3. Under **Pay rates**, click **Add New Pay Rate**, enter the rate, currency, and start date, then save. Pay rates only appear when your company is on the Expert plan and your role includes **Costs**. For more detail on how rates resolve on time entries, see [How can I add a new user?](https://support.cleansmarts.com/how-can-i-add-a-new-user?hsLang=en-us) (Time & Pay section) and [How do I set up pay codes?](https://support.cleansmarts.com/how-do-i-set-up-pay-codes?hsLang=en-us). - [Getting started](https://support.cleansmarts.com/getting-started?hsLang=en-us) - [Mobile App](https://support.cleansmarts.com/mobile-app?hsLang=en-us#main-content) - [Getting Started](https://support.cleansmarts.com/mobile-app?hsLang=en-us#getting-started) - [Timekeeping](https://support.cleansmarts.com/mobile-app?hsLang=en-us#timekeeping) - [Geofences](https://support.cleansmarts.com/mobile-app?hsLang=en-us#geofences) - [Shifts, Jobs & Work Orders](https://support.cleansmarts.com/mobile-app?hsLang=en-us#shifts-jobs-work-orders) - [Checklists, Tasks, and Scan Points](https://support.cleansmarts.com/mobile-app?hsLang=en-us#checklists-tasks-and-scan-points) - [Issues and Service Requests](https://support.cleansmarts.com/mobile-app?hsLang=en-us#issues-and-service-requests) - [Inspections](https://support.cleansmarts.com/mobile-app?hsLang=en-us#inspections) - [Supplies](https://support.cleansmarts.com/mobile-app?hsLang=en-us#supplies) - [Messaging and Notifications](https://support.cleansmarts.com/mobile-app?hsLang=en-us#messaging-and-notifications) - [Manager Features](https://support.cleansmarts.com/mobile-app?hsLang=en-us#manager-features) - [Offline, Sync & Troubleshooting](https://support.cleansmarts.com/mobile-app?hsLang=en-us#offline-sync-troubleshooting) - [Profile and Help](https://support.cleansmarts.com/mobile-app?hsLang=en-us#profile-and-help) - [Training](https://support.cleansmarts.com/mobile-app?hsLang=en-us#training) - [Web Portal](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us#main-content) - [Checklists, Tasks, and Scan Points](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us#checklists-tasks-and-scan-points) - [Users](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us#users) - [Custom Fields](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us#custom-fields) - [Geofences](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us#geofences) - [Inspections](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us#inspections) - [Issues and Service Requests](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us#issues-and-service-requests) - [Locations and Sub-locations](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us#locations-and-sub-locations) - [Messaging](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us#messaging) - [Pay Rates and Job Costing](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us#pay-rates-and-job-costing) - [Shifts and Scheduling](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us#shifts-and-scheduling) - [Supplies](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us#supplies) - [Time and Attendance](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us#time-and-attendance) - [Translation](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us#translation) - [Work Orders](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us#work-orders) - [Assets and Equipment](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us#assets-and-equipment) - [Billing and Subscriptions](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us#billing-and-subscriptions) - [Integrations](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us#integrations) - [Payroll](https://support.cleansmarts.com/web-portal?hsLang=en-us#payroll) - [Customer Portal](https://support.cleansmarts.com/customer-portal?hsLang=en-us#main-content) - [Getting Started](https://support.cleansmarts.com/customer-portal?hsLang=en-us#getting-started) - [Completed Work](https://support.cleansmarts.com/customer-portal?hsLang=en-us#completed-work) - [Quality](https://support.cleansmarts.com/customer-portal?hsLang=en-us#quality) - [Service Requests](https://support.cleansmarts.com/customer-portal?hsLang=en-us#service-requests) - [Messages](https://support.cleansmarts.com/customer-portal?hsLang=en-us#messages) - [Supplies](https://support.cleansmarts.com/customer-portal?hsLang=en-us#supplies) - [Notifications](https://support.cleansmarts.com/customer-portal?hsLang=en-us#notifications) [![](https://support.cleansmarts.com/hs-fs/hubfs/cleansmarts_logo_white_med.png?width=320&height=110&name=cleansmarts_logo_white_med.png)](https://www.cleansmarts.com/) Copyright © 2026, Clean Smarts