The original figure gets edited
When a budget lives in a spreadsheet, an adjustment is made over the old number. A month later nobody can reconstruct the starting figure, and the owner asks for it in the same meeting where the overrun is discussed.
Budget changes
Construction budget change log: original, current and every change between
Sooner or later someone asks what the budget was at the start, what it is now, and what happened in between. A change log answers all three, but only if the original is never overwritten and each change carries an amount, a source, a reason and a name. This page sets out the columns such a log needs and shows how Fidrel keeps them: an original budget that is locked, changes added on top with a status, and a history that records who did what and when.
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Where budget logs fall apart
A change has no reason attached
A line moves by a round amount, with “per PM” in a comment cell. When the auditor, the lender or the next project manager asks why, the person who knew has moved on and the log cannot answer.
Expected, submitted and approved are mixed
Pending changes are folded into the current figure, or left out of it entirely. Either way the reader cannot tell what is decided and what is only likely, and the budget looks more certain than it is.
The columns a budget change log needs
A log that holds up under questions has the same columns whether it sits in a spreadsheet or a tool. The date of the entry. The budget item or cost code it affects. The amount, with its sign. The source, such as a change order number or a revision. The reason, in a sentence. The person who entered it and the person who approved it. The status, from expected through submitted to approved or rejected. And the budget after the change, so the original and the current figure can both be read off the same page. Fidrel holds each of these, in the places below.
Project budgets
How the original stays fixed
The original budget is the baseline estimate’s total when the phase was first approved, and it is locked. Approved budget changes are totaled separately, split into change orders, revisions and other, and added to the original to give the current budget. Nothing is overwritten: each change is added, shows up in the history, and keeps its amount and reason. A change order linked to a budget item sits as an expected change until it is approved under Project finances, and only then does the amount enter the current budget and a new budget version get saved.
Keeping the log in Fidrel, change by change
Step 1
Lock the original by approving the baseline
Choose Approve baseline and select the estimate that becomes the original project budget. From then on the original is locked and later budget changes are recorded separately instead of being typed over it.
Step 2
Add a change under Changes & budget approvals
In Project finances, open the Changes & budget approvals tab and choose Add. Pick the budget item, the Source if the change comes from a change order, the Budget changes amount, the Remaining forecast and a Reason.
Step 3
Submit it for a decision
A new change has the status Expected. Choose Submitted when it goes forward. A person with the forecast permission can add and submit, which keeps pending changes visible without counting them in the current budget.
Step 4
Approve or reject
A person with both the budget and approve permissions chooses Approved or Rejected. An approved change can later be set to Settled. Only approved changes are added to the original to form the current budget.
Step 5
Read the history and save a budget version
The History tab lists each action with its date and the person, and a From and a To side. For a snapshot, choose Save budget version, give a Reason, and compare it with the previous version line by line.
Who can enter and who can approve
Finance permissions are granted per person, and an administrator holds all of them. Adding an expected change and submitting it needs the forecast permission. Approving, rejecting and settling needs the budget and approve permissions together. The separation is deliberate: the person who raises a change need not be the one who decides it. Contingency is part of the budget, and using it moves budget to the receiving item without raising the project total; the risk and contingency page covers that side.
What the log does not do
Fidrel has no separate downloadable budget change log template; the log is the Changes & budget approvals tab and the History tab. The history list is read on screen. The cost report exports to Excel and CSV, but it is a cost report and not a log of changes. Fidrel does not produce a signed or stamped approval of a budget change; Approved is a status set by a person with the right to approve it.
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Date, budget item, amount, source, reason, who entered it, who approved it, the status and the resulting budget. In Fidrel the amount, source and reason are entered with the change, and the history adds the person and the time.
The original is locked when the baseline estimate is approved. Approved changes are totaled separately and added to it to give the current budget, so both figures are always available.
Finance permissions decide. Adding and submitting a change needs the forecast permission, and approving, rejecting or settling needs the budget and approve permissions. Every change shows up in the history.
No. A change order linked to a budget item sits as an expected change until it is approved under Project finances. Only then is its amount included in the current budget.
Yes. Save budget version stores a snapshot with a reason, and each version can be compared with the previous one line by line, with the difference shown for every budget item.