Track the forecast against your budget

Once you have a budget, Flowstate shows how far your live records have moved from it. Use this each month to see whether the forecast is drifting, where and why.

You need access to budgets — ask your Flowstate admin. To see cost and drift, you also need access to financial figures.

Where to look

To see	Go to
How far the whole forecast has moved from the budget	Finance → Budgets → Budgets
What the budget contains, by team, project and initiative	The budget version — see Read a budget version
Every change since the budget was set	The Drift tab on the budget version
Whether each team is over or under its own budget	The Budget column on Resourcing → People and teams → Teams
What the forecast looks like now, month by month	The forecast

Check the whole budget

1. Go to Finance → Budgets → Budgets. Versions are grouped by fiscal year, and each is Active, Superseded or Rolled back.
2. On the active version, the red or green figure shows how far the forecast has moved. The Live vs envelope bar turns amber from 90% of the budget and red above 100%.
3. Hover over a version to Export Budget or Roll back.

Export Budget gives you Budget at Snapshot (the budget as it was set) or Budget with Deltas (with the changes since).

Read a budget version

Select a version on Finance → Budgets → Budgets to open it. The title shows the fiscal year and version, such as 2025/26 · v2.

The summary strip

Figure	What it shows
Employees, Contractors, Vacancies	How many were in the budget when it was set
FTE	The budget's total FTE
Cost	The budget's cost
Created	Who saved the version, and when
Budget Drift	How many changes there have been since, across how many teams. When nothing has changed, it says No changes since budget was finalised

Overview

The version opens on Overview.

• When things have changed, a Budget Drift callout gives the number of changes and teams, and how much cost they add or remove. Select Review drift to open the Drift tab.
• Cost by Team shows the ten teams with the highest budget cost, each counted without its sub-teams.
• Cost by Role shows the ten job roles with the highest total salaries in the budget, with how many employees are in each.

Teams

The budget as a team tree. Select a team to show its sub-teams. A team with no sub-teams opens to its Employees, Contractors and Vacancies, and selecting a person opens their details.

Column	What it shows
HC	Headcount — employees, contractors and vacancies, including sub-teams
FTE	FTE, including sub-teams. A green or red figure beside it is how much the team's own FTE has changed since the budget was set
Cost	Cost, including sub-teams
Drift	How many changes there have been since the budget was set, in the team and its sub-teams. A dash means none

Teams with changes are listed first; teams without changes are greyed. Inside a team, people who have joined since the budget are marked Added, people who have gone are marked Removed, and vacancies that are no longer open are marked Filled.

Projects

Every project in the budget, with the most FTE first. The columns are Name, Stage, Owner, FTE and Cost. Select a project to see the employees, contractors and vacancies on it.

Initiatives

Every initiative in the budget, with the highest cost first. The columns are Name, Committed FTE, Cost and Desired — the budget the initiative asked for, or a dash if it didn't ask for one. Select an initiative's name to open it on the roadmap.

The version's other tabs are Drift, below, and Adjustments — see Change a team's budget mid-year.

See what's changed

1. Open the version and select the Drift tab.
2. Read the changes, grouped as New arrivals, Departures, New vacancies, Team moves, Project moves, Salary changes, Rate changes and Date changes.
3. To narrow the list, filter by Change type, Kind or Team.

Each change shows what it was before and after, the team, the change in FTE and cost, and when it takes effect.

See each team's position

On Resourcing → People and teams → Teams, the Budget column shows:

Shows	Meaning
On budget	The team's forecast matches its budget
Over by an amount	The forecast is above the budget
Under by an amount	The forecast is below the budget
No budget set	The team has no budget of its own for the year

Hover for the team's budget, its current forecast and the difference.

Tip

The Budget column is updated when a budget is accepted, a snapshot is taken or a mid-year change is applied. For the latest picture in between, use the Drift tab or the forecast.

If something's not right

You can't see Finance → Budgets → Budgets. Ask your Flowstate admin for access to budgets.

There's no drift figure on a version in the list. The list only shows drift on each year's active version. Open an older version and select Drift to see its changes.

A version has no Drift or Initiatives tab. It was saved before Flowstate kept that detail. Take a new snapshot, or accept a new run, to get it.

A team shows No budget set. Teams get their own budget from an accepted budget run. A snapshot doesn't give them one.

The Budget column disagrees with the Drift tab. The column was last updated at the last acceptance, snapshot or mid-year change. The Drift tab is up to date.