Programmes, Projects & Funding

Who this is for

Any operation that has to answer “what did that cost?” separately from “what did we spend?” — a grant-funded programme, a construction or refurbishment project, an event, a departmental budget, or a sponsor-backed initiative.

A project is also called a cost centre, and the two words mean the same thing here.

Common Tasks

How to Create a Project or Cost Centre (add project, cost centre, new programme, track spend separately)

Create something to attribute spend to.

Required permission: Expenses (manager level)

1. Go to Programmes → Programmes & Projects in the left sidebar
2. Create a new project
3. Enter its name, and a Code (optional) if you use project codes
4. Add a Description (optional) explaining what it covers
5. Save

Result: The project is available to select on expenses and purchases. A confirmation reads Project updated.

Note: Create the project before the spending starts. Attributing costs retrospectively means going back through every document.

How to Attribute Spend to a Project (tag expense to project, charge to cost centre, project spend)

Assign a cost to the work it belongs to.

Required permission: Expenses

1. Create or open the expense or purchase
2. Select the project it belongs to
3. Save the document

Result: The cost is attributed to that project and appears in its total.

Note: Do it while processing the document. A supplier invoice that could belong to two projects is much easier to allocate when it is in front of you than three months later.

How to Record a Grant or Sponsor (funding source, grant, sponsor, donor)

Record the money paying for a programme.

Required permission: Expenses (manager level)

1. Go to Programmes → Funding (Grants & Sponsors) in the left sidebar
2. Choose New funding source
3. Enter its name and the Donor (free text)
4. Set the start and End date of the funding period
5. Save

Result: The funding source is recorded. A confirmation reads Funding source created.

Note: The end date matters for reporting — funders usually want spend within their period, and costs falling outside it are often not claimable.

How to Report on What a Project Cost (project report, programme spend, how much did we spend on)

Pull the spend attributed to a project.

Required permission: Accounting read

1. Go to Expenses and filter by project
2. Set the period you are reporting on
3. For the accounting view, use Accounting → Reports → Expense Analysis and filter by project

Result: You see everything attributed to that project for the period.

Note: Only costs actually tagged to the project appear. Untagged spend is invisible here, which is why tagging at the point of entry matters.

How to Close a Project (finish project, deactivate project, archive cost centre)

Take a completed project out of the selection list without losing its history.

Required permission: Expenses (manager level)

1. Go to Programmes → Programmes & Projects
2. Open the project and choose Deactivate

Result: The project no longer appears when tagging new spend, but its history and reports remain.

Note: Use Reactivate if it turns out more costs are still coming in. Deactivating is reversible; it is not a deletion.