Budgeting
You can create variables, sort them into groups, and tell your own apart from the ones the budget maintains.
Click **Variables** in the toolbar.
The left panel has **three fixed groups above the separator** and your own below it:
- **All** — everything, which is where you look when you cannot remember where something lives. - **Work Phases** — generated from the timeline, two per phase. Not yours to create or delete. - **Subtotals** — the subtotals you inserted, plus the system values NPC, GT and DFFF.
Your own groups sit below. Add one with **+** on the **Groups** header; **Delete Group** removes it.
Select one of **your** groups, then add a variable and fill in the row:
- **Shorthand Name** — what you will type in formulas. Must be unique. Keep it short and unambiguous; this is the name that will appear in every cell that uses it. - **Comment** — what it means. Worth writing: the name has to be short, so this is where the reasoning goes. - **Calculation Formula** — a number, or an expression built from other variables and functions. - **Unit** — what the value counts.
**Value** is calculated and **In Use** counts the references.
The system variables — **NPC**, **GT**, **DFFF** — show a dash in the formula column and a live value. They are computed by the budget, not by you, so there is nothing to edit. Work-phase variables are the same: they follow the timeline, and their comment says so.
That is also why you cannot add a variable while **All**, **Work Phases** or **Subtotals** is selected — select one of your own groups first.
The eye takes a variable out of the pickers without removing it or breaking the formulas that use it. A variable in use cannot be deleted outright.
**Importing many at once.** A rate card is faster imported than typed — see [import variables from a spreadsheet](/kb/article/import-variables-from-a-spreadsheet).
**Deleting a variable or a group.** A variable used in a formula lists the formulas and lets you delete anyway, leaving them with an **Unknown Reference** error. A **group** whose variables are in use is refused outright — free the variables first. To find where a variable is used, search its name in the main window. The three outcomes are set out in [why some things can't be deleted](/kb/article/why-some-things-cant-be-deleted).
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