Budgeting
You know that every phase becomes two variables, and how to use them so the budget follows the schedule.
**Every work phase automatically becomes two variables.** You do not create them; they exist because the phase does.
| Variable | Is | | ------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------- | | `<Phase>_workdays` | the phase's **Work Days (WD)** — days actually worked | | `<Phase>_duration` | the phase's **Total Days (TD)** — calendar days |
A phase named *Shooting* gives `Shooting_workdays` and `Shooting_duration`. The Variables dialog also shows them as `_WD` and `_TD`, and both spellings resolve.
**Work days** for anything paid per day worked — crew, cast, per-diems.
**Total days** for anything that runs on the calendar regardless — equipment rental, a vehicle, a location held for the duration.
Getting this wrong is a quiet error: a camera rented for the shoot costs calendar days, and budgeting it at work days is short by every weekend.
Put the variable in an account's **Quantity**:
| Description | Quantity | Unit | Price/Unit | | --------------- | ------------------- | ---- | ---------- | | Camera Operator | `Shooting_workdays` | days | 650 | | Camera Rental | `Shooting_duration` | days | 400 |
Schedules change. When the shoot gains a week, every account built this way re-costs itself and every payment scheduled at a milestone moves — with no one hunting through the budget.
A budget with `40` typed into those cells looks identical and answers nothing. The difference is invisible until the schedule moves, which is exactly when it matters and exactly when it is too late to retrofit.
So the habit worth forming: **when a quantity is a number of days, ask which phase it comes from** before typing it.
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