- Participants
- Budget Functionality
Budget Functionality
In Astalty you can create 2 different types of Budgets;
- Internal Budgets
- These should be used when you need to calculate the cost of a service you will be delivering to the Participant
- External Budgets
- These should be used when you'd like to calculate the cost of supports that another Provider will be delivering
Creating a Budget
To create a budget, navigate to the Participant you'd like to calculate the budget for and click on the Budgets page in the sub-menu.
Then, click on Create Budget
Name
When creating a Budget, you'll need to enter a name for the budget - this should be short but descriptive.
Budget Type
You can choose between an Internal Budget and an External Budget.
Internal Budget
Use an Internal Budget if you will be delivering the Service.
- You will be able to use Charge Items to create the Budget
- You will be able to create a Service from the Budget
- You will be able to export the budget as a PDF
External Budget
Use an External Budget if you'd like to calculate the cost for service another Provider will be delivering
- You will be able to use all items from the Price Guide to create the Budget
- You will not be able to create a Service from the Budget
- You will be able to export the budget as a PDF
Budget Dates
If the Participant already has a Plan in Astalty, you can use those dates or you can enter any other dates.
Budget Items
When using an Internal Budget, you will be able to add Budget Items using Charge Items. If you have created an External Budget, you will have access to the full NDIS Price Guide to create your budget.
Support Ratios
When a support is shared between Participants, each Participant only pays a share of the full rate. You can set a ratio on a budget item so the reduced rate and total are calculated in the budget itself — rather than only becoming visible once the support is delivered and an invoice is raised.
Setting a ratio
When adding or editing a budget item, a Ratio control appears to the right of the item details, showing the current ratio and the percentage it works out to. It starts at 1:1 (100%) — the full rate.
Click the ratio to open it, then enter a Numerator and a Denominator. The percentage updates as you type, so 1 : 3 shows as 33.33%.
Once a ratio is applied, a Ratio unit price appears beneath it, and the item Total is recalculated from that reduced rate. In the example below, a $67.56 per hour item at 1:3 becomes a ratio unit price of $22.52, and 3 hours per week over 52.14 weeks totals $3,522.58.
Where the ratio appears
On the budget, ratioed items show a Ratio line under their units, and the item total in the list is the reduced amount:
On the Schedule of Supports in a generated Service Agreement, the item shows the ratio along with a plain-English explanation of the split. The Unit Amount column shows the reduced rate, while the explanation quotes the full rate it was calculated from:
The same line appears when you export the budget as a PDF:
Ratios and funding periods
Because a ratio changes the item total, it also changes how that item is distributed. If the budget has funding periods, changing a ratio recalculates the period amounts to keep them in step with the new total.
Ratios don't carry across to a Service
When you create a Service from the budget, the Service is funded with the ratio-adjusted total — so the dollar amount is correct. The ratio itself is not carried across, because a Service records an amount and the Charge Items that can be used against it, not a ratio.
Two things follow from that:
- Remaining units are worked out at the full rate. The Charge Item chosen under Calculate Remaining Units Using is priced at its ordinary rate, so the remaining hours shown on the Service will look lower than the hours the budget was planning for.
- What draws down the funding is the ratio applied when the support is delivered — not the one on the budget item. Where the support is delivered as a Group Support, Astalty applies that support's own ratio when it charges. If the same support ends up delivered one-to-one at the full rate, the Service's funding is used up faster than the budget assumed.
Budget Funding Periods
You can split a budget's total across multiple funding periods, each with its own dates and amount. This is useful when a Participant's funding is released in stages across their plan rather than all at once.
Enabling a funding schedule
When you create a budget, tick This budget has a funding schedule in the Funding Schedule section, then enter the Number of funding periods. This works for both Internal and External budgets.
Amounts stay at $0 until you add budget items — you can adjust the period dates and amounts afterwards. The periods are created using the Budget Dates you set, so make sure the start and end dates are correct.
Adding budget items
After creating the budget, add your budget items as normal using Add Budget Item.
As you add items, Astalty automatically assigns and calculates the funding periods, evenly splitting the budget total across them. The calculated periods appear in the Budget Funding Periods section on the budget.
Editing funding periods
To fine-tune the periods, click Edit in the Budget Funding Periods section. On the Update Budget Funding Periods page you can:
- Change the number of funding periods,
- Adjust each period's end date (the first period's start date and the final period's end date are set by the budget dates), and
- Set the amount for each period.
Use Redistribute Evenly to split the budget total equally across all periods again. The Periods Total and Budget Total shown at the bottom must match before your changes can be saved, so the funding periods always add up to the full budget amount.
Once a budget has funding periods, they flow through to the Service Agreement via the Schedule of Supports placeholder, and to any Service you create from the budget.
Generate Service Agreement
You can generate a service agreement via the budgets menu by clicking Actions and then Generate Service Agreement. To learn more about the custom template functionality click here. This budget will populate the Schedule of Supports placeholder for Service Agreement template types.
Select the Service Agreement template and the budget you want to use for the Schedule of Supports.
If the selected budget includes funding periods, they're captured in the Schedule of Supports too — each funding period and its amount is listed alongside the supports.
Exporting as PDF
Both Internal and External Budgets can be exported as a PDF using the Actions button.
Creating a Service
If you have created an Internal Budget, you will be able to create a Service from the Budget so you don't have to re-calculate the total amount. Simply click the Actions button and click Create Service.
Creating a Service with funding periods
Where a budget built from individual Charge Items includes funding periods, those funding periods carry across to the Service. On the Create a Service page you'll see This service has a funding schedule already ticked, with the periods and amounts pre-filled from the budget.
For more on managing funding periods once a Service has been created, see Funding Periods.