Beside the budget sit Actual and Variance. You do not type those in. They come from what is already booked in e-conomic or Dinero.
Payfriend never writes to the accounts. It only reads.
Only accounts you have put on a budget line count. An unmapped account does not show, and it does not trigger an alert.
Two speeds
Every hour. Payfriend syncs the postings and puts them on the sheet. That is what you normally see.
Update now. Fetches live from the accounting system when you have just booked and do not want to wait. It typically takes a few seconds, a couple of minutes at most. The button can be used three times in five minutes.
If the live fetch fails, the figures stay as they were (the copy, at most an hour old). A short note appears next to the timestamp, not an error screen.
The timestamp on the sheet
At the top it says Last updated and a time.
from the latest sync: the automatic hourly copy
fetched straight from the accounting system: you pressed Update now
“Updated at 09:00” is not a fault. It is when the figures were last computed.
Never computed? Map accounts onto the lines, and press Update now.
Variance alerts
Under the budget Settings:
Turn Alert on variance on. It is off until you turn it on
Set a limit in whole percent (1 to 100). E.g. 10 alerts when a line is more than 10 percent off
Save threshold
The email goes on the 1st of the month in the morning (07:35 UTC, about 09:35 Danish summer time) to the owner and administrators. It covers the month that just ended.
It measures only against baseline. Other scenarios do not affect the email. See Scenarios.
Active budgets only. A locked or archived budget does not get the email. No line over the limit: no email.
The email lists at most 20 lines (largest amounts first). The rest are counted, so a messy month does not become a novel.
You can see the recipient list under Settings. There is no custom mailing list.
Problems?
Symptom | Cause | Fix |
An account is missing under Actual | The account is not mapped to a line | Choose accounts on the line. Only mapped P&L accounts count |
The figures are old | The hourly copy has not run, or live failed | Update now. Check that e-conomic or Dinero is still connected |
No alert email | Alerts are off (the default) | Turn on Alert on variance and save a percent |
Still no email | The budget is not active, or no line crossed the limit | Activate the budget. Check baseline and mapping |
The email does not match the scenario I am looking at | The email uses baseline | Make the visible scenario baseline, or look at baseline |
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