How to fill and change a project budget with AI Actions

This guide shows you how to fill and change the budget of a project in PSOhub (the Budget tab) by asking your AI assistant, Claude or ChatGPT. Use it to budget hours per contract line for team members or open roles, start from a budget template, and copy the budget totals to the contract.

New to AI Actions? Start with AI Actions: create and update PSOhub data with your AI assistant. It explains how the preview and your approval work.

Before you start

Your AI assistant, Claude or ChatGPT, is connected to PSOhub. See Connecting your AI assistant to PSOhub.
Your account has access to AI Actions, a paid feature.
You are an administrator, a controller, or the project manager of the project with full project manager rights. See Who can do what below.
The project has contract lines of the type Fixed fee, T&M or Retainer. Expense and product lines have no budget grid.

Big jobs in one request

These requests replace filling the budget grid cell by cell. You check one preview and approve it once.

You say	What happens
"Here's the estimate from the quote: 120 hours Senior Consultant and 40 hours Project Manager on Implementation, 24 hours Designer on Design. Fill the budget of Website relaunch."	Each contract line gets the roles and hours from the estimate, as open roles. PSOhub calculates the amounts from the rates on the project.
"Our Excel estimate has the hours per contract line and role. Put it in the budget."	Up to 25 contract lines and 100 resources in one go. The preview shows the total per line before anything is saved.
"Fill the budget of Website relaunch from the Implementation budget template."	The template's roles and hours are copied into the empty budget. Its roles are added to the team as open roles.
"Copy the budget totals of Website relaunch to the contract lines."	The sales and cost budget of each contract line with budget hours is set to its budget total. The preview shows old and new per line.
"Add 40 hours for the Developer on Implementation and take 20 hours off the Designer."	The assistant reads the current budget, works out the new totals and shows old and new hours per resource.
"Create a budget template for the Implementation contract template: 80 hours Consultant and 16 hours Project Manager on each line."	A new budget template for that contract template, ready to use on new projects. Administrators only.

Putting people on the open roles and planning their hours is explained in AI Actions: Resource planning.

Quick everyday changes

Small updates you would otherwise open the Budget tab for:

You say	What happens
"What's in the budget of Website relaunch?"	The assistant shows the current budget per contract line, with resources, hours, amounts and planned hours. Nothing changes.
"Budget 16 hours for Eva as Designer on the Design line."	Eva is added to that line with 16 hours. If she isn't on the team yet, she joins at the rate of the role and gets a notification.
"Set the open Developer role on Implementation to 60 hours."	The hours of that resource change to 60.
"Remove the open Tester role from Implementation."	The resource is taken off that line. The team and the planning stay as they are.
"Take the Training line out of the budget."	The line and all its resources are removed from the budget.

How to change a budget

Tell your assistant which project and what should change. Mention contract lines by name, such as "Implementation", and people or roles by name.
Let it read the current budget. The assistant always looks at the budget first, so it changes the right resources.
Check the preview. You see old and new hours per resource, the amounts PSOhub calculated, and anyone who joins the team.
Approve. Say yes, or click the approve button if your assistant shows one. All changes are saved together, or none are.

What you can set

The budget works in hours. The amount is always hours × the rate of that team member on the project, so you never enter amounts yourself.

Per resource	Details
Role	A project role in the project's currency. Required for a new resource.
Person	Optional. Without a person, the resource is an open role.
Hours	The new total, not an addition. "10 hours extra" is worked out from the current budget.
Description	Optional, up to 200 characters.

Per request you can change up to 25 contract lines and 100 resources.

Note: removing a resource or a line only changes the budget. The team member stays on the team, and their planning stays as it is.

Copy the budget to the contract

Only when you ask for it, the assistant can copy the budget totals to the contract lines:

Budget: the sales and cost budget of each contract line with budget hours becomes its budget total.
Fixed fee amount: the amount of fixed-fee lines becomes their budget total.

This overwrites what was on the contract lines, so the preview shows old and new per line. A fixed-fee amount below what has already been invoiced is refused.

Budget templates

Use a template on a project. The assistant can fill an empty budget from a budget template that belongs to the project's contract template, in the same currency. The template's roles are added to the team as open roles. Template lines whose contract line was renamed on the project are skipped.

Create or change templates (administrators only):

A budget template belongs to one contract template, which also sets its currency.
Per contract line it holds roles with hours, never specific people. Amounts follow the rates of the roles.
A new template is named "Budget for …" unless you give it a name.
You can rename a template and change its lines. The contract template it belongs to can't change.

Note: changing a template doesn't change existing projects. A template is copied once, when it is applied.

Verify it worked

After saving, the assistant confirms which lines and resources changed, with a link to the project.
Open the Budget tab of the project to see the new hours and amounts.
Changes made through AI are marked via AI in the project's activity feed.

Who can do what

Role	Budget
Administrator, controller	Change the budget of any project; administrators also manage budget templates
Project manager with full rights	Change the budget of your own projects
Project Manager Basic, team member	Not available

What is not possible

These are done in PSOhub itself, or with another AI Action:

Budget on expense or product lines. Their budget is set on the contract line itself. See AI Actions: Contracts and budgets.
Budget on Closed or Archived projects.
Changing the role or person of an existing resource. Filling an open role with a person is done in AI Actions: Resource planning.
Importing a template into a budget that already has resources.
Deleting a budget template.

Common issues

The amounts are different from your estimate. PSOhub calculates amounts from the rates on the project. Check the rates of the team members, or change them in the project team.
A contract line can't be budgeted. It is an expense or product line. Set its budget on the contract line instead.
The template can't be imported. The budget already has resources, or the template belongs to another contract template. Empty the budget first, or pick a template of the project's contract template.
A colleague can't be added. They have no role in the project's currency. Pick another colleague or role.
A fixed-fee amount can't be copied to the contract. It is lower than what has already been invoiced on that line.
The assistant says your role doesn't allow it. Project Manager Basic can't change budgets. Ask the project manager or an administrator.

Frequently asked questions

Can I enter amounts instead of hours?

No. The budget works in hours, and PSOhub calculates the amount from each person's rate on the project. If you only have an amount, the assistant tells you how many hours it would take at that rate, and asks before using that number.

Does removing someone from the budget take them off the project?

No. They stay on the team and their planning stays. Only their budget hours on that line are removed.

Does the budget change the contract?

Only when you ask for it. Copying the budget to the contract is a separate request, and the preview shows the old and new values first.