Periods
Slice a project budget into monthly, quarterly, or custom time windows.
Periods
Periods are optional. They let you slice a project's budget into time windows so you can track burn rate within each slice and report month-by-month. Projects without periods use a single budget — allocations attach directly to the project.
Period types
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
none | Single budget, no time slices |
monthly | One period per calendar month for the project duration |
quarterly | One period per calendar quarter |
custom | Arbitrary date ranges you define |
Creating periods
Periods are created when you set up a project or added later from the project detail page. Each period has:
- Label — e.g. "March 2026" or "Sprint 1"
- Start date / End date — YYYY-MM-DD
- Budget hours — the hours allocated for this window
The project's totalBudgetHours automatically equals the sum of all period budgets.
Editing period budgets
Edit any period's budget directly on the project page. PayMe updates totalBudgetHours immediately. Other periods are not auto-scaled — you control the redistribution.
If you reduce a period budget below what's already allocated to members, a warning appears but no values are changed automatically. You'll need to adjust allocations manually.
Period splits and merges
Use the Split action to divide a period into two (useful when a project runs longer than planned). Use Merge to combine adjacent periods into one.
Both operations preserve all allocations and time entries within the affected date range.
Budget by period report
The Budgets report shows burn per period. Periods with budgetStatus: over are highlighted in red. See how your month-by-month burn tracks against planned.