Projects

A project is an undertaking or an event that eats money from several categories at once: a kitchen renovation, a holiday, a wedding, a separate sales channel. Put a project on your transactions and you will see them apart from categories: on their own page, with their own budget and deadline. In a business book the same directory keeps business lines.

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How a project differs from a category and a tag

Svodly has three separate dimensions, and they do not replace one another:

A category answers “on what” — “Groceries”, “Building materials”. A transaction has exactly one, and analytics and budgets rest on it.
A project answers “what for”. Also one per transaction — but it collects spending across categories: “Kitchen renovation” takes in the materials, the delivery and the fitter’s work alike.
A tag is a free-form label, and there can be several.

A practical rule: if the spending has a start, an end and a total amount you keep an eye on, that is a project.

Create a project

On a computer and on the web the “Projects” directory sits in the collapsible “Directories” group at the very bottom of the sidebar, next to “Categories”, “Counterparties” and “Tags”. On a phone it is in the sections menu: the “Directories” row under “Budgets”, and “Projects” inside it.

Open “Projects” and press Project.
Enter a name — “Kitchen renovation”, “Trip to Sochi”, “Ozon”.
Add a note if you like — what the project covers.
Set the budget and deadline — optional, but this is what switches on the “Budget” tab (see below).
Pick a color and an icon. The icon comes from the shared library of 416 glyphs with search by name; for projects the “Projects and goals” group comes first. The icon picker is the last block of the form.
Save — Create.

You do not have to create the project up front: it can be created right from the transaction form — start typing a name in the “Project” field and Create project “…” appears under the results.

“Projects” → “Project”: the name “Karelia trip” and a note; “Budget and deadline” can stay empty. The “Sky” colour, “tent” in the icon search → the tent icon — the preview at the top updates at once. “Create” — the project is in the list, with no transactions yet.

On the phone: Directories → Projects → “+” → “Отпуск в Карелии” (a Karelia trip), the note “Поход и байдарки”, the “Moss” colour, an icon found by “палатка” (tent) → “Save”: the project is in the list.

Put a project on a transaction

The transaction form has a “Project” field — right under “Description”, on a computer and on a phone alike. It defaults to “No project”: a project is optional, and most transactions do not need one.

If the chosen project has a budget, a hint appears right under the field: “Project budget: N of M remaining” — or “over budget by N” if the limit is already spent.

“Transactions” has a “Project” filter chip (it shows up once the book has at least one project): you can tick several projects or hide the ticked ones — “everything but the wedding and the holiday”. On a computer and on the web a “Project” column can be added to the table — hidden by default, switched on in the column settings.

For recurring transactions the project is part of the series template: repeats inherit it, and editing a transaction of the series changes the project on a single transaction, on all live transactions of the series, or on a new rule when the series is split.

Computer and web: the “Project” field in the transaction card — pick from the list, create a new one right from the search box, and see the budget left.

Phone: the “Project” field under “Description” — a picker sheet with search, “Create project “…”” right from the results and the budget-left hint under the field.

The “Projects” directory

The list shows how many transactions each project carries and their turnover for the selected period: in a personal book — “Transactions / Income / Expense / Net”, in a business book — “Revenue / Costs / Profit / Margin”. The period switch in the header offers month or all time.

Project totals never mix currencies: if transactions went through in several currencies, each one gets its own line — the book’s base currency first.

A project with a budget carries a bar and the line “spent of budget · % · until date” under its name; an overdue one says “deadline passed”.

Sorting

On the computer, on the web and on a tablet, click a column header to sort the directory — by name, number of transactions, income, expense or net, and in a business book by revenue, expenses, profit or margin. An arrow by the active column shows the direction, and a second click reverses the order. On a phone the ⇅ button opens a menu with the same columns: on the web it sits on the right of the “Projects · N” card header (“Directions · N” in a business book; a collapsed card has no button), in the app — on the right of the “month / all time” row.

The default is by name. Net is sorted with its sign, so loss-making projects end up at the bottom, and when sorting by margin, business lines without revenue go last. If transactions went through in several currencies, the order follows the screen’s currency — the only currency of the transactions, otherwise the book’s base currency; amounts in other currencies do not affect it. Archived projects go by archiving date. Sorting uses the numbers you see in the row: on the computer, on the web and on a tablet — for the selected period, in the phone app — for the current month. The last sort you picked is remembered on the device and is not synced between devices.

The “Projects” directory: each project’s turnover and the budget bar under its name. “All time” → click “Expense”, a second click reverses the order; “Net” is sorted with its sign, so loss-making projects go to the bottom; “Name” brings back A to Z.

On the phone: “References” → “Projects” — the month’s amount in large type, and sorting follows it. ⇅ → “By expense”, “By net”, “By name”; a long press on a project opens editing, a tap opens the project page.

The project page

Press a project in the directory and its page opens. On a phone that is a tap on the row (editing — a long press), on a computer and on the web it is a nested screen, just like the category page.

At the top there is a hero covering the whole history of the project, not the month:

in a personal book — the project’s expenses in large type plus “transactions / income / net”;
in a business book — the line’s profit plus “revenue / costs / margin”.

Currencies are kept apart here too: turnover in other currencies gets its own line. The “Cash flow” card next to the hero (on the computer and on the web) works the same way: the columns are in the page's currency, and other currencies go on an “also …” line under the total. Transactions tagged “Not counted” stay out of the numbers but remain in the list.

Below are three tabs:

“Transactions” — the journal with the project pinned; the remaining filters (period, account, category) are free.
“Budget” — what is left, the spending pace and the chart (see below).
“Analytics” — the period starts at all time: donut charts by category and counterparty, largest expenses, observations.

The page header carries project editing and a Transaction button that opens the form with the project already chosen. On a phone the “+” of the bottom bar does the same.

The project page: a hero over the whole history, the “Transactions”, “Budget” and “Analytics” tabs, editing and “+ Transaction” in the header.

Phone: the project page opens with a tap from the directory — a hero over the whole history and the same three tabs: transactions, budget and analytics.

Project budget and deadline

The project form has a “Budget and deadline” section: an amount in a single currency (the book’s base currency by default; the “Currency” field appears as soon as an amount is entered) and a deadline chosen from two modes. The modes are mutually exclusive — saving one clears the other.

“Until month end”

The amount becomes a limit for the current month in “Budgets”. The data is shared: the limit shows up there right away and can be edited in either place. A new limit is a one-off for this month; a monthly limit already set in “Budgets” is shown by the project form and edited from the current month on.

“Until a date”

The amount covers the whole project, plus a start and an end date (both optional). These are attributes of the project itself; no limit appears in “Budgets”. An end date before the start will not save: “End is before start” appears under the field and both dates stay in the form.

What the “Budget” tab shows

“Remaining” of the budget — with a spending bar, an even-pace marker and a status: “on track”, “spending ahead of plan” or “Over budget by N”. The thresholds are the same as for budgets: 90 % of the limit, or running ahead of the even pace of the deadline.
The “Spent / Budget / Daily allowance” chips.
Figures for the remainder (money and per cent), the average spending per day and per week, the daily allowance for the days left, and the deadline — “N days left”, “due today” or “deadline passed N days ago”.
The “Cumulative spending” chart by day: the budget line, the deadline marker and the dotted even-pace line.

Without a budget the tab shows only “Spent” and a Set budget and deadline button. Without an end date there is no daily allowance and no deadline marker. An overdue active project gets an Archive button.

“Spent” follows the budget rules: actual expenses only — no transfers, no investment movements and nothing tagged “Not counted” — and only in the currency of the budget (transactions in other currencies get separate lines). Transactions after the deadline are allowed and counted: Svodly does not block spending over the limit and sends no notifications — the overrun is visible inside the app.

The “Budget” tab: what is left of the budget with a bar and a status, the daily allowance, the deadline and the cumulative-spending chart with the budget line.

Phone: the same “Budget” tab — the remainder, the spending pace, the deadline and the cumulative-spending chart.

Budget by category

The project budget can be broken down by category — the “Budget by category” block on the same tab. A limit here applies to the whole project, not to a month.

A row is “category · spent / limit” with progress and a status (“on plan”, “on the edge”, “over by N”); the pace follows the project deadline.
A parent category limit covers its subcategories — you cannot set a limit on a parent and on its subcategory at the same time.
The “No limit” row gathers spending in categories without a limit and transactions with no category at all.
If the category limits add up to more than the project budget, a gentle hint appears: “Category limits exceed the project budget by N”. It does not block saving.

Add category opens a small “category + limit” form (a drawer on a computer and on the web, a bottom sheet on a phone); pressing a row opens editing or Remove limit. Categories without a limit forbid nothing: they do not restrict the choice of category in the transaction form.

The “Budget by category” block: “category · spent / limit” rows with progress, the “No limit” row and the small limit form.

Phone: “Budget by category” — the same rows; a limit is added and edited in a sheet.

Archiving and deleting

A finished project goes to the archive — nothing is lost: the transactions stay in the journal and in analytics, while forms stop offering the project (one already attached to a transaction is shown with an “archived” note). In the “Transactions” filter archived projects are gathered in an “Archive” group, and the project budget is hidden until it is restored.

On a computer and on the web — the Archive and Restore buttons in the project card and a collapsed “Archived projects” section at the bottom of the directory.
On a phone — an “Archive” section at the bottom of the directory and the Archive project / Restore project actions in editing.
On the page of an archived project there is an “Archived” badge and a dismissible plate with the archiving date under the tabs.

A project can be deleted only from the archive — an active one has no delete button. On deletion Svodly asks where to put the transactions: move them to another project or leave them without a project. The transactions themselves are never deleted.

“Sochi holiday” → the pencil → “Archive”: the project moves to the collapsed “Archived projects” section. Its page shows the “Archived” badge and an “Archived since …” notice. Only an archived project can be deleted: the pencil → “Delete project” → “Leave without a project” → “Delete”.

On the phone: long-press “Отпуск в Сочи” → “Archive project” → the “Archive · 1” section → the project page “archived since …” → “Edit” → “Transactions on delete”: “No project” → “Delete project” → “Delete”: the “Archive” section is gone.

In a business book — business lines

In a business book a project is a business line: a sales channel, a location, a single contract. The screen and all the maths are the same, only the terms change: the columns read “Revenue”, “Costs”, “Profit” and “Margin” instead of “Income” and “Expense”, the page and the form say “Business line”, and the hero shows the line’s profit. That is how each line shows its own profit apart from categories. On a phone the directory in a business book is titled “Directions”.

On a phone the sections menu of a business book keeps the directory in the same “Directories” sub-level as a personal book does.

Where to next

Budgets — monthly limits and how the “until month end” mode ties into them.
Categories and counterparties — the main analytics dimension.
Tags — how a label differs from a project.
Analytics — where to switch from categories to projects.
Business book — lines and management reports.