How to Set Up Budgets in MyOrderDesk Follow

In MyOrderDesk, Budgets are a Payment Method. They can be configured in two ways:

  1. Shared Group Budgets: A group of users draws funds from a single, shared pool.
  2. Individual User Budgets: A single payment method is assigned to a group, but each user within that group tracks their own personal balance.

The updating (e.g., adding additional funds) and management of the budgets is done by the administrator, not the customer.

Setting up the Budget

  1. Go to Shopping Cart > Payment Methods.
  2. Select Add Payment Method > Custom.
  3. Name the Budget (e.g., "Department Budget" or "Employee Allowance").
  4. Check Enabled.
  5. You may want to uncheck Require Bill To address (since this is an internal budget, billing addresses are usually unnecessary).
  6. Availability: If you want the budget to be active only for a specific duration, enter a Start On and End On date.
  7. Tracking: Select the Tracking Type that fits your needs:
    • Budget (deduct from Total): Select this for a Shared Group Budget. Every order placed using this method deducts from a single, global pool of funds shared by everyone in the Group.
    • User Budget (deduct from User Total): Select this for Individual User Budgets. This allows you to use one Payment Method for a Group, but the system tracks a unique balance for every user.
    • Running Total (add to Total): Keeps a tally of spending without a hard limit
  8. Configure Budget Amounts:
    • If using "Budget" (Shared): Enter the Adjustment Amount. This is the total funds available to the whole group.
    • If using "User Budget" (Individual):
      • Default User Budget: Enter the starting amount automatically given to any user assigned to this payment method (e.g., enter "250" to start every user with $250.00).
      • Reset Budget for all Users: Check this box only if you wish to overwrite the current balance of all existing users and reset them to the "Default User Budget" amount entered above.
  9. Enter a reason if you would like (e.g., "Initial budget amount" or "Q1 Funds").
  10. Click Save.

View History & Manage Funds

  1. After saving, return to the list of Payment Methods and select the Budget Method you created.
  2. Select History at the bottom of the screen.
  3. In this window, you can view transaction logs and manage funds:
    • For Shared Budgets: You will see a log of orders and the remaining balance of the shared pool.
    • For Individual User Budgets: You can view the history of specific users. To update many users at once (e.g., adding funds for a new year), utilize the Import/Export features found on this page to update user balances via CSV upload.

Activate the Budget in your Group

  1. Go to Users & Groups.
  2. Select the Group you want to make the Budget available to.
  3. Select Checkout Options.
  4. Find the Budget Payment Method in the list, and turn it on.

Using the Budget when Ordering

  • When a user checks out, they can select this Budget. The order total will be deducted from either the group total or their personal user total, depending on your configuration.
  • If there are not enough funds available in the Budget, the user will receive a message prompting them to select an additional method for the remaining amount (provided another method is available).
  • If no additional methods exist, the user cannot complete checkout until the cart total is reduced or additional funds are added to the budget.

Reporting on Orders with Budget History

You can run reports to view orders placed against budgets.

  1. Go to Reports > Create New Item.
  2. Name your report (e.g., "Budget Usage").
  3. Select the items you would like to see. Suggested fields include:
    • Job Create Date
    • Order Sender
    • Order Sender Email
    • Payment Amount
    • Payment Date
    • Payment Method
  4. Save the report.
  5. Select View next to the report name.
  6. Complete the settings and run the report. You can then open the database file and filter by the budget payment method.

Note: To share this report with your customer, create a new group for them, go to Users & Groups > [Group Name] > Reports, and enable the report. They can then run it from the bottom of the history page by selecting the Reports option.

Additional Details

  • Split Payments: There is no requirement that the end-user must use the budget if they have another option available. However, they cannot manually choose how much to apply to the budget versus another method. Funds are only split between methods automatically when the budget does not have enough available funds to cover the full order.
  • Scalability: You can track individual budgets for large numbers of users using a single User Budget payment method assigned to a Group. It is not necessary to create separate payment methods for each user.

  • If you want to customize the messaging when a user may not have sufficient funds, you can do so in Shopping Cart > Cart Settings, as shown below.

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