Move to a Working Budget when you are ready to continue with current product pricing while keeping a record of your Preliminary estimate.
Before you start
Open your project’s Preliminary Budget. Review your estimates and totals before advancing. This move cannot be undone.
At least one item must have a Preliminary designer cost. Each item that is not yet linked to the Product Board needs a name and an Area. Item Code, Schedule and Type are optional for this step.
Step 1: Move To Working
Open the project's Budgets tab and review the Preliminary Budget.
Select Move to Working Budget.
Review the Preliminary totals and the number of Product Board items Gather will create.* If Gather lists items with missing information, return to those rows and add the required name or Area.
Review Show your client the Working Budget. Select it only if you want the client to see the Working Budget; the option is off by default.
Select Move to Working Budget to confirm and wait for Gather to finish. When Working Budget is ready appears, select Got it.
* If you imported items from the Product Board, Gather uses those existing items when you move to Working. It does not create duplicates, even if the confirmation message says it will create items on your Product Board.
Review totals and client visibility before confirming.
What Changes
Gather saves a Preliminary Snapshot and opens the Working Budget. Items that were not linked to the Product Board receive corresponding Product Board items; items already linked keep their existing links.
For an item you created in the Preliminary Budget, Gather creates a placeholder on the Product Board. It carries over:
The item name.
Its Area assignments and quantities.
Its Item Code, Schedule and Type, if you entered them.
The placeholder does not receive the Preliminary pricing. Your estimate stays in the Budget, while the item's Working pricing remains blank until you add product pricing. Items already linked to the Product Board keep their existing product details and pricing. Those prices contribute to the Working Budget as soon as you move to Working.
Use Preliminary Snapshot to see the estimate captured at the move. Later edits do not rewrite that saved baseline.
Step 2: Start Sourcing In Working
Open the placeholder on the Product Board and add the product details and pricing as you source the item. Review its quantities, then return to Budgets to see those values in the Working Budget.
You can also use the Clipper to update an existing placeholder with the product you have sourced.
Working values come from the linked product. The estimate does not fill in for missing Working pricing, so check unpriced items when the Working total is lower than you expected.
Your manually entered Additional Costs and Design Fees carry over when you move to Working. Review those amounts and adjust them if needed.
Keep The Comparisons Separate
The Preliminary estimate records your planning values. Working reflects current product values. Actuals lets the team compare eligible order costs with Working designer costs as purchasing progresses.
A client-price difference between Preliminary and Working answers a different question from a designer-cost difference between Working and Actuals.
Troubleshooting
Problem | What to check |
The move is unavailable | Confirm edit permission and that at least one item has a Preliminary designer cost. |
Gather lists incomplete items | Add a name and Area to each listed item. |
You need to see the earlier estimate | Open Preliminary Snapshot. |
Working pricing is blank | Check the linked product and its pricing; the Preliminary estimate does not substitute for it. |
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