--- title: Controlling Spending With Budgets | Shopware Community Hub description: >- Configure and verify budgets that limit how much one or more Organisation Units can spend within a period, and understand how over-budget orders connect to… canonical_url: 'https://hub.shopware.com/learn/unit/controlling-spending-with-budgets' --- - Understand what a budget controls for one or more Organisation Units and over which period. - Configure budget settings such as amount, renewal, visibility, and approval handling. - Understand how over-budget orders can connect to the Order Approval process. - Verify how B2B customers select and review budgets during checkout. # Controlling Spending With Budgets Companies usually do not let every department spend without limits. Procurement often operates within defined spending limits: an Organisation Unit may spend up to a certain amount per month or quarter, and anything beyond that may need sign-off. Without this control, a B2B shop cannot match how companies actually manage money. Budget Management adds these spending limits to B2B-enabled customer accounts. It defines how much one or more Organisation Units may spend within a period and can connect over-budget orders to the approval process. This learning unit shows you how budgets behave, where you configure them, and how B2B customers use them at checkout. Budget Management is available from Shopware 6.7.4.0 with the Shopware Evolve plan. If you do not see budget options, confirm the Shopware version and that the relevant B2B functions are active for the customer. ## Continue in Your Learning Environment Use the learning environment from earlier in this learning path to follow the budget workflow. If you have not opened it yet, open it here before you continue. For this learning unit, use a B2B-enabled customer account with Organisation Units and Budget Management active. To test over-budget behavior, the customer should also have Order Approval configured with an active approving role. ## What a Budget Controls A budget is a spending cap over time: > A budget sets a spending limit for one or more Organisation Units during a defined time period. Each order reduces the available amount for the current period, so buyers can see how much spending room is left when remaining-budget visibility is enabled. Key terms: - **Amount**: The maximum spending limit for the budget. - **Renewal period**: The interval in which the budget resets, such as weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly. - **Organisation Units**: The parts of the B2B company account the budget applies to. - **Remaining budget**: The amount still available during the current period. As employees place orders for an assigned Organisation Unit, the used amount grows and the remaining amount shrinks until the budget renews. This gives the customer a live view of how much spending room is still available. Budgets are not only a control mechanism. They also help departments plan their purchasing throughout the budget period by making available spending visible before an order is placed. This mirrors real procurement. A department with a monthly budget can buy freely within it, plan around what remains, and know that exceptions will not slip through unnoticed. Budgets can also represent concrete buying purposes, such as customer gifts, a holiday campaign, or regular office supplies. ## How Budgets Connect to Approval Budgets do not simply replace the approval workflow. They can use it when an order exceeds the available budget: > If an order would exceed the available budget, it can be routed into approval instead of becoming a normal order immediately. Within budget, ordering proceeds normally. Over budget, the order is treated as an exception. If approval requests are allowed for the budget and an approving role exists, the order can move into approval so an authorized approver can decide whether the exception is justified. Because of this, budgets and Order Approval are most powerful together. The budget defines normal spending, and approval handles the exceptions the budget surfaces. If you offer budgets, make sure the customer also has approving roles in place to handle over-budget orders. ## Configure Budgets in the Administration and Storefront Budgets are part of the company account. In the Administration, you can view and manage the budgets of a customer with active B2B functions by opening the customer under **Customers > Overview** and selecting the **Company** tab. Authorized B2B customer-side users can also create and manage budgets in the storefront company account. The form uses the same basic model in both places, even if the layout differs. Budgets fit naturally with the structure from the previous courses. You assign a budget to the Organisation Units that should use it. Employees then work in an Organisation Unit context and select an available budget during checkout. ![Administration: Account Overview: Company Account: Budgets: Create Budget](assets/images/administration_customer_overview_company_tab_budgets_create_budget_page.jpg) ![Storefront: Account Overview: Budgets: Create Budget](assets/images/storefront_account_overview_budgets_overview_create_budget_page.jpg) Both screens show the same budget model: One from the administration and one from the storefront company account. The labels may be arranged differently, but the important decisions are the same. When you create or edit a budget, the most important settings are: - **Active**: Whether the budget can be used. - **Budget name** and **technical name** (mandatory): The visible and internal names of the budget. - **Cost centre**: An optional internal reference for the customer's accounting or purchasing structure. - **Amount** (mandatory): The total budget available for the period. - **Organisation units**: Which parts of the company account can use the budget. - **Start date** and **renews** (mandatory), plus optional **end date**: When the budget is valid and whether it resets. - **Allow approval requests when budget is fully used**: Whether over-budget orders can be submitted for approval instead of being completed directly. - **Gives order approval**: Which role can approve the over-budget request when this field is shown in the budget form. - **Allow users to view remaining budget**: Whether buyers see how much budget is still available in the storefront. - **Enable notifications**: Whether selected contacts are notified when configured budget thresholds are reached. The budget setting does not replace the approval setup. It uses the customer's Order Approval roles to decide who can approve an over-budget request. This keeps the setup close to the customer's real spending policy: who can use the budget, how much is available, how long it is valid, and what should happen when the limit is reached. ## Use Budgets at Checkout Budgets are visible to the buyer exactly where they matter: in the checkout. A B2B customer with active Budget Management can select an available budget to complete an order within the defined spending limits. On the checkout confirmation page, the **Budget** section appears after the shipping and billing addresses and before the payment and shipping method section. If no budget is available, the checkout continues with the usual address, payment, and shipping method flow. The system shows the spending transparently, displaying how much of the budget has been used and how much remains. This gives the buyer immediate feedback: they see whether the current order fits within budget and how the order affects the available amount. ![Checkout with budget selection, showing used and remaining budget for the order.](assets/images/storefront_budget_checkout_confirm.jpg) If the order exceeds the available budget and approval requests are allowed, the order can move into the approval process instead of being completed directly. This connects the financial limit to the decision workflow from the previous course. If a budget does not appear in checkout, check the budget setup before assuming that checkout is broken. The budget must be active, its start date must be reached, and the buyer must work in an Organisation Unit context that can use this budget. The company account owner or an authorized customer-side administrator may be able to manage budgets in the storefront. Budget selection during checkout is different: It depends on the current buyer context. Test checkout with an employee account that is assigned to the relevant Organisation Unit and can place orders for that context. ## Example: A Monthly Department Budget A customer gives its Marketing Organisation Unit a monthly budget of EUR 10,000, with any overspend requiring approval from the head of department. You confirm that the customer has Organisation Units and approving roles in place. Then you create a monthly budget of EUR 10,000 for the Marketing Organisation Unit and allow approval requests for over-budget orders. Through the month, employees in the Marketing Organisation Unit place orders and watch the remaining amount decrease at checkout. An order that stays within the budget completes normally. An order that would push the Organisation Unit over its budget can be routed into approval, where the head of department signs it off or rejects it. At the start of the next month, the budget resets. The customer's internal spending rule is now enforced by the shop, with budget transparency for the buyer when remaining-budget visibility is enabled and a clear exception path for overspending. ## Quick Check An Organisation Unit has used most of its monthly budget. Approval requests are allowed, and a new order would push the Organisation Unit over the limit. What happens to that order? It is silently rejected and deleted. It can move into the approval process before it is completed directly. The budget is automatically increased to cover it. ## Common Pitfalls ### Pitfall 1: Configuring Budgets Without Approving Roles If an over-budget order routes into approval but no active employee can approve it, the process gets stuck. Pair budgets with approving roles before you test over-budget orders. ### Pitfall 2: Setting Budgets Without Organisation Structure Budgets are assigned to Organisation Units. Without a sensible organisation structure, budgets are hard to target and hard for customers to understand. Set up Organisation Units first. ### Pitfall 3: Treating a Budget as a Hard Block A budget does not need to silently reject orders. When approval requests are allowed, over-budget orders become approval cases. Communicate to the customer that exceptions are handled by approval, not only by blocking. ### Pitfall 4: Hiding the Remaining Budget If buyers cannot see the remaining budget, they may not understand why an order needs approval. Show the remaining budget when the customer wants transparency during checkout. ## Summary In this learning unit, you learned: - How budgets define spending limits for Organisation Units during a defined period. - Which budget settings control amount, renewal, Organisation Unit assignment, remaining-budget visibility, notifications, and approval handling. - How over-budget orders can connect to Order Approval when approval requests are allowed and approving roles exist. - How B2B customers select an available budget during checkout and review used and remaining amounts. With Budget Management, B2B customers can control spending at checkout without moving their internal approval process outside the shop. Next, you will set the prices themselves with Individual Pricing.