Auto-budgeting works out when a technology asset needs replacing and what it will cost, from data you already have. Instead of entering a figure on every workstation, you put it on a class and Strategy Overview does the arithmetic.
This runs on Technology Types. A group has to be attached to a type before any of it is available. If your groups are still standalone, start with Technology Types.
Budget classes
A budget class is a named tier carrying two numbers: a lifespan in years and a replacement cost. One class on each type is the default.
Classes aren't a one-time setup step. You'll come back to them as hardware prices move and as individual clients turn out to refresh on their own cycles.
There are three levels, and most MSPs only ever use the first.
Global classes apply across every client. A Standard workstation at a five year lifespan and $1,500 is a global class. Edit it once and every client follows.
Company overrides are the same class with different numbers for one client, for a client who refreshes on a three year cycle or buys more expensive hardware. No new class needed.
Your own classes are ones you create, globally or for a single company, when the standard tiers don't describe how you sell. New classes are created on the Technology Type screen. The Budget Classes screen in Settings manages the ones you already have.
Note: setting global class values is an admin job, since it affects every client. Assigning a class to a client's items, and overriding class values for one company, is work anyone running that account can do.
How the numbers are worked out
Once an item is on a class, Strategy Overview takes its replacement year from its purchase date plus the class lifespan, and its cost from the class cost. Budget, Month and Year appear muted on that item, because the class is driving them.
Age is the only input. Operating system, memory and warranty never move a budget number.
To take manual control of one item, type over its Budget, Month or Year. That item detaches from its class, seeded with the class values so nothing jumps. Choosing a class again hands control back.
Even if you don't want auto-budgeting, it's still worth assigning your devices to a class and leaving the budget value blank. The class is what the automation reads, so a device without one gets left out of what comes next.
Applying classes to existing data
Your existing budget figures are safe by default. When a group is first attached to a type, its items arrive on the Custom class, which means nothing is being calculated for them and whatever you entered stays exactly as it is.
Applying a real class is a separate, deliberate step, and it's the one that replaces your numbers with calculated ones. The order that works:
Confirm the group's columns and sections look right after the type was attached.
Bulk select a set of items, for example all workstations, and apply the class you want.
Open that client's Budget and check the result before doing anything else.
Once one client looks right, repeat for the rest.
Important: applying a class to items you've had for years will budget anything already past its lifespan into a past year, in some cases several years back. There's no past due view yet, so this is what to look for when you check the Budget in step 3. Anything that landed in a year that has already gone needs moving to a year you can work with.