dla-docs

Budget

1. Purpose

The Budget module helps you plan and track monthly spending, ensuring you don’t exceed your set budget. This module automatically calculates based on:

• Your recurring income
• Your recurring expenses
• Actual daily expenses

2. When to Use

Use this module when you want to:

• Plan monthly spending
• Control not to exceed budget
• Track savings rate
• View spending analysis by category
• Compare budgets between months

3. Related Screens

• Create budget (first time or copy from previous month)
• View budget overview
• Budget history by month
• Copy suggestion from previous month

4. Main Usage

4.1 Create Budget First Time (Case A)

1. Go to Functions → Select Budget
2. If no budget exists, app will automatically open Create Budget screen
3. App automatically calculates and displays:
   • Recurring Income: Total from all active recurring income (readonly, shows detailed breakdown)
   • Recurring Expenses: Total from all active recurring expenses (readonly, shows detailed breakdown)
   • Total Budget (before savings): Auto calculated = Recurring Income - Recurring Expenses
4. Enter Savings Rate: % savings (0-100%, required)
5. View Savings Amount and Spending Budget auto calculated
6. Tap Save Budget

4.2 Copy Budget from Previous Month (Case C)

1. Go to Functions → Select Budget
2. If current month has no budget but previous month has, app will show Copy Budget Suggestion screen
3. Choose one of the options:
   • Copy entire previous month’s budget: App automatically copies savings rate, recalculates recurring income/expenses from current data, and creates budget immediately
   • Copy & Adjust: App navigates to create budget screen with savings rate pre-filled from previous month, you can adjust before saving
   • Create New Budget: Run create budget flow from scratch (Case A)
4. If choosing “Copy & Adjust”, adjust savings rate if needed
5. Tap Save Budget

Note: When copying, Recurring Income and Recurring Expenses are recalculated from current recurring data (not copied from previous month), only savings rate is copied.

4.3 View Budget Overview (Case B)

1. Go to Functions → Select Budget
2. If current month has budget, app will open Overview screen
3. View information:
   • Spending Budget: Spending limit set
   • Used: Amount spent (including daily expenses and income/expense variances)
   • Remaining: Remaining amount in budget
   • Usage Rate: % budget used (with warning colors)
   • Income & Expense Variances from Plan: Variances from original plan
   • Daily Expenses by Category: Detailed spending analysis by category

4.4 Edit Current Month’s Budget

1. On Budget Overview screen, tap “Edit Budget” button
2. App shows edit screen with:
   • Recurring Income and Recurring Expenses: Keep old values (readonly)
   • Savings Rate: Pre-filled from current budget (can be edited)
3. Change savings rate if needed
4. View savings amount and spending budget auto update
5. Tap “Save Budget”

Note: When editing, Recurring Income and Recurring Expenses are not recalculated (keep old snapshot), only savings rate and spending budget are updated.

4.5 View Budget History

1. Go to Functions → Select Budget
2. Select History from menu
3. View list of budgets for past months
4. Tap on a month to view details

4.6 View Expense Details by Category

1. Go to Budget Overview screen
2. Scroll down to Analysis by Category section
3. Tap on a category
4. View list of expenses in that category

5. Examples & UI Illustrations

5.1 BUDGET-01: Create Budget First Time for Current Month

Goal: Create budget first time so app automatically calculates and tracks monthly spending based on income and recurring expenses.

Steps:

1. Go to Functions screen, select “Budget Management”
2. App automatically detects no budget and shows “Create Budget” screen
3. View auto calculated info: Recurring Income, Recurring Expenses, Total Budget (before savings)
4. Enter savings rate: 20
5. View savings amount and spending budget auto calculated
6. Tap “Save Budget” button

Result: Budget saved for current month, automatically navigates to “Budget Overview” screen.

UI Illustration:

[ Card: Create Budget November 2025 ]
+------------------------------------------------+
||                                                |
|| Recurring Income                $1,200         |
||  • My Salary (Monthly)         $1,200         |
||                                                |
|| Recurring Expenses              $916          |
||  • Electricity (Monthly)          $34        |
||  • Water (Monthly)                $17        |
||  • Tuition for BN (Monthly)       $272       |
||  • Breakfast & Coffee (Weekly x 4) $36       |
||  • Home Loan Payment (Monthly)     $420      |
||                                                |
|| (This data is automatically retrieved)        |
+------------------------------------------------+

[ Card: Total Budget (before savings) ]
 ------------------------------------------------
||   $1,200 (Recurring Income)                   |
|| - $916 (Recurring Expenses)                    |
||-----------------------------------------------|
|| = $284 USD                                     |
 ------------------------------------------------

[ Card: Savings Rate ]
 ------------------------------------------------
|| How much do you want to save?                 |
||                                                |
|| Savings Rate (%)                               |
|| [  Input (mandatory): 20  ]                    |
||                                                |
|| → Equivalent: $57                              |
 ------------------------------------------------

[ Card: Spending Budget ]
 ------------------------------------------------
||    $284 (Total Budget (before savings))       |
|| -  $57 (Savings Amount)                        |
||-----------------------------------------------|
|| = $227 USD                                     |
||                                                |
|| (Includes food, transportation, coffee, small shopping...)
 ------------------------------------------------

[ Button ]
 -------------------------------
||      Save Budget              |
 -------------------------------

---

5.2 BUDGET-02: View Current Month’s Budget Overview

Goal: View spending situation compared to set budget, including amounts used, remaining, and analysis by category.

Steps:

1. Go to Functions screen, select “Budget Management”
2. App automatically detects budget exists and shows “Budget Overview” screen
3. View Card 1 - Monthly Budget: Spending Budget, Used, Remaining, Usage Rate
4. View Card 2 - Income & Expense Variances from Plan
5. View Card 3 - Daily Expenses by Category
6. (Optional) Click on “Spending Budget ›” to view detailed dialog explaining budget calculation

Result: Displays full current month’s budget information with progress ring/bar and appropriate colors.

UI Illustration:

[ Card 1 – Budget November 2025 ]
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Budget November 2025                         │
│                                             │
│ Spending Budget ›      $227                 │
│ Used                  $35                   │
│  • Daily expenses              $48          │   
│  • Income variance      -$160              │
│  • Expense variance       +$8               │
│ Remaining              $104                 │
│                                             │
│                    15.4%                    │
│   (You have used 15.4% of this month's spending budget)
│   (You are about to use up this month's spending budget)
│                                             │
│                               [View History]│
└──────────────────────────────────────────────┘

[ Card 2 – Income & Expense Variances from Plan ]
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Income & Expense Variances from Plan        │
│                                              │
│ Recurring Income                             │
│  • My Salary                 +$80           │
│    ($480 > $400)                             │
│                                              │
│ Recurring Expenses                           │
│  • Tuition for BN              -$4          │
│    ($284 > $280)                             │
│                                              │
│ Total Income Variance:        +$240          │
│ Total Expense Variance:        -$8          │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────┘

[ Card 3 – Daily Expenses by Category ]
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Daily Expenses by Category                   │
│ (Food, transportation, coffee, small shopping...)
│                                             │
│ Total Daily Expenses: $48                    │
│                                             │
│ Food              $24    50% [█████---------]│
│ Transportation     $12    25% [███-----------]│
│ Coffee             $8     17% [██------------]│
│ Small Shopping     $4     8%  [█-------------]│
└──────────────────────────────────────────────┘

---

5.3 BUDGET-03: Edit Current Month’s Budget

Goal: Adjust savings rate to change spending budget for current month.

Steps:

1. On “Budget Overview” screen, tap “Edit Budget” button
2. App shows edit screen (similar to create budget screen)
3. View current info: Recurring Income, Recurring Expenses (keep old values)
4. Change savings rate to 25
5. View savings amount and spending budget auto update
6. Tap “Save Budget” button

Result: Budget updated, returns to “Budget Overview” screen with new values.

UI Illustration: Similar to BUDGET-01 (create budget screen), but Recurring Income and Recurring Expenses values are readonly and kept from old budget.

---

5.4 BUDGET-04: Copy Budget from Previous Month When Starting New Month

Goal: Reuse previous month’s budget to save time creating new budget, with option to adjust if needed.

Steps:

1. Go to Functions screen, select “Budget Management”
2. App automatically detects current month has no budget but previous month has, shows “Copy Budget Suggestion” screen
3. Select “Copy & Adjust”
4. App navigates to create budget screen with savings rate pre-filled from previous month
5. (Optional) Adjust savings rate if needed
6. Tap “Save Budget” button

Result: New budget created for current month, automatically navigates to “Budget Overview” screen.

UI Illustration:

[ SCREEN ]  Budget December 2025
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ December 2025 has no budget                 │
│                                              │
│ How do you want to create the new month's budget?│
├──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                              │
│ 📝 Copy & Adjust ›                          │
│    Hint: Copy November 2025 budget and adjust│
│                                              │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                              │
│ ➕ Create New Budget ›                      │
│   Hint: Run Create Budget flow again        │
│                                              │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────┘

After selecting “Copy & Adjust”, the create budget screen will display similar to BUDGET-01, but savings rate is pre-filled from previous month.

6. Logic & Rules

6.1 Cases

• Case A: Create budget first time (no budget for any month)
• Case B: Current month has budget → View overview
• Case C: Current month has none, but previous month has → Copy suggestion

6.2 Auto Calculation

• Recurring Income: Total from all active recurring_income
• Recurring Expenses: Total from all active recurring_expense
• Daily Expenses: Total from daily_expense in the month
• Total Budget: Recurring Income + Extra Income
• Savings: Total Budget × Savings Rate

6.3 Integration with Other Modules

• When confirming recurring income → Automatically update budget
• When confirming recurring expense → Automatically update budget
• Daily expenses are automatically calculated into budget

6.4 Budget Exceeded Warning

• App will show warning when spending exceeds budget
• Warning displayed on Home screen and in notifications

6.5 Snapshot

• When creating budget, app creates snapshot of income/expense items to save state at that time
• Snapshot is used for comparison and analysis

7. Important Notes

• One budget per month: You need to create budget for each month
• Edit budget: You can edit current month’s budget by changing savings rate. Recurring Income and Recurring Expenses will remain unchanged (snapshot) to ensure accuracy
• Auto update: Budget automatically updates when you confirm income/expenses
• Copy from previous month: Copy feature helps you save time creating budget