Allocated vs Actual
Understand the two money columns — Allocated (live from your plan) and Actual (what you really spent) — plus drift warnings.
CrewGrid's budget shows two figures alongside your line totals: Allocated and Actual. Understanding the difference is the key to reading the budget, because one is live and the other is history.
Allocated — what your plan costs right now
Allocated is the live cost of the bookings linked to a budget line, worked out from your current plan. When you link a line item to the crew you've booked, CrewGrid adds up what those bookings cost — using their rate cards and schedules — and shows it in the Allocated column.
The important word is live: Allocated updates on its own as your timeline and bookings change. Edit the schedule, and the next time the budget renders, Allocated reflects it. There's nothing to refresh. It always answers the question, "based on where the plan stands, what would this cost?"
Actual — what you really spent
Actual is the figure you enter by hand after the shoot wraps — the real, final cost. Allocated is the estimate from your plan; Actual is reality. Comparing the two, line by line, is how you see where a production came in over or under.
Drift — when a booking has fallen behind
Sometimes a line's linked booking is holding an older schedule than your current plan would produce — you've moved things on the timeline, but haven't pushed the change out to that booking yet. When the booking would cost a different amount if you re-seeded it, CrewGrid flags drift.
Drift shows as an amber chip on the affected line. Click it to open a Drifted bookings list showing each booking and exactly how much the cost would change, with a Re-seed button to bring the booking up to date.
📷 Screenshot:
/images/docs/budget/drift-chip.pngA budget line with a drift chip open, showing the per-booking difference. Alt: An amber drift warning on a budget line, expanded to list bookings and their cost changes.
Drift is a prompt, not a problem. It simply means your plan and that booking have gone out of step — CrewGrid keeps them separate until you choose to sync. The Allocated figure reflects the booking's currently-committed cost; re-seeding is how you decide when the plan's new cost takes over.
Where you'll see the totals
At the foot of the budget, the totals row shows the grand total next to the summed Allocated and Actual, with an over/under indicator so you can see at a glance how the plan compares to reality.