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Changing a budget

Explains: D-BUD-05, D-021-14, D-021-38, D-021-43, D-021-65, D-021-67, D-021-73, D-021-82, D-024-01, D-024-02, D-024-03, D-024-05, D-024-06, D-024-11, specs/021-budgets-and-rollups#req-009, specs/024-budget-history#req-001, specs/024-budget-history#req-002, specs/024-budget-history#req-005, specs/024-budget-history#req-006

A budget is changed on the campaign screen, or on the customer's screen for the customer's own. A change takes effect the moment it is saved, and it is never lost: every budget is a record in a history you can read. This page explains what a change does, what it refuses, and the question you are asked when a raise clears a stop the system made.

Every change is a new record

A budget is a record with its type, its amount, the moment it started and, once replaced or removed, the moment it ended (D-024-01). Saving a different type or amount closes the current record at that instant and opens the next one; removing a budget closes the current record and opens none; saving the form with the budget as it was changes nothing (D-024-02, specs/024 REQ-001). Records are never edited or deleted, and each says who set it. The change is also written to the customer's Activity under your name, as "Budget set: Monthly $800.00 (was Monthly $500.00)". A budget cannot be scheduled for later: it starts when you save it.

The campaign screen, and the customer's Overview, show the history: one row per record, newest first, with its type, amount, from, to (or "Current"), who set it, and the spend billed against it (specs/024 REQ-006). A budget that existed before history was kept says it was set before history was kept, rather than naming a person.

A change applies now, never to a past hour

A new monthly budget counts everything billed since the 1st of the month, the previous budget's spend included: a $500 budget raised to $800 on the 15th caps the whole month at $800 (D-024-06). A lifetime budget keeps its start when only its amount changes, so $1,000 with $900 spent, raised to $1,200, leaves $300 (D-024-11). A click is graded against the budget that was in force in the hour it was billed in, so a change never reaches an hour that has already passed: clicks marked over budget before a raise stay over budget, and a cut never re-grades an earlier month (D-024-03).

A budget cannot go below what is already spent

Saving a budget below the spend already billed in its window is refused, and nothing is saved (D-021-67, D-024-05). The form says how much: "This budget can't be lower than the $120.00 already spent this month." for a monthly budget, or "This budget can't be lower than the $900.00 already spent since 3 Jul 2026." for a lifetime one. At that amount or more it saves. Removing a budget is always allowed, and a lifetime budget set after a removal starts again from nothing spent (specs/024 REQ-005).

Raising a budget resumes nothing by itself

A campaign the system stopped for a budget does not start spending again because the budget was raised (D-021-14, which amended D-BUD-05). When you save a raise after which every budget binding a stopped campaign is clear, you are asked:

Your budget is now higher. Do you want to resume spending?

with two answers, Yes, resume spending and No, keep it paused. The question names the campaigns it is about: this campaign, or the customer's stopped campaigns that are now clear. It is asked only when every binding budget is clear, today's share of a monthly budget included: a raise that clears the month but not the day asks nothing, and the stop stays the system's until the 1st or until you are asked (D-021-43). A raise that does not clear the stop asks nothing either, and the campaign stays stopped.

  • Yes resumes the campaigns the question named, and no others, and only those still clear at that moment (D-021-38). Each returns to publisher feeds, and Activity shows "Resumed after a budget stop" under your name. A campaign that cannot price a click is left stopped and the answer says what to fix, in the same words Activate uses (D-021-82).
  • No turns the stop into your own pause, with the reason operator, and Activity shows "Kept paused after a budget raise". Nothing resumes it after that, not the month turning, until someone activates it; and your no is kept even if, while the question was open, another campaign spent the raise or the figures went out of date (D-021-65).
  • No answer changes nothing: the campaign stays the system's stop, and resumes exactly as that stop would have (Why a campaign stopped).
  • If the system resumed the campaign on its own before you answered no, the answer tells you: "This campaign had already resumed on its own. Pause it from its row if you still want it stopped." (D-021-73).