Before you start
You need Scheduler or Administrator permissions to access budget settings. If you don't see Budgets under Settings in the left sidebar, ask an admin to update your role.
Positions must already exist before you can set budgets for them. See How to Set Up Employee Positions to add positions first.
If a position has no budget set, Veras treats its budget as zero — any shift scheduled for that position will immediately show as over budget on the schedule. Set a budget for every position your team actively schedules.
Choose a budget type
Each department tab uses one budget type at a time. You pick the type before entering values, and all positions in that department share it.
Budget type | What it measures | Grid rows | Best for |
Headcount | Number of staff per shift | Your named shifts (Day, MDS, IP, NOC, etc.) | Most facilities — budgets directly against your shift structure |
Staffing Ladder | Number of staff per census level | Census numbers (e.g., 51–65) | Facilities with variable occupancy who want staffing targets that adjust dynamically |
PPD (Patient Per Day) | Hours of care per patient | Time of day (AM, PM, NOC) | Facilities that benchmark staffing against census ratios |
Hours | Total hours per shift block | Time of day (AM, PM, NOC) | Facilities that measure staffing in hours rather than headcount |
Most facilities use Headcount or Staffing Ladder. PPD and Hours are available for facilities that need them, but Headcount or Staffing Ladder will cover the majority of setups.
Note: The Show areas option is not available for Staffing Ladder budgets. If you budget by area, use Headcount, PPD, or Hours.
Navigate to a position's budget
The path is the same regardless of budget type:
In the left sidebar, click Settings.
Click Budgets.
Click the department tab for the department you want to configure (for example, Nursing).
From the Budget type dropdown, select the type you want to use for this department.
Click a position row (for example, Nurses (N)) to expand it and see the budget grid.
Set up a Headcount budget
Headcount budgets organize by the specific shifts configured for each position — the same shift names you see on the schedule.
Navigate to the position you want to budget and expand it (see above).
For each Shift row, enter the target number of staff for each day of the week.
The Headcount row at the bottom of the grid is auto-calculated — it sums all shift targets for that day. You cannot edit it directly.
To copy a value across all remaining days of the week in the same row, click into a cell and click Duplicate.
Repeat for each shift row until the grid is complete.
Click Set Budget to save.
Set up a Staffing Ladder
A Staffing Ladder sets staffing targets at each census level. Each row is a census number, and the columns show how many staff of each type to schedule at that census. As the community's census changes day to day, Veras references the matching row to determine the budget.
From the Budget type dropdown, select Staffing Ladder.
Navigate to the position you want to budget and expand it.
For each Census row, enter the target staff count for each shift based on the census range (for example, AM, PM, NOC).
The Hours and PPD columns are auto-calculated from the values you enter — you cannot edit them directly.
To copy a value down to all census rows below it in the same column, click into a cell and click Duplicate. This is useful when you want the same staffing level across a range of census values.
Click Set Budget to save.
Set up a PPD or Hours budget
PPD and Hours both organize by time of day (AM, PM, NOC) rather than by individual shift name. Veras calculates each staff member's shift template hours into the appropriate time block automatically.
From the Budget type dropdown, select PPD or Hours.
Navigate to the position you want to budget and expand it.
PPD — enter the target patient-per-day ratio for each time block and day.
Hours — enter the target number of hours for each time block and day.
For each Time of Day row (AM, PM, NOC), enter your target value for each day of the week.
To copy a value across all remaining days of the week in the same row, hover over a cell and click Duplicate.
Click Set Budget to save.
Note: You can switch between PPD and Hours at any time using the Convert to Hours or Convert to PPD button next to the Budget type dropdown. This converts your existing values rather than clearing them.
Budget by Area
If your community is divided into areas (for example, Hall 1, Hall 2), you can set separate budget targets for each area within a shift. Toggle on Show areas in the top right of the Budgets page to expand the grid.
Area budgets are not auto-calculated. You must enter each area's values manually, and the area values must add up to the parent shift's budget. If they don't match, Veras shows an orange warning on that shift row — hover over the warning to see how many areas are currently allocated versus the expected total.
For example: if the AM shift budget is 3 and you've set Hall 1 = 1, Hall 2 = 2, Hall 3 = 0, Hall 4 = 0, the total is 3 and no warning appears. If the area values only add up to 2, the warning fires.
When Show areas is on, the Duplicate function copies the value across all remaining days of the week in the same area row — the same behavior as the standard grid.
Note: Show areas is not available for Staffing Ladder budgets. See How to Add Areas to Your Facility to configure areas first if they aren't showing up.
Common questions
Q: What happens if I never set a budget for a position?
A: Veras treats any unset position as having a budget of zero. Any shift scheduled for that position will show as over budget on the schedule from day one. Set a budget for every position your team actively schedules — even if the target is a small number.
Q: Can each department use a different budget type?
A: Yes. Each department tab has its own Budget type dropdown. Nursing can use Headcount while Therapy uses Staffing Ladder, for example. The type you pick for one department doesn't affect any other.
Q: Which budget type should I use?
A: Headcount works well for most facilities — it budgets against your actual named shifts and is straightforward to set up. If your occupancy fluctuates frequently and you want staffing targets that automatically reflect your census, use a Staffing Ladder instead.
Q: How often should I update my budgets?
A: Most facilities set budgets once during initial setup, then revisit them quarterly — or whenever census targets or shift structures change significantly.
Q: Where do I see my budgets once they're saved?
A: Budget targets appear on the schedule view, where each shift shows whether it's over, under, or on budget at a glance. See How to Use Budgets on the Schedule for details.