What are Trade Expenses and how do you track them in Blueprint?

Blueprint financials should accurately reflect the entire financial situation of a given project.  This could include Actual Costs, that are incurred from Bills related to Project Commitments, and also "Trade Expenses". Examples include purchases made on a BREX card

Who uses Trade Expenses?

The allocation of Brex Charges and other Direct Expenses are the responsibility of the following individuals based on team members assignment:

• For Expenses in the Pre-Con stage the Pre-Con PM 
• For Expenses in the Construction stage the Purchasing Agents

✐ Note: These individuals will also get email notification to allocate new Direct Expenses

5 Steps to Allocate a Direct Expense in Blueprint

Step 1: Receive the Daily Reminder Email and view Trade Expense in Blueprint

When a project you manage has unallocated expenses, you should receive a notification within your Blueprint Daily Reminder email. This email will show details of the BREX card expense that needs to reconcile within Blueprint. Enter the Blueprint site through the link on your email or navigate to "Trade Expenses" from the project navigation bar. 

If the unallocated expense is not assigned to the correct "Item Code" then you can change it from the 3 dots as shown below. If the "Change Cost Code" option is greyed out then contact product-support@homebound.com or use the chat in Blueprint

Step 2: Allocate the expense amount and to a "Trade Commitment"

Before selecting cost codes please review that all information on the expense is correct. On the right side, you will add the actual amount of the expense allocated to the "Item Code" and if desired allocate to a "Trade Commitment".

Step 3: Merge Selected Line Items to BREX Expense and Upload a Receipt

Once you have entered the actual amounts charged and allocated against a PO then click the blue box "Merge with Selected Line Items". This will merge your line items to the selected Item Code and PO.

✐ Note: You can click Edit next to the line that has been merged if you need to make a change

Step 5: Review the Budget page to ensure that the Expense has been Allocated Properly

Navigate to the Budget and search for the "Cost Code" or "Item Code" that the expense was allocated against. You can then verify that "Expense" is showing up in the Drawer on that "Item Code". See below:

✐ Note: These expenses will also show up against a PO under "Bills & Credits"

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Questions? Feedback? We are here to help! Chat with us on Blueprint or Email Product-Ops@homebound.com