What's New

Keep historical balances

When you enter a new account balance, all previous balances remain in the timeline so you don't lose any data. Learn more...

Compare projected vs. actual

Move your cursor over a balance point to see the difference between the actual balance and the projected balance based on the expenses in your budget file. Learn more...

Attach notes along the timeline

Right-click anywhere on a timeline to attach a note there. Drag the note icon to reposition. Notes stay anchored to their date when you scroll the view.

Use equations as input

You can now enter math expressions anywhere a number is expected. It supports all standard math, including arithmetic (+−*/), parentheses, and order of operations.

See total rate of spending

A new row in the Overview section shows your total expenses for each month and year. You can also narrow it down to specific expense categories and direct or indirect costs.

Export data

You can now export detailed expense data for further analysis and reporting using spreadsheets or other software. Learn more...

Jump to definitions

Use the new quick-access buttons to bring linked definitions to the top of the screen for viewing or editing.

And more...

Many smaller improvements, including:

• Click on warning bubbles to see their cause
• Ctrl-S and Ctrl-O to save and open native Spendlab files
• Improved support for budgets with more than 20 funding sources
• Improved file format for compatibility with version control systems
• Improved support for global currencies
• Changed terminology to "actual balance" (instead of "known balance")

View by funding source

Select a funding source to see only the budget rows that reference that source. You can even choose the "Unassigned" option to see only rows with yet-to-be-determined funding blocks.

Balance carry-over

You can now specify for each funding source whether to automatically carry over remaining balances to the next funding period; or reset the balance to $0 at the start of each funding block. (The default is to use carry-over.)

Remaining balance each period

The balance remaining before each new funding block is now always visible.

Multi-line notes

Notes now expand vertically to provide unlimited space.

International currencies

Choose any currency symbol for the financial figures in your budget.

Always-visible navigation bar

Navigation controls, view options, and help documentation now stay visible at the top of the window even when you scroll down.

Welcome screen

A new welcome screen lets you quickly start a new budget, open an existing file, or view reference materials.

New file extension (.htm)

Saved files now use a ".htm" extension instead of ".slb". This allows you to double-click the file to see instructions for how to open it. (Otherwise, file management remains the same as in previous versions, and you can still open older ".slb" files.)

And more...

Smaller improvements to design and ease of use.

Undo / Redo

You can now undo and redo any operation except adding or removing whole rows. Use the toolbar button or the standard keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl-z (undo) and Ctrl-y or Ctrl-Shift-z (redo).

Block totals

You can now see the calculated direct and indirect costs for each funding source assigned to a block. (If there are no indirect costs, the Indirect column is hidden.)

User account panel

Sign in, sign out, and see when your trial will expire or license will renew.

License purchasing

You can now buy single-user licenses directly from the Save menu.

And more...

Smaller improvements to design and ease of use.

Unassigned funding sources

When you don't yet know which funding source you'll use, you can now set the special "Unassigned" funding source as a placeholder.

Hourly wages

You can now set a salary rate "per hour". Blocks in the row will then allow you to enter the number of hours worked each month.

Indirect cost visualizations and direct-only balances

Funding sources with a non-zero indirect rate now show two balance lines and amounts: the total balance including indirects, and the estimated balance for direct costs only.

In addition, expense blocks visually indicate when indirect costs are being applied. (This is only visible on blocks that show a monetary value.)

"Clickety-split"

Double-click on a block to split it into two separate blocks that can be edited individually.

End dates for personnel rows

You can now set end dates for people as well as funding sources.

Standardized interpretation of end dates

To match the format commonly used in grant documents, funding source end dates are now interpreted as representing the end of the day shown. This is a change from previous versions of Spendlab which used the beginning of the day. For example, the boundary between May and June used to be shown as "June 1" (beginning of the day), but is now shown as "May 31" (end of the day).

During the upgrade process, Spendlab adjusts your existing end dates as follows:

• End dates that fall on the last day of the month are updated to represent the actual end of the month. For example, "May 31" will remain "May 31", but the represented time will move to the end of the day. This means that your "Remaining balance" may change in response to one additional day's worth of spending.
• End dates that fall on any other day will continue to represent the same moment in time, but the date shown will be one day earlier. For example, what used to be shown as "June 1" (beginning of the day) will now be shown as "May 31" (end of the day).

(Dates on blocks have not changed — they continue to use the beginning of the day for start dates and the end of the day for end dates.)

Change to "Other" accounting for part-time work

To support hourly and part-time work, "Other" amounts (e.g. tuition) in personnel rows are now billed at 100% even when a block uses less than 100% total effort. We made this change because every lab we talked to said they were responsible for covering either all or none of the tuition for part-time students.

For example, the following two blocks now charge different amounts to the NSF grant:

The first block models a part-time student who is fully funded by the grant. The grant pays 50% of the specified salary and fringe costs, and 100% of the tuition. (Previous versions of Spendlab billed only 50% of tuition in this scenario.)

The second block models a full-time student who is 50% funded by the grant. The grant pays 50% of salary, fringe, and tuition. (This behavior is unchanged from previous versions.)

When you open an old budget file, Spendlab preserves your existing calculations by automatically converting blocks like the first type above into the second type above (only on affected rows that include an "Other" definition). If your fractional blocks actually represented part-time work, you will need to change them back if you want to get the new behavior with "Other" billed at 100%.

Rest assured that calculation changes like this are unusual and only completed after extensive feedback from the community. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Improved file management

And much more...

Dozens of smaller improvements to design, ease of use, and performance.

Salary and rate definitions

You can now create definitions that change over time for salaries, fringe benefit rates, and indirect rates.

Automatic yearly increases

Definitions now repeat automatically and support yearly percent increases.

Reorder rows

Drag any row by its left handle to move it to a new location.

Pin rows to the top of the screen

Click the "pin" button to temporarily attach any row(s) to the top of the screen — for easier comparisons with the rest of the budget.

Assign colors

You can now change the color assigned to each funding source, including new pink, plum, teal, and light teal colors.

Customize block units

Specify any block's value per year, month, or half-month.

Draggable time range

Adjust the visible time range by dragging the handle below any timeline. (Or click the triangle buttons to advance by one period at a time.)

Block labels always visible

Labels are now visible even when blocks are partially scrolled off the end of the timeline.

Right-click shortcuts

Right-click on a block to see its contextual menu.

Keyboard shortcuts

• 0-9: Start entering a new value for the currently selected block.
• Enter: Confirm or start editing the value of the currently selected block.
• Tab: Move between editable text fields.
• Escape: Cancel editing and revert to previous value.

Open files by dropping them on the browser window

Open any budget file from your computer by dragging and dropping it onto a browser window with the spendlab.org software loaded.

And more...

Many smaller adjustments to improve performance, ease of use, and visual design.

Adjustable budget duration

View up to 12 years at a time. Edit the duration, pan the date range, or adjust the start & end dates freely to navigate through your budget.

Half-month accounting periods

You can now set your budget to allow time blocks as small as a half-month (defined to start on the 1st and the 16th of each month).

Externally managed funding sources

You can now add a new type of funding source that doesn't keep track of an account balance. Instead, it displays the amount spent each month (or half-month). This is useful for externally managed funding sources such as TAs and fellowships.

Inline balances with adjustable date

The account balance that you enter is now shown directly on the chart. Drag the dot left–right to change the balance date for that funding source. Predicted balances over time (shown as a line graph) are calculated forward and backward from this date.

End date improvements

Grant expiration dates can now be set to any day, even if past the end of the visible budget or not on a month boundary.

Inline funding source labels

Expense blocks are now labeled with funding source names for faster reference.

Collapsible rows

Rows can now be collapsed to save space. Click the triangle on the left edge to collapse an individual row, or click the triangle on a group heading to collapse all rows in the group.

"Today" line

A vertical dashed line is now shown at today's date.

And more...

Many smaller adjustments to improve performance, ease of use, and visual design.

Adjustable start date

Adjust the budget's start date by one period using the arrow buttons under the timeline (they appear when your cursor moves over a funding source row).

"Predicted" balance (P)

The "P" badge appears when the balance displayed is calculated from an earlier or later balance rather than entered by you. This helps you see which balances have not yet been checked or updated for the current start date.

Custom text notes

Add a note by clicking the icon that appears when your cursor moves over any row.