---
title: Configure a budget
slug: configured-commerce/docs/configure-a-budget
docTags: 
createdAt: 2026-08-13T10:46:27.000Z
---

In Optimizely Configured Commerce, you can configure budgets to define enforcement levels, budget periods, and optional cost codes. On the storefront, go to **My Account > Budget Management** and click **Configure Budgets**.

![Configure budgets.png](https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/BrbvVORKJ5iIeSMZye5kI/iBPJ0mQhaLfXK-3A4-MQJ-20260720-144705.png)

Administrators can set budget amounts for any user; however, only users with the role of Buyer 2 can submit a request to go over budget or receive a notification that the current purchase exceeds the defined budget.

## Budget enforcement

![Enforcement level.png](https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/BrbvVORKJ5iIeSMZye5kI/O-zO6Yy2MsspSgHKHkl2p-20260720-144705.png)

Use **Enforcement Level** to control if a budget impacts users during the shopping experience. The default is **No Enforcement**. You can only have one budget enforcement level active at a time.

- **No Enforcement** – Has no impact on budget validation during the logged-in user's shopping experience.
- **Customer Ship To Level** – Validates budgets against the selected ShipTo and the logged-in user's role.
- **Customer Level** – Validates budgets across all ShipTo's for the logged-in user and customer combination.
- **User Level** – Validates budgets against the user record.

:::hint{type="info"}
**Note**

The setting **Budgets From Online Orders Only** must be set to **Yes** to select the enforcement level. You can activate this setting globally or for a specific website. If this setting is **No**, ERP orders also apply to budgets.
:::

Dropdown behavior by enforcement level

The **User** and **Ship-To** dropdowns on the Budget Management page are enabled or disabled based on the selected enforcement level:

| Enforcement level | User dropdown | Ship-To dropdown |
| ----------------- | ------------- | ---------------- |
| **None**          | Enabled       | Enabled          |
| **Customer**      | Disabled      | Disabled         |
| **Ship-To**       | Disabled      | Enabled          |
| **User**          | Enabled       | Disabled         |

Disabled dropdowns prevent selecting values that do not apply at the current enforcement level.

## Budget period

![Configure budget period.png](https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/BrbvVORKJ5iIeSMZye5kI/D1I-3-eLWEHWVsYecFLx9-20260720-144705.png)

The **Configure Budget Period by Year** section lets you create budget periods. When creating multi-period budgets, any unspent dollars from previous months roll forward to the current month.

For example, if your quarterly budget is $500:

- **Q1** – Spent $250, carrying over $250 to the next quarter.
- **Q2** – Spent $150, carrying over $350 + $250 from the previous quarter.

Buyer 2 could spend $1,100 ($350 + $250 + $500) in Q3 before they must submit it for approval.

### Create a standard 12-month calendar budget

1. Use the **Select Budget Year** drop-down list to select the year.
2. Click **Monthly** for **Assign Budget Period**.
3. Click **Save**.

A populated list of each month of the selected year displays.

![Assign budget period\_monthly.png](https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/BrbvVORKJ5iIeSMZye5kI/DMLQOKtvNGySq9uPJ2Gj4-20260720-144705.png)

### Create a quarterly budget

1. Use the **Select Budget Year** drop-down list to select the year.
2. Click **Quarterly** for **Assign Budget Period**.
3. Edit the four periods if needed. You can change the **Start Date** or click the **Remove** icon to remove a period.
4. Click **Save**.

![Assign budget period\_quarterly.png](https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/BrbvVORKJ5iIeSMZye5kI/i1_7Ual115uwfjOzBZtgy-20260720-144705.png)

### Create a fiscal year budget

1. Use the **Select Budget Year** drop-down list to select the year.
2. Click **Custom** for **Assign Budget Period**.
3. Enter *12* in the **Budget Period Number** field.
4. Set the **Budget Year End** to the end of the fiscal period, such as **03/31/2026**.
5. Set the **Start Date** for **Period 12** as **03/01/2026**.
6. Continue in descending order to edit the **Start Date**. As you edit each one, the previous **End Date** changes to match.
7. Click **Save** when you have edited all periods to match the fiscal year.

![Assign budget period\_fiscal year.png](https://api.archbee.com/api/optimize/BrbvVORKJ5iIeSMZye5kI/L-al2lO0BkqPhjkcZ4Ico-20260720-144705.png)