This article explains the key terminology, metrics, and calculations used throughout Budget Planner in Adbrew.

Understanding these terms will help you interpret your Budget Planner Dashboard, configure schedules, allocate budgets across campaigns, and evaluate whether your advertising spend is pacing according to plan.

A Budget Plan defines how much you intend to spend across a selected group of campaigns during a specific period.

A Budget Plan consists of:

For example, a Q4 Budget Plan might cover October 1 to December 31, with separate schedules and budgets for October, November, and December.

The Plan Date Range is the complete period covered by the Budget Plan.

For example:

October 1 to December 31

The Plan Date Range can contain one or multiple schedules depending on the Schedule Type selected.

A Schedule is an individual budget period within a Budget Plan.

For example, if your Plan Date Range is October 1 to December 31 and you select a Monthly Schedule Type, Adbrew creates three schedules:

Each schedule can have its own budget.

The Schedule Type determines how Adbrew divides the Plan Date Range into individual schedules.

Available Schedule Types include:

For example, selecting Monthly for October 1 to December 31 generates separate schedules for October, November, and December.

Important: Schedule Type determines how your overall budget period is divided. It does not limit your budget control to that level.

Even with a Monthly schedule, you can still control the budget allocation for each individual day from Configure Schedule.

Allocated Budget is the total amount you intend to spend during a schedule.

For example:

October Schedule Budget = $30,000

This $30,000 becomes the total amount available for distribution across the days covered by that schedule.

Daily Allocation % determines what percentage of the schedule's total budget is assigned to a particular day.

When a schedule is first created, Adbrew distributes the budget evenly across its days by default.

Daily Allocation % = Daily Allocated Budget ÷ Total Schedule Budget × 100

Schedule Budget = $30,000
Budget allocated to October 10 = $1,500

$1,500 ÷ $30,000 × 100 = 5%

Daily Allocation = 5%

The total allocation across all days in a schedule should equal 100%.

The Daily Allocated Budget is the monetary value assigned to a particular day based on its Daily Allocation %.

Daily Allocated Budget = Total Schedule Budget × Daily Allocation %

Schedule Budget = $30,000
October 10 Allocation = 5%

$30,000 × 5% = $1,500

Daily Allocated Budget = $1,500

When a schedule is initially created, Adbrew distributes its budget evenly across all days.

Default Daily Allocation % = 100% ÷ Number of Days in Schedule

Schedule Budget = $31,000
Schedule Length = 31 days

Daily Allocation:

100% ÷ 31 = 3.23%

Approximate Daily Budget:

$31,000 ÷ 31 = $1,000

You can modify these daily allocations for future days from Configure Schedule.

Actual Spend is the amount that campaigns linked to the Budget Plan have actually spent.

Actual Spend is used throughout Budget Planner to compare real advertising spend against the amount that was planned.

Actual Spend % shows how much of the complete schedule budget has already been spent.

Actual Spend % = Actual Spend ÷ Total Schedule Budget × 100

Schedule Budget = $30,000
Actual Spend = $12,000

$12,000 ÷ $30,000 × 100 = 40%

Actual Spend % = 40%

Actual Spend % can exceed 100% if campaigns spend more than the schedule's total allocated budget.

Remaining Planned Spend % represents the portion of the schedule budget that has not yet been spent.

Remaining Planned Spend % = 100% - Actual Spend %

Actual Spend % = 40%

100% - 40% = 60%

Remaining Planned Spend = 60%

Total Sum % represents the total percentage of the schedule budget currently distributed across its individual days.

Total Sum % = Sum of all Daily Allocation %

For example:

If all daily allocations across October add up to:

3% + 4% + 5% + ... = 100%

Total Sum = 100%

The daily allocation for the complete schedule should total 100%.

Budget Usage indicates how much of the complete allocated budget has already been spent.

Budget Usage = Actual Spend ÷ Allocated Budget × 100

Allocated Budget = $30,000
Actual Spend = $12,000

$12,000 ÷ $30,000 × 100 = 40%

Budget Usage = 40%

Budget Usage looks at the complete budget, including budget allocated to future days.

Delivery Rate indicates whether actual spend is keeping pace with the amount of budget that was planned to be spent.

For an ongoing schedule, the calculation considers the planned budget for the days that have elapsed rather than comparing today's spend against the entire future schedule.

Delivery Rate = Actual Spend to Date ÷ Planned Budget to Date × 100

October Budget = $30,000

By October 15:

Planned Budget to Date = $15,000
Actual Spend to Date = $13,500

$13,500 ÷ $15,000 × 100 = 90%

Delivery Rate = 90%

A Delivery Rate of:

The schedule-level calculation only includes allocations for days that have already been reached.

These metrics answer different questions.

How much of my entire budget have I spent?

Actual Spend ÷ Total Budget × 100

How much have I spent compared with how much I was supposed to have spent by now?

Actual Spend to Date ÷ Planned Budget to Date × 100

Total October Budget = $30,000
Planned Spend by October 15 = $15,000
Actual Spend = $13,500

Budget Usage:

$13,500 ÷ $30,000 × 100 = 45%

Delivery Rate:

$13,500 ÷ $15,000 × 100 = 90%

So:

Budget Usage = 45%

Delivery Rate = 90%

Only 45% of the complete monthly budget has been spent, but the plan has delivered 90% of what was expected to be spent by this point.

Managed Campaigns are campaigns currently included in a Budget Plan.

Their budgets are being managed according to the schedule and campaign allocation configured in Budget Planner.

Unmanaged Active Campaigns are active campaigns that are not included in any Budget Plan.

These campaigns can continue spending independently and their spend is not controlled by the Budget Plan.

This metric helps identify active campaigns that may be spending outside your planned budget structure.

Once campaigns are linked to a Budget Plan, Campaign Allocation % determines each campaign's share of the available daily budget.

Campaign Budget Share = Available Daily Budget × Campaign Allocation %

Available Daily Budget = $1,000

Campaign A Allocation = 60%
Campaign B Allocation = 40%

Campaign A:

$1,000 × 60% = $600

Campaign B:

$1,000 × 40% = $400

The campaign allocations across the plan should total 100%.

Even Allocation distributes the available budget equally across the selected campaigns.

Campaign Allocation % = 100% ÷ Number of Campaigns

4 campaigns are linked.

100% ÷ 4 = 25%

Each campaign receives a 25% allocation.

If the available Daily Budget is $2,000:

$2,000 × 25% = $500

Each campaign receives an effective allocation of $500.

Minimum Budget is the minimum daily campaign budget that you want Budget Planner to maintain for a linked campaign.

It acts as a floor when calculating the campaign's effective daily budget.

This is useful when certain campaigns must maintain a minimum level of spending regardless of their percentage-based allocation.

The Effective Daily Campaign Budget is the budget that Budget Planner calculates for a campaign based on its Campaign Allocation % and configured Minimum Budget.

Conceptually, Adbrew uses the higher of:

Effective Daily Campaign Budget = MAX(Minimum Budget, Daily Plan Budget × Campaign Allocation %)

For example:

Daily Plan Budget = $1,000
Campaign Allocation = 20%
Minimum Budget = $250

Percentage-based allocation:

$1,000 × 20% = $200

Because the Minimum Budget is $250:

Effective Daily Campaign Budget = $250

The current Budget Planner logic applies the configured minimum as the floor for the campaign's calculated allocation.

Lowest Daily Budget represents the lowest amount of budget allocated to any day covered by the plan.

This is important when validating campaign-level allocations and Minimum Budgets because every linked campaign must remain manageable even on the plan's lowest-budget day.

For example:

Lowest Daily Budget = $700

Budget Planner can use this value to identify campaign configurations that may not fit within the available budget on the lowest-budget day.

Amazon and other advertising marketplaces may enforce a minimum daily campaign budget.

Marketplace Minimum Budget represents that minimum supported value for the campaign.

Budget Planner warns you if the calculated campaign budget would fall below the marketplace-supported minimum.

For example:

Calculated Campaign Budget = $0.80
Marketplace Minimum = $1.00

The campaign would be flagged as being below the marketplace minimum.

You can resolve this by increasing:

Projected Spend for Current Month estimates how much Budget Planner expects to be spent during the current month based on the active Budget Plans.

It provides a forward-looking view of expected monthly spend and can help identify potential over-delivery or under-delivery before the month ends.

The Dashboard calculates this specifically for the current month's date range across active Budget Plans.

Automatically Rebalance Budget allows Budget Planner to adjust future budget allocation when actual spend differs from the original plan.

This can account for:

For example, if $1,000 was planned for yesterday but campaigns spent only $800, the remaining $200 can be accounted for across future days rather than being permanently left unused.

Similarly, if campaigns spend more than planned, future budgets can be adjusted to help keep the overall schedule closer to its target.

Unspent Budget is the difference between the amount that was planned to be spent and the amount actually spent when actual spend is lower.

Unspent Budget = Planned Spend - Actual Spend

Planned Spend = $1,000
Actual Spend = $800

$1,000 - $800 = $200

Unspent Budget = $200

When automatic rebalancing is enabled, this amount can be accounted for in future budget allocation.

Overspend occurs when actual spend is greater than the planned spend for the period.

Overspend = Actual Spend - Planned Spend

Planned Spend = $1,000
Actual Spend = $1,150

$1,150 - $1,000 = $150

Overspend = $150

When automatic rebalancing is enabled, future allocations can be adjusted to account for this difference.

Refresh Spend requests the latest actual spend and delivery information for a Budget Plan.

The refresh occurs asynchronously, so updated spend information may take some time to appear in Budget Planner.

A Campaign Conflict occurs when the same campaign is linked to multiple Budget Plans covering overlapping dates.

A campaign cannot be managed by two overlapping Budget Plans at the same time.

For example:

Plan A: October 1 to October 31
Plan B: October 15 to November 15

If Campaign A is already linked to Plan A, it cannot also be managed by Plan B during the overlapping dates.

Budget Planner skips conflicting campaigns when they are linked to another plan covering the same dates.

No.

Allocated Budget refers to the budget assigned to a schedule. The schedule budget is first distributed across days, and each day's budget is then distributed across linked campaigns.

No.

Budget Usage compares spend against the complete budget.

Delivery Rate compares spend against the amount that was planned to have been spent up to that point.

Yes.

A value above 100% means actual spend is ahead of the planned spending pace.

Yes.

Actual Spend % is not capped. If actual spend exceeds the complete schedule budget, the percentage can exceed 100%.

Yes.

The Daily Allocation % across all days within a schedule should total 100%.

Yes.

The allocation across linked campaigns should total approximately 100% so the available budget is fully distributed.

Campaign Allocation % determines a campaign's percentage-based share of the available daily budget.

Minimum Budget defines a floor below which the campaign's calculated daily budget should not fall.

The campaign's effective calculated daily budget may be lower than the minimum budget supported by the advertising marketplace.

Increasing the campaign allocation, Minimum Budget, or available daily plan budget can resolve this.