# Schedules

## Introduction

Schedules maintain information about transactions that occur one or more times over a specified period of time.

Sometimes called a scheduled transaction or a recurring transaction, a schedule provides a means to record information about a transaction that happens on a regular basis. You can schedule deposit, transfer, withdrawal, and loan transactions. There is a lot of flexibility in schedules, including transactions that occur Once, or on a basis of number of Days, Weeks, Half-months, Months, or Years.

Because you know these transactions happen regularly, whether they are payments made to you or payments you make to someone else, you can create a Schedule to record information about the recurring details to simplify and easily remember when the event will next occur.

Schedules can be created to reflect money coming in or out of your accounts on a consistent basis. Common uses include paychecks, taxes, insurance, credit card payments, dues, interest, loans, mortgage, and rents. Scheduling a payment like these provides for a useful reminder so you can manage expected future financial matters effectively.

A schedule consists of two main parts: the transaction data and the scheduling data. The scheduling data records the occurrence of the schedule, &ie;, when the transaction is to be entered into the ledger and how. The transaction data records the normal details about the transaction, including options for Payment method, Account, Pay to/from, Category, Tags, Memo, Due date, Amount, and Status. Along with these, you can also select additional options based on when to process the transaction.

## Types of schedules

There are four different types of schedules in &kmymoney;:

## Deposits

These schedules are for money coming into your account, such as a paycheck, bonus, or interest income.

## Bills/Withdrawals

These are for money going out of your account, such as a membership, utility bill, tax payment, or car registration.

## Transfer

These are for money going out of one account and into another account, such as making a credit card payment from your checking account.

## Loans

These are a special type of schedule, which is created when you create a Loan account.

## The Schedules View

Open the Schedules View by clicking the Scheduled transactions icon in the view selector.

schedules view schedules view

The Schedules View consists of a single display area with a New Schedule... button and a Filter text box above it.

To create a new schedule click New Schedule.... &kmymoney; will display the new schedule dialog, which can be used to create a Deposit, Transfer, or Bill/Withdrawal schedule. Loan schedules are handled differently, as described in the Loans section of this manual.

## The New Schedule dialog

new schedule dialog new schedule dialog

A New Schedule dialog is now shown, prompting for the schedule and transaction details. The requested data include the following:

1. Schedule Name

2. Next due date

3. Frequency

4. Payment method

5. Amount

6. Other transaction details

7. Schedule options

### Filling in the Schedule name, Frequency, and Payment information.

Enter the name of the schedule and the date of the next occurrence into their respective fields. The name is how the schedule will be labelled in the Schedules View and other displays. Specify how often the schedule should occur, using the Frequency field and dropdown list. If the dropdown is set to Once, the Frequency field will be disabled. Otherwise, the dropdown indicates a time interval, and the transaction will happen every Frequency occurrences of that interval. Note that some intervals can be indicated in more than one way, such as 6 x "weekly" or 3 x "every other week" or 2 x "every three weeks." You cannot indicate fractions of an interval, such as twice per month; you need to use a shorter interval, such as 1 x "every half month."

If the amount varies transaction to transaction make sure to check the The amount is an estimate because it varies for each payment checkbox in the Options area below, and you will be prompted for the correct amount when it is entered into the ledger. The amount is entered as a positive number in either the Payment or Deposit field. The other required fields in this area are the Account and the Category. The Status dropdown indicates the state of the transaction when &kmymoney; enters it into the ledger. The remaining fields in this section are optional.

### Modifying the Schedule Options section

The If this schedule occurs on a non-processing date: dropdown allows you to choose how to handle non-processing days. Non-processing days include weekends and holidays known to &kmymoney; for the region specified in the appropriate configuration option. If the schedule occurs on a non-processing day you can choose whether to Do not change the date, Change the date to the previous processing day, or Change the date to the next processing day. This option is available to replicate some of the real world business operational processing.

The The amount is an estimate because is varies for each payment checkbox allows you to select whether &kmymoney; automatically enters that amount into the ledger or prompts you for the actual amount when the schedule is due.

The Do not change amount of category but modify exchange rate of transaction checkbox can be used when the schedule involves an account and a category with different currencies. If it is not selected, the amount specified is used when the transaction is entered into the ledger. Checking the box tells &kmymoney; that the amount is specified in the currency of the category. You will still need to confirm the other value or the conversion rate when the transaction is entered into the ledger.

The Process this schedule always at the last day of the month checkbox allows for scheduling for irregular month-end date processing.

The Enter this schedule into the register automatically when it is due checkbox tells &kmymoney; to enter the transaction into the ledger on the correct date without human intervention. Otherwise, when the transaction is due to be entered, &kmymoney; will open a dialog box asking you to confirm that you want it to be entered. This behavior is configurable, and more information can be found in the Settings section.

If you know the schedule will not continue indefinitely, check the This schedule will end at some time and you can enter either the Number of transactions remaining: or the Date of final transaction.

When you have entered all the necessary information click OK to continue.

## Editing schedules

To edit a schedule simply select the entry in the list, then right-click and select Edit scheduled transaction in the context menu. This will bring up a dialog similar to the New Scheduled transaction dialog, where you can update the necessary data.

## Deleting schedules

To delete a schedule simply select the entry in the list, then right-click and select Delete scheduled transaction. in the context menu.

Note that while many actions in &kmymoney; can be undone, this is not true for deleting a schedule. If you delete a schedule, and realize you did not want to do that, you will have to completely recreate it from scratch.

## Duplicating schedules

To duplicate a schedule simply select the entry in the list, then right-click and select Duplicate scheduled transaction in the context menu.

## Entering scheduled transactions

Entering a scheduled transaction means actually creating a transaction in the appropriate ledger, using the details specified in the schedule. Scheduled transactions can be entered in one of 3 different ways:

- Manually, by right-clicking the entry in the Schedules View and selecting Enter next transaction in the context menu.

- &kmymoney; can enter them with or without your interaction upon startup.

- &kmymoney; can enter them with your interaction during online banking or when you import a bank statement.

### Confirming the transaction to enter

The first and third methods will display an Enter scheduled transaction dialog (possibly after displaying an informational window about the process.) This dialog prompts you to confirm or update the required information that was entered when you created the schedule.

enter scheduled transaction enter schedule transaction

This information can be changed, and the changes can be applied to just this one instance of the schedule or to all subsequent transactions. After checking that all the data is correct clicking OK will add the transaction to the ledger and update the next due date of the schedule to the next occurrence. If you have changed any of the transaction data a further confirmation of what you changed will be displayed, giving you a final chance to accept or reject the changes.

confirm manual transaction changes confirm manual transaction changes

Select what you want to do with the information presented and click OK or Cancel.

### Letting &kmymoney; enter the scheduled transaction(s) for you

Alternatively, &kmymoney; can check which schedules are due upon startup and enter them for you if the appropriate option was checked when setting up the schedule.

If the option was not checked then &kmymoney; will open the previously mentioned dialog and you can follow the steps mentioned there. &kmymoney; will also open the dialog if the amount is an estimate so you can enter the actual amount.

You can also opt to have &kmymoney; not check which transactions are scheduled on startup by deselecting the option in the Settings dialog and any overdue transaction or transactions due 'today' will be shown in the Home view for you to enter manually.