The quick answer
In NetSuite OpenAir, the hours budget lives on the project and the planned hours usually come from its task assignments. The Projects list shows both side by side: Budget (money), then under Hours the Budget, Booked and Planned columns. The budgets themselves are set on the project's Properties under General. For the detail, open Phases/Tasks and choose Task view, which lists planned, worked, approved and billed hours per phase, task and assignee, with totals. In the example, the budget is 3,600 hours and 3,480 are planned, a 120-hour gap between budget and plan. 2,296 hours are worked, 1,184 short of the plan.
The screenshots show sample data. The person, company, client and project names are fictional.
Before you start
OpenAir, now branded as NetSuite SuiteProjects Pro, is Oracle's professional services automation (PSA) application. The screens here show the OpenAir interface. It can integrate with NetSuite, but the budgets and task hours here live in OpenAir. You need access to the project, and permission to edit it and its budget fields if you want to change the budget. The Approved and Billed numbers only fill in if your account uses time approval and billing.
The columns on the Projects list, the fields on Properties and the columns in Task view are configured per account, and your role decides which ones you see. Check the column names in your account against the ones below.
In this example, the project manager is checking where 1. ERP Rollout - Tidewater Logistics stands against its budget.
01. Read the budgets on the Projects list
Open Projects and click the In Progress tab. The other tabs filter the list by project stage.
Find 1. ERP Rollout - Tidewater Logistics. Its row shows:
- Budget (money) 820,000.00 USD
- Hours: Budget 3,600.00, Booked 2,210.50 and Planned 3,480.00
- % Complete 64%, and Total invoiced 512,300.00 USD
Booked hours come from resource bookings, which reserve people's time on the project. Planned hours come from task assignments, unless the project is set to calculate them from bookings. Total invoiced is money, and it can include expenses and fees, so don't compare it with the hours columns.
02. Check where the budgets are set
Click the project name. Here the project opens on Properties, with General selected in the list on the left. If yours opens somewhere else, click Properties in the project's tabs and then General. The budget fields sit with the rest of the project's basics:
- Currency USD
- Budget (money) 820000
- Budget (hours) 3600
These match the Budget (money) and Hours Budget on the Projects list. To change a budget, edit the field and click Save. In this example nothing is changed.
03. Compare planned and worked hours by phase
Click Phases/Tasks in the project's tabs and choose Task view. The grid lists each phase, its tasks and each task's assignees, with Planned, Worked, Approved and Billed hours.
Worked hours come from time entries, including ones not yet approved. Approved counts hours from approved time entries. Billed counts hours that have turned into billing charges, which depends on your billing rules. In this example the assignee rows show Billed as 0, and billed hours appear on the task rows.
The Build phase runs from 04/13/26 to 08/28/26 and has 1,920.00 planned, 1,428.00 worked, 1,392.00 approved and 1,340.00 billed. Under it, Configure finance has 960.00 planned, split between Okoro, Ben (560.00) and Lindqvist, Mia (400.00), and Data migration has 960.00 planned.
Check the result
- The totals row reads Planned 3,480.00, the same as the Planned column on the Projects list.
- Budget (hours) 3,600 minus 3,480 planned is a 120-hour gap between budget and plan.
- 3,480 planned minus 2,296.00 worked is 1,184 planned hours not yet worked.
- In this project Billed (2,180.00) trails Approved (2,240.00), which trails Worked (2,296.00).
Each comparison points at a different risk. Planned above budget would mean the plan already overruns. Here it's 120 hours under, but that's room in the plan, not guaranteed slack, since new assignments or bookings can use it. Worked closing in on planned while phases are still open suggests the estimate is being used up faster than the work finishes. The 116 hours between worked and billed split into 56 worked but not yet approved and 60 approved but not yet billed. Some of that is normally waiting in approval or billing, and some can be non-billable time or time your billing rules exclude.
Common questions
Where do I set a project's hours and money budget in OpenAir?
On the project's Properties, under General. Budget (money) and Budget (hours) sit there next to the project's Currency. The ERP Rollout has 820000 and 3600, which the Projects list shows as 820,000.00 USD and 3,600.00 hours.
What is the difference between booked, planned and worked hours in OpenAir?
Booked hours are time reserved for the project through resource bookings. Planned hours come from task assignments, unless the project is set to calculate them from bookings. Worked hours come from time entries. On the ERP Rollout that's 2,210.50 booked, 3,480.00 planned and 2,296.00 worked.
How do I compare budget hours with planned hours on an OpenAir project?
Put the Hours Budget column next to Planned on the Projects list, or compare Budget (hours) on Properties with the Planned total in Task view. Here 3,480 planned against a 3,600-hour budget leaves a 120-hour gap. That's room in the plan, not guaranteed slack.
Why are billed hours lower than worked hours on my OpenAir project?
Time has to be approved and then turned into billing charges before it counts as billed, and your billing rules can leave some time out entirely, like non-billable work. On the ERP Rollout, 56 hours are worked but not approved and 60 are approved but not billed.
How do I see hours by phase and task in OpenAir?
Open the project, click Phases/Tasks and choose Task view. Each phase, task and assignee gets its own row with Planned, Worked, Approved and Billed, and the last row totals them. The Build phase shows 1,920.00 planned and 1,428.00 worked.
What should I do if planned hours exceed the budget?
Find the phases and tasks driving the overrun in Task view and check whether those estimates are still right. If the extra work is agreed, raise Budget (hours) on Properties. If it isn't, cut assignments or scope until the plan fits.