Budget Overview

Purpose of this document

This document explains the steps involved in creating and import/export general ledger budgets in Ceres.

Ceres Object release 6.00.00 is required for the functionality described in this document.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Overview
• Creating a G/L Budget Name
• Creating G/L Budget Entries
  • Creating Manual G/L Budget Entries
  • The Copy Budget Batch Job
• Export and Import Budgets
  • Exporting a Budget to Excel
  • Importing a Budget from Excel

Overview

In Ceres, the G/L Budget feature provides the opportunity to:

1. Create multiple G/L Budgets for identical time periods by using separate names.
2. Create simple or complex G/L Budgets by selecting a combination of G/L Account, period, the two Global Dimensions, and four G/L Budget Dimensions.
3. Copy G/L Budgets from previous periods and revise G/L Budget figures by using an adjustment factor.
4. Export G/L Budgets to and import G/L Budgets from Microsoft Excel.

Creating a G/L Budget Name

1. G/L Budgets can be accessed by selecting “Search” from the Dynamics 365 Business Central Banner and entering “G/L Budgets” in “Tell me what you want to do” then selecting “G/L Budgets” from the results in the Go to Pages and Tasks section OR by selecting the “G/L Budgets” menu action (if present) from your Role Center home page.

2. To create a new G/L Budget Names, select New.

3. From the G/L Budgets Page, update the fields as needed.

Name: Enter a unique identifier for this budget.

Description: Enter a short description.

Budget Dimension 1 Code field: Click the drop-down list and select the relevant dimension, as needed.

Budget Dimension 2 Code field: Click the drop-down list and select the relevant dimension, as needed.

Budget Dimension 3 Code field: Click the drop-down list and select the relevant dimension, as needed.

Budget Dimension 4 Code field: Click the drop-down list and select the relevant dimension, as needed.

Note: Additional fields will be displayed which are related to the Budget Enforcement functionality. See Budget Enforcement Overview Procedure Document for details on the purpose and use of the additional fields.

4. Select OK.

Creating G/L Budget Entries

There are three ways to create budget entries in Ceres:

1. Manually.
2. Copying from an existing budget.
3. Importing an exported blank Ceres budget or manually created budget from a specific Excel spreadsheet template.

Creating Manual G/L Budget Entries

1. G/L Budgets can be accessed by selecting “Search” from the Dynamics 365 Business Central Banner and entering “G/L Budgets” in “Tell me what you want to do” then selecting “G/L Budgets” from the results in the Go to Pages and Tasks section OR by selecting the “G/L Budgets” menu action (if present) from your Role Center home page.

2. Locate the budget that you want to work on and then click on Process and select Edit Budget.

3. Set filters for the G/L Accounts, date range, and Dimensions you want to make entries for.

4. Open the Budget Matrix FastTab and start entering amounts in the Amount fields. If a Dimension range filter was set, you will need to update the Budget Entries with the correct Dimension Value. Alternatively, you can set a single value in the Dimension filter and when you input an amount the Dimension will automatically be associated with the Budget Entry.

5. You can also input the budget from the G/L Budget Entries Page. To access the G/L Budget Entries Page, click on the ellipsis button on the right of the amount field. You will be in view mode. To switch to edit mode, click on the Home Tab of the menu and select Edit List. Input amounts as follows.

Budget Name: This information will populate based on the selections you made above.

Date: This information will be based on the selections you made above.

G/L Account No.: This information will populate based on the selections you made above.

Description: Enter a brief description.

Department, Project, Fund, Branch: These are dimensions and may or may not be required for your Food Bank. The dimension names could be different than what is shown here depending on what dimensions were created and the options you chose. Please see your system administrator for assistance.

Amount: Enter the amount of the entry.

6. Select Close when you have completed the entry.

The Copy Budget Batch Job

To avoid manually entering a new budget, use the Copy Budget function to copy from existing: G/L Budget Entries or from G/L Entries.

1. The Copy G/L Budget Function can be accessed from the Edit – Budget Page by clicking on Actions/Functions/Copy Budget.

2. The Copy G/L Budget batch job contains three areas that are used to specify the options:
   1. Copy from source.
   2. Copy to destination.
   3. How to Apply the copied information.

3. The Copy from area is used to determine where the copied budget entries are coming from. The fields within this area are specified based on the selection in the Source field. The two options for the Source field and the required data for each are:

G/L Entry - The budget is based on actual G/L entries for a specified period. Specify an account range and a date range in the G/L Account No. and date fields to determine the information to be copied. Also indicate whether to include Closing Entries.

G/L Budget Entry - The budget is based on G/L budget entries of an existing budget. Specify an Existing Budget Name to copy from, and an Account range and a date range in the G/L Account No. and date fields to filter the information copied.

4. For either Source option, in the Dimensions field click the Assist Button to the right of the field and From the Edit – Dimension Selection Page, place check mark in the Selected field for each Dimension to be copied to the new budget entries. Set additional filters for the copying process by defining Dimension Value Filters.

5. The Copy to area is used to specify where the copied budget information is to be sent. The following fields include:

Budget Name - Enter the name of the new budget or click the Assist Button to select an existing Budget Name.

G/L Account No. - Enter the G/L account number if one or more ledger entries must be copied to one G/L account.

6. The Apply area includes several calculation options you can use when copying budgets. This includes the following:

Adjustment Factor - Enter an adjustment factor that the source entries are multiplied by during the copy process. For example, an adjustment of 1.1 increases the amounts by 10 percent and an adjustment of .89 decreases the amounts by 11 percent.

Rounding Method - Specify how the new budget entries are rounded.

Date Change Formula - Enter a formula that calculates the date for the new entries based on the entries being copied, for example 1M for the next month.

Date Compression - Compress the entries copied by a selected period to reduce the number of new entries created.

7. Click OK.
8. Select “Yes” to start the copy process.

Export and Import Budgets

Ceres provides the option of creating budgets by using export and import functions. You can export budgets to Excel by using the Export Budget to Excel batch job. As soon as budgets are exported you can:

• Use Excel to modify and add to the budget.
• Create new budgets based on the exported budget figures.

You can import budgets from Excel by using the Import Budget from Excel batch job. Imported budgets can be:

• Previously exported budgets from Ceres.
• New budgets created in Excel.
• Budgets added into an existing budget.

Note: Before creating a budget in Excel, it is recommended that you export a budget from Ceres to obtain the correct format.

Exporting a Budget to Excel

1. Select the Budget that you wish to export as a template.
2. The Export G/L Budget Function can be accessed from the Edit – Budget Page by selecting Actions/Functions/Export to Excel.

3. The Batch Job contains two FastTabs; Options and G/L Budget Entry.

4. Update the fields as needed:

Start Date: Identifies the first date to be included in the exported budget.

No. of Periods: Identifies the number of accounting periods to be included in the exported budget. The total time that the budget will consist of is determined by the combination of this field and the Period Length field.

Period Length: Uses a formula to determine the length of the accounting periods to be included in the exported budget. For example, 1M for one month.

Column Dimensions: Determines which dimensions are shown as columns in the exported budget. These must include the dimensions set as filters on the G/L Budget Entry FastTab.

Include Totaling Formulas: If selected, sum formulas are created in Excel based on the Totaling fields used in the Chart of Accounts window. Using this function means that if you alter budget figures in Excel, the Excel cells used as totaling fields are at the same time updated.

Note: The Start Date, No. of Periods, and Period Lengths fields must be specified to run the export batch job.

5. Select OK to begin the batch job.
6. Excel will open and the budget will be created in Excel.

Importing a Budget from Excel

1. This section represents the base Import Budget from Excel process. The Import from Excel by Dimension process is covered in the Budget Import by Dimension Procedure Document.
2. The Import Budget from Excel Function can be accessed from the Edit – Budget Page by clicking on Actions/Functions/Import from Excel/Default.

3. Update the fields as needed.

Workbook File Name: Specifies the path of the saved Excel budget.

Worksheet Name: Identifies which worksheet from the Excel workbook to be imported.

Budget Name: Specifies the budget in Ceres that entries will be imported to.

Option: Identifies the method that is used to import budget entries. The options are as follows:

Replace Entries - Imported entries replace existing entries with the same Dimension, Date, and G/L Account combination.

Add Entries - Imported entries are added to existing entries with the same dimension, date, and G/L Account combination. Use this option to create a single consolidated budget from several other individual budgets created in separate Excel worksheets.

Description: Specifies a description that is assigned to the imported budget entries to help differentiate between other budget entries.

4. Click OK and the spreadsheet will be imported.