During the budgeting process, if circumstances change, you might need to make some additions to your budget worksheets:
A dimension is a level in your budget hierarchy and an entity is a value within a dimension. For example, a dimension is Country and the entities are Australia, the UK and the USA.
Add a level
To budget at a more detailed (granular) level, you can add additional levels (dimensions) to a worksheet. For example, if you have a Sales driver that is set up to budget by Country and Branch, you could add a level for Product Class underneath each Branch.
Adding a level to your budget has an impact on your workflow, depending on how you add it. If you add a level in the Budget setup window (method 1 above), that level sits above the workflow - the last level is the workflow level. If you add a level via method 2 or 3 above, the level sits below the workflow.
You can add a hierarchy level (dimension) to a budget worksheet in three ways:
Via the Budget setup window - but you can only use this method if you have not started budgeting yet, see edit or delete a budget workbook to learn how to do this.
Via the blue plus button
in the header of the Main tab of a non-financial budget, such as a budget that is based on your Sales database.Via the blue plus button
in the header of a non-financial Database driver tab.
After you add the level, the worksheet page reloads. You can then expand the lines to view the additional levels of data.
In the example below, you added a Database driver tab based on your Sales database. You now want to budget at the Product Class level, so you need to add that dimension as another level in the budget. On the Sales tab, click the blue plus button then click the Product Class dimension. The budget updates accordingly; new rows display for the entities in the new dimension level. However, the workflow remains at the Branch level.
If you change your mind or make a mistake, to remove the new level, click the blue Delete button next to that level, then click Delete to confirm.
Add an entity to a single entity in a dimension
You can add an entity, such as a country, branch or product, into to a specific entity in a dimension. Here are some examples for why you might need to do this:
Your organization receives interest income from a new source in the UK. Previously, you only ever received such income from one country, the USA. The UK entity has been added to the Country dimension in your ERP system, now you need to add the UK into your financial budget, under the Other Income category. This example is illustrated in the image below.
You prepared a non-financial budget based on your Sales database. Later in the year, your organization opens up a new sales branch in Australia. The new branch entity has been added to the Branch dimension in your ERP system, now you need to add the branch into your budget, under the applicable Country dimension.
Your organization is releasing a new product and only one Sales Rep, Sam, is selling it. The product entity has been added to the Product dimension in your ERP system, now you need to add the product into your Sales budget, under Sam, who sits under the Sales Rep dimension.
On the Main tab, expand the rows to the applicable dimension, for example, the Other Income category in a financial budget.
Hover over the dimension row, then click the blue plus button
that displays.In the window that displays, select the entity you want to add. You can select multiple entities.
Select the applicable option:
If you are in a financial database, select the entity from which you want to clone the General Ledger accounts codes, for example the USA.
If you are in a non-financial database, select the entity from which you want to clone the structure, for example if you are adding a Sales Rep, you can clone the product class entities from another Sales Rep.
Click the Add Selected button.
Additional rows for the new entity and its cloned structure display in the budget.
If you change your mind or make a mistake, to remove the new entity, hover over the left of the entity name and click the Delete button that displays, then click Delete to confirm.
Add an entity to all entities in a dimension
If a new entity, such as a country, branch or product applies to all entities in a dimension, you can add that entity to all those other entities simultaneously. Here are some examples for why you might need to do this:
Your organization acquires a new business in another country, New Zealand (NZ) and you need to start budgeting for that country. The NZ entity has been added to the Country dimension in your ERP system, now you need to add NZ into your budget, under all categories. As the operating environment is similar to Australia, you clone the General Ledger account codes that are in use in Australia. This example is illustrated in the image below.
Your organization is releasing a new product and all your Sales Reps can sell it. The product entity has been added to the Product dimension in your ERP system, now you need to add the product into your budget, under all the Sales Reps in the Sales Rep dimension.
In the worksheet, click the dimension (Country) in the top toolbar and click Add [dimension] at the bottom of the list (the label of this dimension will depend on the circumstance, in this example it is Country).
In the window that displays, select the entity you want to add. You can select multiple entities.
Select the entity from which you want to clone the structure from, for example AUS.
Click the Add Selected button.
Additional rows for the new entity (NZ) and its cloned structure display in the budget.
If you change your mind or make a mistake, you cannot remove all occurrences of this new entity simultaneously, you need to remove them one by one. Hover the left of the entity name and click the Delete button that displays, then click Delete to confirm.
Add an account
In a financial budget, there might be times when you are expecting a specific account to display but it does not. This might be because the account had no activity in it in the baseline period. You can manually add that account into the budget. Here are some examples for why you might need to do this:
Suppose that due to the Coronavirus restrictions last year, your organization had no entertainment expenses but this year, things are returning to normal, so you want to budget for those entertainment expenses.
Your organization holds a conference every second year and therefore, incurs additional expenses every second year. The related accounts will only display in your budget for those years.
On the Main tab, expand the rows to the applicable category and dimension, for example, Operating Expenses > UK.
Hover over the entity row, then click the blue plus button
that displays.In the window that displays, select the General Ledger account code(s)* you want to add, for example, Entertainment. You can select multiple accounts.
Select one of these options:
To add the account to the selected entity only (UK), leave the default option selected.
To add the account to each entity in the category (UK and USA), select the “Each Account in…” option.
Click the Add Selected button.
*If you do not see the required account in the list, it means the account is not available to be added, as it has not been mapped to a category. The account will only become available to be added after you add it to the applicable category in the Financial Statement, and you cannot do that until there has been some activity against the account.
Additional rows for the new accounts(s) (expenses) display in the budget.
If you change your mind or make a mistake, to remove the new account row, hover over the left of the account name and click the Delete button that displays, then click Delete to confirm.
