Use drivers
Only the budget owner and administrators can add driver tabs but other users can contribute to drivers via the workflow.
Only one type of driver, the Manual Entry, is available in forecast workbooks.
Drivers, sometimes referred to as assumptions, are used in most budgets. They are key business factors that influence the financial performance, such as operational costs. These factors often change during the budgeting process, so it can be useful to manage them in additional tabs (worksheets) in the budget workbook. The use of drivers tabs saves you a lot of time when it comes to updating budget data, as they can update multiple rows or sections in the budget all at once.
You add drivers via additional tabs in the budget workbook. Drivers act like powerful working lines. You do all the data entry budgeting in the driver tab and the data flows into the Main tab, sometimes automatically, as illustrated in the image below. When you make changes in the driver tab, the data in the Main tab updates accordingly.
There are four types of tabs you can add to use as drivers, as outlined in the following table. You can add as many tabs as you want.
Tab type | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
Manual | Add a blank worksheet in which you can manually enter data. Even though the data in this tab does not automatically drive budget values, you can reference the data in formulas in your Main or other tabs, in order to drive budget or forecast values. This option is useful for managing key reference data common to different parts of your budget that you want to use for assumptions. For example, as you progress in the budgeting process and firm-up your assumptions, you can adjust the data accordingly, then use the updated data when you switch to forecasting mode. | Enter the number of vehicles and the maintenance costs per month, then adjust the data as numbers or costs fluctuate. Enter last year’s annual office expenses and assume there will be a 5% increase on these costs this year. |
Database | Bring in another Phocas database to accompany your main budget database and automatically drive line items in the Main tab. Alternatively, you can manually link to the data via formulas in Main tab - a useful option if the new database does not easily map to the existing database. The Database tab has the same number of levels as the main budget database and its dimensions are mapped to the dimensions in the main budget database. | Use your Sales database to drive the Revenue GL accounts in your Financial budget Main tab.
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Headcount | Import or manually enter employee salary, bonus and commission data, along with associated benefits, such as pensions and gym memberships to automatically drive line items in the Main tab. Alternatively, you can manually link to the data via formulas in Main tab. | Use your headcount data to automatically drive the Salary and other related GL accounts in your Financial budget Main tab. Use your FTE or head-related data in formulas to drive other related costs, such as office internet charges, which vary each month depending on how many people are working. |
Reference | Bring in another Phocas database for reference purposes only. Even though the data in this tab does not automatically drive budget values, you can reference the data in formulas in your Main or other tabs, in order to drive budget or forecast values. The Reference tab can have a different number of levels that what is in the main budget database. | Show prior year sales in a greater detail than the level you are budgeting. |