Easy Budget Creation with Microsoft Dynamics GP Budget Wizard for Excel
Microsoft Dynamics GP provides an out-of-the-box budgeting tool. It seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Excel. GP allows the ability to create, update, and report on budgets. Budgets can be setup to be based on a fiscal year or a pre-defined period of time. This can be helpful for organizations working on a grant-based budget that spans beyond one fiscal year.
The budgeting tool enables businesses to create budget templates, distribute to management by cost center, and finally combine all into an agency-wide budget. Thus keeping all stakeholders involved in a process and not requiring any reformatting of submissions and/or manual keying into GP.
Using the wizard helps you to walk through the process. Below is an outline of a company-wide budget from the initial budget template creation through the import of the budgeted amounts.
In GP Navigate to the Financial Area Page > Cards > Budget. Below you will see a list of existing budgets in GP that have been built. Note the Excel icon notates a budget created using the wizard.
To create a new budget, click on the ‘New’ button, and select ‘Using Budget Wizard for Excel’. The Budget Wizard for Excel welcome screen will open. Click ‘Next’.
Enter the appropriate information and select the Fiscal Year that the budget is for. The fiscal year must be setup in GP prior to setting up the budget.
Click ‘Next’. This will bring you to the Budget Calculation Method screen. This window allows you to calculate your budget based on data that exists in GP. For our purposes, ‘Blank Budget’ has been selected.
In the next window there are options to download actual data into the worksheet for viewing purposes. (Note: this can impact the amount of time it takes to create the template).
Click ‘Next’ to select the Account Types to be included in the budget.
The Accounts window allows you to specify a range of accounts and/or other segments in your chart of accounts. For example, you may want to create a template for each cost center. For our example, ‘All Accounts’ has been selected.
Account Verification provides a preview of the accounts selected for the budget.
If this is a new budget, select ‘A new workbook’.
Click ‘Finish’ to complete the creation of the template.
When the Excel file launches it will look similar to the following:
It is important to maintain the layout of the template to ensure a successful import back into Microsoft Dynamics GP after completion. Be sure to enter any credits as a negative number in your worksheet!
After completing the Excel workbook, the Wizard walks you through the steps to import the data in the worksheet. Once imported into GP, the budget can be viewed and used in all of the reporting capabilities within GP.
If you’d like to learn more about creating your budget in Microsoft Dynamics GP, please call the Tidestone Solutions team today!
www.tidestonesolutions.com | 207-761-2133 | info@tidestonesolutions.com