Using the Budgets Overview Tool

   Overview   

The Budget Overview Tool provides the ability to look at your budget information for specific ChartField combinations. You will enter parameters to set up the combinations you want to review. When the online results are generated, you will see icons that allow you to drill down into the specific transactions that comprise the numbers you are viewing.

You may not have security for all the drill-downs. If you do not, check the queries provided to give you the information.

In this article, you will learn how to use the Budgets Overview Tool to review your budgets.

Note : Not all users have the security access required to use this tool.

These pages can also be accessed directly from within the Business Management WorkCenter.

1. Step 1

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First, log into the Financial Management System.

Click the drop-down button next to the Employee Self Service menu.

2. Step 2

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Click the UGA Financials link.

3. Step 3

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Click the General Ledger tile.

4. Step 4

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The General Ledger page is displayed.

Click the Commitment Control  link.

5. Step 5

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Click the Budgets Overview link.

6. Step 6

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After you have set up a Inquiry Name to run the report, you can re-use the same inquiry by selecting it from the Find an Existing Value page.

Click the Find an Existing Value tab.

7. Step 7

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Click the Search button.

8. Step 8

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If you have set up more than one inquiry, a list will prompt you to select which you want to use.

If you only have one inquiry set up, the menu will open to that page. You can reuse the same inquiry as many times as you like.

Close the menu to see more on the page.

Click the Collapse menu button.

9. Step 9

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You can also create a new Inquiry to use. It will hold the parameters that you save and you can re-use to run the report exactly the same way every time.

Click the Return to Search button.

10. Step 10

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Click the Add a New Value tab.

11. Step 11

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Enter a name into the  Inquiry Name  field that will help you find your inquiry later.

Example shown here:  "BudgOvrvw " in the Inquiry Name field.

12. Step 12

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Click the Add button.

13. Step 13

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A new Budget Inquiry Criteria page opens for you to enter the values that you want the report to display.  

14. Step 14

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You can enter a description that helps you to identify the values you are including in the report. This will show up in the search list when you look for an inquiry name.

Enter appropriate information into the  Description  field.

Example shown here: " Department 32* " in the Description field.

15. Step 15

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The default entry for Business Unit is 18000. If your budgets are in another business unit, you can change this value.  

16. Step 16

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Select the Ledger Group from which to pull information.

DEPT_CHILD contains expenses.

DEPT_REV contains revenue.

If you encounter a budget checking error when creating a journal, the error page will indicate the journal to investigate.

Click the Ledger Group button.

17. Step 17

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The Search Results show the available ledger groups.

Select the appropriate Ledger Group.

Click the Cancel button to continue with the DEPT_CHILD ledger.

18. Step 18

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Next, select the Time Span.

Click the  Type of Calendar  list to see the available choices.

19. Step 19

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You can view your data by Accounting Period or Budget Period in summary or detail.

Click the Detail Budget Period list item.

20. Step 20

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In the ChartField Criteria section, you can enter information to restrict the information that is returned in your search.  You can narrow the information by entering information into any or all of the ChartFields shown.

21. Step 21

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You will probably want to restrict to your departments or a subset of your departments. The percent sign (%) is a wildcard that pulls back all values. 

If you want to enter your values in a field, you will need to clear the percent sign. You cannot use a wildcard and a value in this inquiry.

22. Step 22

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You are now ready to set up the ChartField Criteria values you want to see in your report.

Enter the first value in your range into the  ChartField From Value  field.

Example shown here: " 32000000 " in the ChartField From Value field on the Dept row.

23. Step 23

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Enter the last value in your range into the  ChartField To field. Enter " 32009004 " into the ChartField To field on the Dept row.

24. Step 24

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Save your criteria choices. Combined with the name you give the inquiry, you will not need to build an Inquiry for these values, but can re-use this inquiry.

Click the Save button.

25. Step 25

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You are now ready to retrieve the data.

Click the Search button.

26. Step 26

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You may see this message. It means that there are more rows than you have allowed for in the inquiry.

Click the OK button to close the message.

27. Step 27

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There are two ways to avoid the message. The first is to change the maximum number of rows you retrieve by changing the value in the Max Rows field. This may not, however, solve the problem.

28. Step 28

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Enter appropriate information into the Max Rows  field. 

Example shown here " 150 " in the Max Rows field.

29. Step 29

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You can also narrow your criteria choices.

Click the Return to Criteria link.

30. Step 30

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You may want to narrow the chartstring. One way is to look at specific accounts.

Click the magnifying glass next to the Account Look up ChartField From Value  field.

31. Step 31

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For example, you may want to look at only travel expenses. The travel accounts begin with 6.

Enter appropriate information into the Account field.

Example shown here " 6 " in the Account field.

33. Step 33

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Select the appropriate value to begin your range.

Example shown here: 600000 - Travel  link.

34. Step 34

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Click the magnifying glass next to the ChartField To field on the Account row to enter the last account number in your range.

35. Step 35

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Enter the appropriate information into the  Account  field.

Example shown here: " 6 " in the Account field.

36. Step 36

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Click the Look Up button.

37. Step 37

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Scroll through the list or use the navigation controls on the list to find the value you want.

Click the link for the criteria to be included in the report.

38. Step 38

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Click the Search button.

39. Step 39

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The Inquiry Results are displayed.

The top section contains some of the overall controls you selected for the inquiry.  

40. Step 40

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The Ledger Totals section tells you how many rows were retrieved.

There is a summarized report of the total of the lines you retrieved that shows the original budgeted amount, the actual expenses charged, the encumbrances and the balance.  

41. Step 41

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The Budget Overview Results shows the lines retrieved for criteria you entered. Each row represents a unique chartstring combination.  

42. Step 42

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Click the Show Budget Details button.

43. Step 43

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This displays the Budget Details page which contains more ways to drill into the information.

44. Step 44

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Where there is an amount present, you can drill into the ledger.

Click the Drill to Ledger icon

45. Step 45

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The Budget Details on the Ledger entry shows the chartstring values.

There is a second tab on this page.

Click the Amounts tab.

46. Step 46

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This page gives the account number and the amount and information on when it was updated.

Click the Show all columns icon to see all values on one line.

47. Step 47

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You can see the ChartFields and the amount on the same line.

Click the Show tabs button to separate the tabs again.

48. Step 48

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You can drill down further to find out more about this amount.

Click the Drill Down icon.

49. Step 49

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This gives you the Journal ID and lists the line where the transaction was entered. If this amount is made up of more than one journal, they will all be listed here. You can see the details of that transaction by scrolling through the page.

50. Step 50

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You can see the detail of the journal entry.

Click the Show Journal Detail icon.

51. Step 51

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This opens the header page of the journal where the information was entered.

Click the Budget Lines tab.

52. Step 52

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You can examine the lines using the controls on the page. Since this opens in a new window, you will want to close the page after your review is complete.

Click the Close Tab button.

53. Step 53

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Close the Ledger page.

Click the OK button.

54. Step 54

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The Activity Log gives you a slightly different view of the transactions behind this number.

Click the Drill to Activity Log icon.

55. Step 55

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On the Activity Log, you can also review the ChartFields and amount. You can see the Transaction Line, Document Label which identifies the transaction type, and the Document ID.

Click the Drill Down button.

56. Step 56

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The Budget Journal Drill Down gives a slightly different view of the transaction.

Close the page when you finish your review.

Click the OK button.

57. Step 57

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Close the Activity Log.

Click the OK button.

58. Step 58

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Close the Budget Details page after your review.

Click the OK button.

59. Step 59

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You can continue your review of different lines.  

60. Step 60

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When your review is complete, you can return to the criteria page.

Click the Return to Criteria link.