Financial Planning

For both budget types, you specify an initial budget and can subsequently map any changes. This allows you to see how the planned budget evolves:

• 1. April: Initial budget - Total: $10,000

• 14. April: Budget reduction due to unforeseen events - -$6,000; total: $4,000

• 17. April: Renegotiation - +$1,500; total: $5,500.

In the detailed view, this is displayed as follows:

At the top of the tab, switch between displaying monthly and annual planned budgets.

Note that you can enter initial planned and target budgets with the value 0. It is not possible to enter a delta value with the value 0 for both budget types.

The budget view always shows the current total amount for a period.

Eventually, an administrator has set up the automatic locking of the plan and target budget of a previous month centrally for your system. When a budget is locked for a month, it can no longer be edited. The locking automatically takes effect after a defined number of days after the end of the month and at a defined time.You can see if a monthly budget is locked by the lock icon on the left of the month under > Planner > Budget. When the lock is closed (), the target and plan budget of the month can no longer be edited. If the lock is open, the budgets can be edited.
Contact your administrator if you have questions about the exact time of day the lock is in effect.

Along with the lock, the administrator can also activate a rollover for the plan budget. In a rollover, the difference between the planned budget and the actual or committed budget of the locked month is calculated at the time of the locking and added to the planned budget of the following month. This allows unused budget to be used in the following month or overdrawn budget to be made up in the following month. Note that there is no rollover at the end of a fiscal year.The administrator determines for which levels in the element tree a rollover is performed.

For a planned or target budget, you manage the following data:

• Amount: Value of the budget; For changes, enter either a new total amount or the change amount (delta).

• Calculation date: The calculation date determines to which planning period the budget is assigned. If you enter the date 22 March 2022 for a monthly budget, the amount will be assigned to the planning month of March 2022. If you enter the date 22 March 2022 for an annual budget, the amount will be assigned to the planning year 2022.

• Creation date: If necessary, enter the date on which the budget amount or the change to a budget was determined. This date can help you better track decisions.

• Cost type: Assign the budget to a cost type if needed. Select an amount from the list or enter a new cost type.

• Comment: Enter additional information for your colleagues, if necessary.

Note that Amount (total or delta) and the Calculation date are mandatory entries.

You have two options to enter an initial budget or a change:

• You open the detailed view of the element and switch to the Planned budget or Target Budget tab.

• You enter values under > Marketing Planner > Budget directly into the cell of the element in the respective plan column. To do so, double-click the cell.

Note that the direct entry under > Marketing Planner > Budget depends on a setting that an administrator makes for the system:

• After double-clicking, the cell is in edit mode and you enter the value directly into the cell. Then the following planned budget data will be set automatically:

  • The entered value is always interpreted as a new total amount. If the cell is filled for the first time, the value is set as the initial budget. If an amount has already been displayed, a change budget is created with the following value: [new value] - [previous value].

  • The calculation date is set as follows: For an annual planned budget, the first day of the first month in the selected fiscal year is entered. For a monthly planned budget, the first day of the month (in the selected fiscal year) is entered.

  • The current date is set as the creation date.

  • The Cost type and Comment properties remain empty.

• A dialog box opens where you can set the data yourself:

The periods for which budgets are entered depend on the planning type of the year. When creating a fiscal year, the administrator determines whether planned budgets are entered or calculated using the top-down or bottom-up method. The planning type defines the relationship between the monthly and the annual planned budgets:

• Top-Down: In this method, an annual planned budget is specified, which is manually distributed over the months. This planning type is suitable for companies whose marketing planning is created centrally and the individual marketing areas work with the centrally stored budgets.

• Bottom-Up: In this method, the planned budgets are entered for the respective months. The annual planned budget is calculated automatically from the sum of the monthly values. This budget calculation is suitable for companies whose individual marketing departments set their own budget plans and the budget total is not specified.

You can assign a working currency to each element in the detailed view. The working currency is used to plan and manage activities, for example, to maintain budgets, orders and invoices.

If you use multiple currencies, note that the input is entered in the currency used for the display: The value entered is always interpreted as the value of the currency set in each case, i.e. either reference or working currency.

To be able to compare planning activities with each other, a reference currency is defined for each year. An administrator maintains the exchange rates used to convert values in working currencies to the reference currency.

• Creating an Initial Budget or Budget Change

• Editing an Initial Budget or Budget Change

• Deleting an Initial Budget or Budget Change