Budget Tree: Implementation Activity

In this activity, you will learn how to configure a budget tree in the system.

Story

Suppose that the managers of the SweetLife Fruits & Jams decided to use hierarchical budgets in the system, so that the budget would include the Sales node and the Production node; the latter node should have the Purchases, Labor Cost, and Overhead subnodes.

Acting as a system administrator, you need to create a budget tree with the Sales and Production nodes, which will contain the related budget articles.

Configuration Overview

On the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form, the Subaccounts feature has been enabled. On the Segmented Keys (CS202000) form, the SUBACCOUNT segmented key has been defined according to the company’s business needs, as described in Subaccounts: Implementation Activity.

In the U100 dataset, on the Ledgers (CS202000) form, a ledger with the BUDGET identifier and the Budget type has been defined for the SweetLife Fruits & Jams company.

Process Overview

In this activity, on the Subaccounts (GL203000) form, you will upload the list of subaccounts from an Excel file. On the Budget Configuration (GL205000) form, you will create budget nodes and add leaves for each node.

System Preparation

Before you begin configuring the budget tree, in a tenant with the U100 dataset preloaded, do the following:
  1. Sign in to the tenant as a system administrator with the following credentials:
    • Username: gibbs
    • Password: 123
  2. As a prerequisite to the current activity, make sure you have completed Subaccounts: Implementation Activity.
  3. Make sure that the 2024 financial year has been created on the Master Financial Calendar (GL201000) form.

Step 1: Uploading a List of Subaccounts

To upload the list of subaccounts from a file, do the following:

  1. Open the Subaccounts (GL203000) form.
  2. On the form toolbar, click Load Records from File.
  3. In the File Upload dialog box, which opens, click Choose File and select the Subaccounts.xlsx file.
  4. Click Upload.
  5. In the Common Settings dialog box, which opens, leave the default values and click OK.
  6. In the Columns dialog box, which opens, leave the default settings and click OK.
  7. On the form toolbar, click Save to save your changes.

Step 2: Defining Nodes

To define nodes in the budget structure, do the following:

  1. Open the Budget Configuration (GL205000) form.

    In the Budget Tree pane, notice that Company is highlighted in bold type.

  2. In the Subarticles pane, click Add Row on the table toolbar, and do the following in the added row:
    1. Select the check box in the Node column.
    2. In the Description column, type Sales.
    3. Leave the other columns empty.

      You have not specified the account and subaccount masks for this node, because you will preload accounts and add an account manually to this node later.

  3. Click Add Row, and specify the following settings in the row to create a node:
    • Node: Selected
    • Description: Production
    • Other columns: Empty

      You have not specified the account and subaccount masks for this node, because you will add subnodes for this node later.

  4. Click Save on the form toolbar to save your changes.

You have created nodes for your budget structure, which you can now see in the Budget Tree pane.

Step 3: Adding Leaves to the Sales Node

To add leaves to the Sales node, do the following:

  1. While you are still viewing the budget tree on the Budget Configuration (GL205000) form, in the Budget Tree pane, click the Sales node.
  2. On the table toolbar of the Subarticles pane, click Preload Accounts.

    The Preload Accounts dialog box opens.

  3. In this dialog box, in the Account From box, select 40000.
  4. In the Account To box, select 40000.
  5. In the Subaccount Mask box, enter ???-000.
  6. Click OK to preload the budget leaves. The system automatically populates the budget tree with all the possible combinations that match the specified mask.
  7. On the toolbar of the Subarticles pane, click Add Row and specify the following settings for the added row:
    • Node: Cleared
    • Account: 40010
    • Subaccount: 000-000
    • Account Mask: 40010
    • Subaccount Mask: ???-000
  8. On the form toolbar, click Save to save your changes. The following screenshot illustrates the Sales node with the added accounts.
    Figure 1. The Sales node with the added accounts


Step 4: Adding Subnodes to the Production Node

To add subnodes to the Production node, do the following:

  1. While you are still viewing the budget tree on the Budget Configuration (GL205000) form, in the Budget Tree pane, click the Production node.
  2. On the table toolbar of the Subarticles pane, click Add Row, and specify the following settings for the added row:
    • Node: Selected
    • Description: Purchases
  3. Click Add Row, and specify the following settings for the added row:
    • Node: Selected
    • Description: Labor Cost
  4. Click Add Row, and specify the following settings for the added row:
    • Node: Selected
    • Description: Overhead
  5. On the form toolbar, click Save to save your changes.

Step 5: Adding Leaves to the Subnodes of the Production Node

To add leaves to the subnodes of the Production node, do the following:

  1. While you are still viewing the budget tree on the Budget Configuration (GL205000) form, in the Budget Tree pane, click the Purchases subnode of the Production node.
  2. On the table toolbar of the Subarticles pane, click Add Row and add the following leaves:
    Node Account Subaccount Description
    Cleared 60000 000-000 Purchase Expense
    Cleared 61000 000-000 Advertising Expense
    Cleared 51300 000-000 COGS - Freight
  3. On the form toolbar, click Save to save the budget configuration, as shown in the following screenshot.
    Figure 2. The Purchases subnode of the Production node


  4. In the Budget Tree pane, click the Labor Cost subnode of the Production node.
  5. On the table toolbar of the Subarticles pane, click Preload Accounts.
  6. In the Preload Accounts dialog box that opens, specify the following settings:
    • Account From: 69500 - Salaries and Wages
    • Account To: 69500 - Salaries and Wages
    • Subaccount Mask: 000-???
  7. Click OK in the dialog box.

    The system loads all the accounts that match the specified account and subaccount masks.

  8. In the Subarticles pane, remove the row with the 69500 account and 000-000 subaccount, and a row with the 69500 account and the 000-ENG subaccount.
  9. On the table toolbar of the Subarticles pane, click Add Row and specify the following settings for the row:
    • Node: Cleared
    • Account: 69550 (Bonus Expenses)
    • Subaccount: 000-000
  10. On the form toolbar, click Save to save the budget configuration, as shown in the following screenshot.
    Figure 3. The Labor Cost subnode of the Production node


  11. In the Budget Tree pane, click the Overhead subnode of the Production node.
  12. On the table toolbar of the Subarticles pane, click Add Row and add the following leaves:
    Node Account Subaccount Description Account Mask Subaccount Mask
    Cleared 62400 000-000 Office Expense 62400 000-???
    Cleared 62900 000-000 Rent or Lease Expense 62900 000-???
    Cleared 62950 000-000 Repairs 62950 000-???
    Cleared 63300 000-000 Utilities 63300 000-???
  13. On the form toolbar, click Save to save the budget configuration, also shown in the following screenshot.
    Figure 4. The Overhead subnode of the Production node