Building and processing budget plan files

A budget contains budget plan files for each department, organized into file groups, which typically each contain a single year's budget.

IMPORTANT: Before you build and process plan files, you must first load and reconcile data. For more information, see Preparing data for budget go-live

To initially create plan files for a new year, you will need to:

  1. Build plan files - Creates the budget plan file.
  2. Process plan files – Populates the budget plan file with data from the Axiom database that you preloaded.

Budget file groups contain plan files with budget data for each department in the organization. However, you do not copy individual plan files when cloning a file group. Instead, you use the Build & Process Budget Files job in the Axiom Scheduler to generate a new set of plan files for the new budget year.

Budget plan files are generated from templates. Which templates are used for a particular department and how those templates are configured is based on settings in our Budget Configuration and Assumptions driver files.

NOTE: The Build & Process Budget Files job creates and saves the plan files per the configuration settings in the dimension tables and the file group's driver files—it does not populate the files with data. Populating the plan files with data is an additional step that we will discuss later.

Within the job, creating and processing are broken out to two different tasks to allow each to be run independent of each other.

Building budget plan files

To build budget plan files:

  1. In the Bud AdminBud Admin task pane, in the Prepare Budget Plan Files section, double-click Build & Process Budget Plan Files.

  2. In the box on the left side of the Scheduler dialog, click Create Plan Files.

  3. Click the folder icon.

  4. In the Choose File Group dialog, select the file group, and click OK.

  5. To create specific plan files, you can apply filters, as needed. For example, to only run for a selected Entity or Dept. To apply filters, in the Task Details section, click the Plan Files tab. Select the Use filter radio button to access filtering options.

  6. After you select the options you want, in the Job ribbon, click Run Once.

  7. After creating the plan files, you need to process them. For more information, see Process plan files.

Refreshing data

Most of the data in Axiom Software is stored in a database. Plan files are typically generated as needed by populating a template file with the relevant data from the database. The template used for a particular plan file often depends on the configuration settings selected in the driver file for that file group. Most plan files automatically refresh/recalculate data on open. If you need to update an open workbook to reflect changes to the database or driver files, however, you can use the Refresh feature.

In plan files, this feature is only available to product administrators and to users with the Run AQs in Plan Files security permission. This control prevents users from inadvertently overwriting plan data when the template is not designed to accommodate data updates.

An Axiom query is a method of querying data from the database and updating a specific range in a sheet with the data. If an Axiom query is configured to refresh when the file is opened, however, that refresh occurs for all users, regardless of their security settings. Therefore, you may see data updates in the file when it is first opened, regardless of whether the Refresh feature is available to use.

For administrators, typically the only time you may refresh individual plan files is during plan file testing. To test changes made to a template, you build a plan file from the template, and then refresh the plan file to bring in data. After testing has been completed and the final plan files are built out, use the Process Plan Files utility to refresh plan files in a batch process rather than refreshing individual files.

After the plan files have been rolled out to end users, you only refresh the plan files if the templates are designed to accommodate ongoing data updates. For example, when performing rolling forecasting, your templates are designed to accommodate bringing in a new period of actuals data each month or each quarter. On the other hand, if you are performing traditional annual budgeting, then your templates are designed so that actual data is brought in once at the start of the process. After that initial baseline is set, typically no further data updates are brought into the plan files.

To refresh a plan file:

  • On the Main tab, in the File Options group, click Refresh.

    NOTE: You may be prompted to define values before the refresh occurs. If so, these values are applied to the plan file to impact the data refresh.

Viewing budget plan file templates

Templates define the default file structure for budget plan files. Each template contains one or more sheets that are copied into a budget plan file at the time it is initially created. Individual cells in templates may contain formulas (tags) that define how data flows from the database into the corresponding budget plan file cells and/or how data input or modified in the plan should be written back to the database.

In all Axiom Software products, templates are generally standardized for each application and not editable by users. However, you may still view the contents of templates to help trace formulas back to the source data and understand how data in plan files flows to and from the central database.

Which templates (or sheets within templates) are used to create a particular plan file depends on settings within the related driver files and dimension table(s). You may or may not be able to configure these associations, depending on the application and particular category of plan file.

NOTE: After plan files have been created from templates, subsequent changes to the template do not impact the plan files unless the plan files are re-created.

To view templates:

  1. In the ExplorerExplorer task pane, in the File Groups section, click the file group for the templates to view.

  2. Click Templates.
  3. Double-click the template to view.

Processing budget plan files

To process budget plan files:

  1. In the Bud AdminBud Admin task pane, in the Prepare Budget Plan Files section, double-click Build & Process Budget Plan Files.

  2. In the box on the left side of the Axiom Scheduler dialog, click Process Plan Files.

  3. To process specific plan files, you can apply filters, as needed. For example, to only run for a selected Entity or Dept. To apply filters, in the Task Details section, click the Plan Files tab. Select the Use filter radio button to access filtering options.

  4. To process the plan files, in the Job ribbon, click Run Once.