Creating a Budget in Dynamics GP

There are many forecasting and budgeting products available that integrate seamlessly with Microsoft Dynamics GP. When a business has high budgeting demands and forecasting needs, it is worth your time to learn about the different tools available to you. One of which, is the standard Budgeting Wizard in GP.

The Microsoft Dynamics GP Budgeting Wizard works with Microsoft Excel to allow you to easily import your budget figures. The Budget Wizard takes you through each step of the process to create the Excel template, which will be the basis for your import. Then, you simply complete the spreadsheet with the appropriate monthly amounts and reimport the data using the wizard.

You simply click to create a new budget, enter your budget information, choose a calculation method, choose to export your actuals data in a separate worksheet tab, choose your account types, and voilà!

The Wizard will automatically pull any GL account that meets the criteria from the account types that you select. Dynamics GP allows you to select the accounts using different segments in the COA as well; this is helpful when creating separate departmental or divisional budgets.

Some things to consider when creating your budget in Dynamics GP:

1. If the amount is a credit, it should be entered as a negative number.
2. Do not make changes to the overall layout of the spreadsheet.The import is a macro, so making changes to the spreadsheet layout will cause the import to fail.
3. You must have the appropriate fiscal year set up in Microsoft Dynamics GP before you begin the budgeting process.
4. Updating your budget in Excel and reimporting is much easier than editing budget line items from GP. This leaves less room for error.
5. Add budgets to your Management Reporter reports by simply selecting them in your column definition.

View actual windows and screen shots on our “Easy Budget Creation with Excel for Dynamics GP” blog. Or contact Tidestone Solutions for more information about the budgeting tools available to you: info@tidestonesolutions.com or 207-761-2133.