Using Update Budget and Plan

The Update Budget and Plan screen turns all the SLGLBP functions with action type ‘SET’ into update mode from read-only mode. Although function SLGLBP is designed to update the budget amount, the function alone does not perform an update. To complete the update, you must use the Update Budget and Plan screen, which forces Excel to re-evaluate Excel functions in all open workbooks. A warning message is displayed explaining the ramifications of continuing when you open this screen.

These are recommendations to help improve the performance of the update and prevent accidental data loss.

  • Close all unwanted workbooks and worksheets not meant for this budget update.
  • Use a cell reference, when you set a new value for Action Type and Action Value. This will help ensure that what you see is what you update. Embedding action values into the formula is difficult to troubleshoot.
  • Breakdown the budget into smaller sizes whenever possible. For example, update a quarter instead of choosing 12 periods, or update by account type such as Expenses, Revenue etc.
  • Avoid using a reference to other GL functions. In this example, the Action Value has a reference to the SLGL function to retrieve the actual value for the period and increment by 10%. Since the budget update process uses caching, the SLGL may return zero in the first pass, so the budget will never get updated with a zero value.

    =SLGLBP("10000",3,2007,"","B","DALS","SET",SLGL("10000",3,2007,)*1.1)

To use the Update Budget and Plan screen:

  1. Click Budget and Plan > Update Budget and Plan from the Ribbon menu.
    The Update Budget and Plan screen is displayed.
  2. Read the warning message on the screen.
  3. If, after reading the warning message, you wish to update, click Process; otherwise, click Cancel.