Overview of the Solicitation Process

If locations in the budget/forecast in the solicitation process have undergone hierarchical changes, such as locations added or deleted, then you must perform the steps described in Task Overview before completing the steps below.

The solicitation process includes the following steps. The steps differ depending on whether the plan is an imported budget or a generated forecast.


Step	Type of Plan	Performed by	Module	See...
Import a budget. For forecasts, this is a reference budget.	budget forecast	system administrator	Job Scheduler	Importing a plan
Generate the forecast.	forecast	budget manager	Budget Management	Overview of Plan Generation Process
		system administrator	Job Scheduler
Reference the forecast layout so that it points to the required budget and required actuals.	forecast	system administrator	Budget Management	Synchronizing rule group parameters and the forecast layout
Assign due dates to the plan.	budget forecast	corporate budget manager	Budget Management	Assigning Due-Date Attributes
Update and run the Scheduled Alerts Due Date tasks.	budget forecast	system administrator	Job Scheduler
Release the plan down the hierarchy for review, update, and approval. For a forecast, this is required only if it was not released automatically after it was generated.	budget forecast	corporate budget manager	Budget Management	Releasing Down the Hierarchy
Review, update, and submit the plan up the hierarchy for approval.	budget forecast	all relevant budget managers	Budget Management	Submitting Up the Hierarchy
Lock the plan to confirm the end of the solicitation process.	budget forecast	corporate budget manager	Budget Management	Finalizing, Locking, and Exporting the Annual Budget Finalizing and Locking the Forecast
Publish the budget so that LFSO can use the payroll dollars as constraints for scheduling purposes.	budget forecast	corporate budget manager	Budget Management	Publishing and Unpublishing Payroll Data to LFSO
Optional. Update and run the Job Scheduler Budget Export Task.	budget forecast	system administrator	Job Scheduler	Export a Plan

For a budget, repeat all the above steps upon receipt of Q4 actuals, if required.