Reviewing and Approving Budgets

This chapter provides an overview of budget reviews and approvals and discusses how to submit and reject budgets.

Understanding Budget Reviews and Approvals

In PeopleSoft Budgeting, budget reviewers and budget analysts refer to the persons in your organization who are responsible for reviewing, analyzing, and approving the line-item budgets submitted by budget preparers. Budget reviewers and budget analysts commonly have responsibility for more than one budget center, so their security access requirements are broader than those of a budget preparer.

As a budget reviewer or budget analyst, you can perform budget preparation activities similar to those performed at the budget preparer level, including modifying, applying mass adjustments to, and allocating line-item budgets. You can also perform inquiry and analysis on the proposed budgets.

Prerequisites

To prepare for working with line-item budgets at the budget reviewer or budget analyst level, you need to complete the following:

1. Secure a master budget version of the detailed budget plans that roll up to your budget center level.

   All lower-level budget centers that make up your budget center must have submitted one of their budget versions, which the system uses to update the master version.

   Note. Individuals assigned the reviewer role can only make working version copies after all budget centers that roll up to their budget center level have been submitted by a preparer.

2. Prepare a working version of your budget if you want to modify the submitted budgets at your budget center level.

   If a working version has not been created for your budget center level, create one by copying from the master version.

   Note. If you only want to view and inquire on the budget data submitted to you, or if you only want to perform budget allocations, you do not need to have a working version.

3. If you are using Line-Item Mass Adjustments, check out a working version of the budget. If you are using Budget Allocations, check out the master version.

   Note. After you finish working with your budget, be sure to check the version back in.

See Also

Working With Planning and Budgeting Activities

Using Line-Item Mass Adjustments

Applying Allocations

Multiple Budget Versions

PeopleSoft delivers up to five budget versions for each budget center level in your budgeting model. As a budget reviewer or budget analyst, your budget versions are unique to your budget center level. These versions differ from the ones used by the budget preparer because the preparer is at a lower budget center level.

Use the working budget versions to modify line-item budgets, including making line-item budget modifications and mass adjustments. Use the master budget version to perform budget allocations. Compare the versions with one another before deciding which version you want to submit to the next level.

Note. If you have more than one budget reviewer or budget analyst assigned to the same budget center, they share the same budget versions.

Data in the Budget Reviewer's Versions

Budget reviewers and analysts typically have responsibility for more than one budget center, so you require broader access to budget data than that required for a budget preparer. When you define the line items you want to work with, the system retrieves line items at the detailed ChartField level just as if you were the budget preparer. The difference is that you have more line-item budgets to select from because your budget center consists of all the line items that comprise the lower budget center levels. If you want to view the line-item budgets at a summarized level, use public (when defined) or private views or use the inquiry page.

Your budget center consists of all lower-level budget centers to which you are assigned. For example, suppose that you are responsible for the budget plan for the western region. You require each operating unit within the organization to prepare its own detailed budget plan. The western region office is budget center 1000. Budget center 1100 is administration; 1200 is information services; and so on. The budget for the western region comprises 1100, 1200, and the remaining lower-level budget centers. Budget center 1000 does not have its own specific line-item budgets. Suppose the administration's budget has 250 line items, information services has 700 line items, and the remaining lower-level budget centers add up to 2,000 line items. When these budget centers submit their budget plans, the western region has a master version with 2,950 unique lines.

Budget Activities at the Budget Reviewer Level

As a budget reviewer and budget analyst, you can perform budget activities similar to those performed at the budget preparer level. Although the line items you access reside at the detailed ChartField level, you cannot modify some of the details. You can, however, modify line items across budget centers because your budget center consists of all lower-level budget centers. The following lists the budget activities and the types of actions you can perform at the reviewer/analyst level.

Line Item Mass Adjustments

Perform the following with the line item mass adjustment activity:

• Modify a budget using an amount or percentage change. Use this modification to increase or decrease one or many line-item budgets at once.

• Modify personnel line-item budgets that were created using data entered in position budgeting. When you make changes to personnel line items, these changes are not reflected in the position budgeting details entered at the budget preparer level.

• Modify operating and maintenance line-item budgets that were created using data populated from asset budgeting. When you make changes to asset line items, these changes are not reflected in the asset budgeting details entered at the budget preparer level.

Budget Allocations

Perform the following with the budget allocations activity:

• Allocate line-item budgets across budget centers to which you have access.

• Allocate personnel line-item budgets that were created using data entered in position budgeting. When you make allocations to personnel line items, these changes are not reflected in the position budgeting details entered at the budget preparer level.

• Allocate operating and maintenance line-item budgets that were created from data populated from asset budgeting. When you make allocations to asset line items, these changes are not reflected in the asset budgeting details entered at the budget preparer level.

Line Item Budgeting

Perform the following with the line item budgeting activity:

• Modify a budget using an adjustment amount to decrease or increase one line-item budget row at a time. The total amount will reflect the incremental adjustment, but not change the underlying details or amount of the defined method for the budget.

• Modify personnel-related costs at the summarized level. When you make changes to personnel line items, the changes are not updated in position budgeting but appear as adjustment amounts on the personnel line-item budgets you modify.

• Modify asset-related costs at the summarized level. When you make changes to asset line items, the changes are not updated in asset budgeting but appear as adjustment amounts on the asset line-item budgets you modify.

• View the method and method details associated with each line-item budget.

  Note. PeopleSoft Budgeting does not include the ability to change line-item method and method details directly at the reviewer level because your budget centers are potentially associated with much larger volumes of budget data and providing this functionality would negatively affect performance.

Position Budgeting

View position budgeting details that make up the personnel line-item budgets.

Asset Budgeting

View asset budgeting details that make up the asset line-item budgets.

Note. If you want to work directly with the position budgeting details, asset budgeting details, or method details for a particular budget center, you must sign in as a budget preparer to work with budget center details.

If you sign in as a budget preparer to access lower budget center levels, you are sharing budget versions with other budget preparers assigned to the budget center you select. Versions are unique to budget center levels and roles and are not specific to a user ID.

See Also

Preparing Position Budgets

Using Asset Budgeting

Using Line-Item Mass Adjustments

Applying Allocations

Submitting and Rejecting Budgets

This section provides overviews on how budgets are submitted and rejected and discusses how to:

• Select and submit budget versions.

• Reject budget versions.

Understanding How Budgets are Submitted and Rejected

Submit budgets by version and reject budget centers to move budget plans through your organization's development and approval process.

When you are finished preparing a proposed budget, submit the version to a higher budget center level defined by the approval structure within your budgeting model. The system validates commitment control rules, combination editing rules, and planning targets, if the budget coordinator defined them for the model. If the budget fails any of these validations, you cannot submit it. The budget reviewer or budget analyst at the next budget center level reviews, modifies, and submits a budget version comprised of lower-level budget centers to the next budget center level, and so on, until the budget for the organization is complete.

When a budget is submitted:

• The budget data in the submitted version is copied into the master version.

• The master version of the budget is passed up to the next budget center level.

• The working versions at your budget center level are locked.

Note. Select and submit a budget version from either the Budget Work Items component or the Budget Work Item Details component. When there are multiple budget centers to which you submit, you can submit only one budget center version at a time.

The budget reviewer, analyst, or coordinator role can reject the entire budget or any individual budget submitted by a lower-level budget center. Reject a lower-level budget associated with a higher-level budget center if the higher-level budget center has an Open status.

When a submitted budget is rejected by a budget reviewer, analyst, or coordinator:

• The budget data that has been copied into the master version remains in the master version until a budget version is submitted again.

• The budget version is returned to the lower budget center level that submitted it.

• The budget versions assume a Rejected status and are unlocked until a budget version is submitted again. At that time, the master version will be updated with the information in the most recent submitted version.

Pages Used to Submit or Reject Versions

Selecting and Submitting Budget Versions

Access the Budget Work Items page or the Budget Work Item Details page.

Rejecting Budget Versions

Access the Budget Work Items page.

Note. Budgets can only be rejected from the Budget Work Items page, even though they can be submitted from both the Budget Work Items and Budget Work Item Details pages.