Higher Education Budgeting - Operating Expense Budget Request by Fund

    What is a Operating Expense Budget Request by Fund ? Operating Expense (Opex) budget requests by fund are considered essential building blocks of the annual budget and are used by budget managers and department heads to enter fund-level adjustments to the baseline budget. Some of the main functionality in this type of input form is that it it dynamically lists funds at the GL account level with user input in the yellow cells. The first three columns aid the end users in their data entry by providing read-only information about last year's actual results, target changes from the budget office and the department baseline budget. The user enters proposed adjustments in either % and/or as amounts, and this is then automatically calculating the Department Request column. On the far right of the template the user can enter text comments. You find an example of this type of input form below. Purpose of Opex Budget Requests by Fund Templates Universities and colleges use Opex Budget Requests by Fund Templates to automate and simplify the budget entry of operating expenses with fund details. When used as part of good business practices in a Budgeting and Planning department, a higher education institution can improve its planning process, and it can reduce the chances that the users enter less accurate budgets due to lack of background information. Opex Budget Requests by Fund Template Example Here is an example of an Opex Budget Request by Fund input form with history, target adjustments and data entry columns. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="2560"] Higher Education Budgeting Example - Operating Expense Budget Request by Fund Higher Education Budgeting Example - Operating Expense Budget Request by Fund[/caption]   You can find hundreds of additional examples here Who Uses This Type of Input form ? The typical users of this type of input form are Department Managers. Other Input form s Often Used in Conjunction with Opex Budget Requests by Fund Templates Progressive Budgeting and Planning departments sometimes use several different Opex Budget Requests by Fund Templates, along with  payroll budgets, capex budgets, revenue templates and other management and control tools. Where Does the Data for Analysis Originate From? The Actual (historical transactions) data typically comes from management systems or enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems like: Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365) Finance, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (D365 BC), Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics SL, Sage Intacct, Sage 100, Sage 300, Sage 500, Sage X3, SAP Business One, SAP ByDesign, Acumatica, Netsuite and others. In analyses where budgets or forecasts are used, the planning data most often originates from in-house Excel spreadsheet models or from professional corporate performance management (CPM/EPM) solutions. What Tools are Typically used for Reporting, Planning and Dashboards? Examples of business software used with the data and ERPs mentioned above are:
    • Native ERP report writers and query tools
    • Spreadsheets (for example Microsoft Excel)
    • Corporate Performance Management (CPM) tools (for example Solver)
    • Dashboards (for example Microsoft Power BI and Tableau)
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