Getting Started with Budget Manager Experience
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Getting Started with Budget Manager Experience
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Budget Managers can click the link in the email to access the shared template. The link will redirect the budget managers to the template once they click it and log in to the application. Budget managers can also log in to the application directly using Planful’s URL. The home page for budget managers displays all action items assigned to them, recent items, and a list of all templates to which budget managers have access in their respective panes.
Action Items
Whenever the finance team shares a template with a budget manager, the home page displays the template in the Action Item pane. They can click on any action item, and open that specific template. The home page also displays the count of completed action items. Budget managers will see the fields in the template based on the View selected for them while sharing the template.
Recent Items
The Recent Items pane displays the list of templates (GTSC or WFP) and dynamic reports budget managers accessed recently. The list shows the most recently accessed template or report on the top, and the rest follows a similar sorting order. This feature helps budget managers quickly access the template they opened recently and finish any pending action items or any other tasks.
When a budget manager opens a template from Recent items, the application displays the template view that the budget manager accessed in that template previously.
Note
The list displays ten recently accessed items in the pane.
Planning
The Planning pane displays the list of templates (GTSC) the budget manager can access. Budget managers need not wait for any invite email or link to access the required template, as this pane displays all the templates they can access. They can open any listed template and update the data if needed.
Budget managers can also select a scenario and budget entity from their respective drop-downs and view the list of templates based on the selected combination in this pane, and open the required template. When a budget manager opens a template from the Planning pane, the application displays the template only in Default View.
Note
Budget managers cannot close action items when opening templates from the Planning pane. The only exception is when a template has an action item in the Default View. If a budget manager opens that template from the Planning pane and clicks I'm Done after updating it, the action item will move to the completed state. The action item will remain open if it is with any view other than the Default View of a template, and the budget manager opens that template from the Planning pane.
For example, the following screenshot has an action item on Operating Expenses with Default View, and the Planning pane also lists the same template. If the budget manager opens the Operating Expenses from the Planning pane and clicks I'm Done after updating it, the Operating Expenses action item will move to the completed state.
If the Operating Expenses action item had a different View, the action item would have remained unaffected.
Reports
The Reports pane displays the list of dynamic reports the budget manager has permission to access. Budget managers can click the Reports tab and open the required dynamic report with just a few clicks.
Workforce
The Workforce pane contains a scenario list that displays the scenarios that the budget manager has permission to access. Budget managers can select any scenario from the scenarios list and click Show Employees to view the employees in the workforce planning template. For more information, refer to Workforce Planning Template in Budget Manager Experience.
Announcements:
Budget managers can also view any announcements admins make at the top of the revamped dashboard in the Announcements section. This section only displays the most recent announcement if there are multiple broadcasted messages.
Budget Managers can do the following after opening a template:
- Review/update the numbers in the template.
- Collaborate with other application users to review/update the numbers in the template.
- Select any entity from the Budget Entity drop-down and review/update the forecast numbers. The Budget Entity drop-down displays the entities to which the Budget Manager has access permissions.
Budget Managers can use the following options in the menu bar as required:
- Reload - To refresh the data in the template.
- Reset - To undo any changes made to the template. The saved changes cannot be undone.
- Action Item- Access the list of pending tasks. A new task is created for every template shared with the budget manager. If any budget managerhas access to multiple budget entities mapped to that template, every budget entity will have a new task. If any template is shared twice, the new task replaces the existing task to avoid duplicates. They can click any task in their list and easily navigate from one task to another. The following details are displayed about each task:
- Name of the user who shared the template
- The date on which the template was shared through email or using the Copy Link option
- Template name
- Entity name
- Save -To save the updates made to the template.
- I'm Done - To complete the action item. Once the budget managers click I'm Done, the respective task is cleared from the Action Items list, and the user who shared the template will receive an email notification.
Note
Once the Budget Managers start updating the template, the I'm Done button appears only after saving the template.
To navigate to the home page from any template, click the Finance drop-down in the top menu and select Home.
Following are the ways you can collaborate with other users:
Budget managers can collaborate with finance teams or other budget managers using the new Comments feature in templates and reports. Budget managers can post comments on any shared template or report and tag other users in the comment. The tagged user will get an email notification with a link that will redirect them to the respective template or report.
In any shared template, budget managers can post a comment on cells that are in open periods in any of the following line types:
- RC
- L with posting (with or without sublines)
- L with posting and history accounts (with or without sublines)
- C with posting
- C with posting and history accounts
- RA with single account mapping
Perform the following steps to create a comment:
- Select the required cell on which you want to post a comment and right-click on it.
- Choose the Comments option to post a comment.
- Provide the comment, and tag any user if needed.
- Click Comment.
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Assigning a Comment
While posting a comment, budget managers can assign the comment to any intended user to take action on the comment. While tagging a user, budget managers can select the Assign check box, and this action will create a task for the assigned user.
Note
Budget managers can assign tasks only to a user from the finance team. The assignee can access the task from Task Manager once the task is assigned.
Assigning a comment requires the following details:
- Task Name: Provide a label for the comment. The assignee can identify the comment based on the task name.
- Due Date: Provide a final date to resolve the comment.
- Priority: Select a metric (Low, Mid, or High) to show the importance of the comment.
Once all the details are in place, clicking Create Task will assign the comment to the tagged user.
Resolving a Comment
Once a budget manager or a tagged user addresses the comment, they can use the Resolve option in the comment pop-up to close it.
If the comment is assigned, the assignee has to enable the Mark as Completed toggle and click Resolve to close the comment.
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Other Actions
The posted comments have a contextual menu using which budget managers can perform different actions on that comment:
- Edit - Use this option to modify any existing comment.
- Highlight - Use this option to highlight any comment if it has to stand out from the rest of the comments.
- Delete Thread - Use this option to delete the actual comment and comment thread.
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View Contributors
The finance team users and budget managers can view the user history of that template with the new View Contributors feature.
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The View Contributors feature displays a list of users who updated the template in the past 30 days with the last updated date. Selecting a user from the list will mark/highlight the cells the user updated in the past 30 days. Anyone accessing the template can view the changes made by the other users and update the data accordingly. Budget managers can also right-click on any marked cell and view a detailed cell history.
Note
The View Contributors feature is currently applicable only for GTSC templates.
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This feature helps the finance team to track the changes made in the template when multiple users work on a template. If there is a mistake in the updated data, the finance team can quickly identify the user who provided the incorrect data and rectify it with them. When used in conjunction with the comments feature, it empowers the finance teams to collaborate effectively with non-finance users for planning/budgeting/forecasting within the Planful application.
Note
Along with being on the Ivy framework, make sure that the Planful support team has enabled the History feature to use the View Contributors feature.
Perform the following steps to use the feature:
- Click the View Contributors icon on the top menu bar. The application displays a list of users who worked on the template in the past 30 days.
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- Clicking on any user will mark the cells they updated in the past 30 days, and the user name appears on the top menu.
- You can right-click on any marked cell and click Show History to view the history of that cell.
- Click the close icon on the user name to remove the markings.
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