Exploring the Pre-Work Steps to Complete

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to explain the necessary steps to complete before setting up Budget Configuration.

Roles Available for Budget Feature

Before configuring the Budget, you must first complete the mandatory pre-work: review and assign Budget roles.

Budget Roles

Role	Description
Budget Approver/Manager	Approves invoices, purchase requests, expense reports, and requests and can view budgets in the budget dashboards. If your company includes a budget step in the workflow, can be added as an approver for a specific budget. Allows the person to be part of the manager's manager hierarchy to filter a budget. Doesn't have access to the budget configuration.
Budget Owner	Owns the budget and can view budgets in the dashboards. Doesn't have access to the budget configuration.
Budget Viewer	Owns the budget and can view budgets in the dashboards. Owner doesn't have access to the budget configuration.
Budget Administrator	Views budgets in the dashboards. There can be one or several budget viewers. The data on the dashboard is the same as the Budget owner. Doesn't have access to the budget configuration. Note If the Budget Administrator also has the Budget Viewer role, the admin will be able to see all configured budget items in the Shared Budget section of the Budget Dashboards.

Note

Administrators only need the Budget Administrator role to access Budget Configuration. No additional role is required.

A user with the Role Administrator permission assigns these roles through the following methods:

Manually via User Accounts in Product Settings
Import roles using Import Users on the User Accounts page

Budget pre-work gives you the foundation to start building the Budget configuration.

How to Access the Budget Configuration

Follow these steps to access the Budget Configuration page:

Steps

Go to Administration and select Product Settings (Expense Settings or Expense & Invoice Settings). The Monitoring Spend section appears with the Budget tile included.
Select Edit under the Budget tile. The Budget Configuration page appears.

Result

The Budget Configuration page includes several tabs—some required, others optional—based on your organization's needs. In the upcoming units and lessons, you'll learn what each tab does and how to configure them effectively.

The image shows a screenshot of the Expense & Invoice Settings page under the Administration menu, specifically the Fiscal Calendar section. The page features tabs such as: Fiscal Calendar, Budget Category, Budget Items, and Budget Settings (all highlighted in yellow). Below the tabs there is a table listing the fiscal year with start and end dates, and a status indicating whether it is active. There are also buttons for New, Modify, Activate, Deactivate, and Remove.

Key Considerations for Building the Budget Configuration

Budget data can be imported either via manual upload or Web services, as there is no overnight process available through File Transfer Protocol (FTP).
The Budget Administrator's visibility cannot be restricted by group, granting them access to all created budgets.
While budget data is not accessible in Cognos reporting, a bulk export UI is available to extract various data types across budgets into a spreadsheet.
The Budget feature is fully integrated with Concur products, but spending is tracked solely in Expense, Purchase Request, and Invoice modules.

References

Title	Link
Budget Admin Guide - Budget Configuration	^{Budget Admin Guide - Budget Configuration}

Summary

Assign Budget roles before configuring budgets to ensure proper access and permissions.
Access Budget Configuration through Administration > Product Settings > Budget tile.
Budget data can be imported manually or via Web services, not through File Transfer Protocol.
Budget Administrators have access to all budgets and cannot be restricted by group.
Use the bulk export feature to extract budget data, as it is not available in Cognos reporting.

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