Processing Budget Releases

Budget releases are a mechanism for handling different time spans between budget planning and execution. This means that while a budget might be planned for a complete year, it will not be consumed on the first day of this year. Instead, the budget will be released, and made available for consumption and AVC checking over time.

Budget releasing can be processed using an individual manual budget posting or through an automated mass process (or a mixture of both for a different context).

Unreleased and released budget is modeled using different budget types. Budget releases are simply specific budget transfer documents between these budget types. Of course the unreleased and released budget can be combined or separately reported in analytics.

The functionality of budget releases is not switched on or off. In fact, you can enter budget directly into unreleased and released budget at the same time. Of course if all your budget will be subsequently released, you would never enter budget directly into released budget, but always use the release functionality for all your budget.

The following figure shows the process of budget releases.

The following figure shows the configuration of the Budget Type for unreleased and released budget. The released budget type is consumable, whereas the unreleased budget type is not.

The following figure provides you with the example of a budget release document. You can create those documents manually or using a period job.

To create a document manually, you need to choose the budget process "Release" in the Maintain Budget Document app. The app will propose immediately a transfer document. When you enter a sender line, the system will generate a corresponding receiver line.

It is possible to change the account assignment on the receiver side (or create multiple line items to different account assignments). The budget types are controlled along the release concept. You cannot release more budget than is available under the unreleased budget type.

Frequently, a budget release will be posted periodically using an automated process. You can trigger this type of periodic release using the Application Jobs app. To do this, select the job template, Automatic Budget Release. You can start this job for all or individually selected account assignments.

The automatic budget release generates budget release documents in line with the manual creation of budget releases.

The following figure shows the parameters for an automated budget release job.

If you choose not to release the complete amount immediately, it is possible to choose a period for which you can release portions of your unreleased budget. This is achieved using the recurrence pattern in the job. The following figure, Define Recurrence Patterns, provides you with the example of an unreleased budget that will be released each month for 12 months. In this case, the system automatically divides the unreleased budget by the number of remaining periods.

It also reacts to new supplements or returns that might change the remaining unreleased budget. In other words, the system will release the complete budget over the scheduled period (even if the budget amount on the specific accounts assignments changes during the completed period).

Release job is set up for 10 periods.

You should be now able to understand the process of releasing budget.

The key takeaways are as follows:

• Budgets can be released using manual or automatic postings
• Unreleased and released budgets are modeled using different budget types
• Partial release are achieved using the recurrence pattern in the job parameters