Budgeting in SAP Grants Management: Overview

Most of the concepts (for example, plan category, budget types, and so on) that are described in the class for the PSM Budget Management apply to Grants Management as well. Consequently, this lesson mainly focuses on the differences.

SAP Budget Management and SAP Grants Management must use the same plan category for AVC.

For Grants Management, the standard delivered User/Role Grant_specialist has the authority and access to create and report grants budget.

The budget for grants is stored in ACDOCP and the commitment/actuals are stored in ACDOCA; the main difference is the account assignment grant. The Grants Budget is simply described with a valid, relevant grant (<> NRG). When a relevant grant is given, the validation for additional account assignments differs to a non-relevant grant. In addition, the fund (with different GM funds types) distinguishes between external budget from the sponsor and internal budget for cost sharing.

As is the case with Budget Management, you need to define (in the configuration) which Journal Fields (Account Assignments) for which you need to specify your budget for in the solution. You can specify this differently from budget management by selecting the budget scenario, Grantee Management (External), for the budget from your sponsor or Grantee Management (Internal) for cost sharing.

The following figure, Entry of Grants Budget, shows this configuration.

It is possible to upload the budget using the Import Financial Plan Data app. The app is identical to the app used in budget management. However, the format of the Excel sheet needs to be adjusted for the Grants budget.

The following figure, Budget Upload for External and Cost Share Budget using Excel File, shows the Excel format for a budget upload used for the Import Financial Plan Data app. The 2 lines are budgeted for the same grant for external and cost share budget.

Whenever the budget for a relevant grant is generated, the following validations are performed:

• The grant must be valid for the fiscal year and period
• A sponsored program must be valid and part of the grant master
• A sponsored class must be valid and part of the grant master; the sponsored class must have a GL account assigned to it (Account for Budgeting) in the Sponsored Class Master Data
• A budget validity must be provided and part of the grant master
• A valid fund must be provided and part of the grant master
• A valid cost center must be derived from the grant master

In addition to the budget upload, it is also possible to create manual budget documents using the Fiori app: Manage Budget Documents (Grant External). Like the corresponding app in budget management, it is possible to create supplements, transfers, returns, and releases. Furthermore, attachments, descriptive texts, and budget/AVC amounts are supported. In release 2308, this is only possible for external budget. A budget for cost sharing currently needs to be generate using the upload program.

The Manage Budget Documents (Grant External) app tries to minimize the user input as many values can be derived when the grant has been entered in the header of the budget document:

• As there is only one external fund in the grant master, the fund is automatically derived. No manual entry is possible.
• Sponsored Program and Class are derived automatically in case there is only 1 sponsored program/class in the grant master. In case there are multiple programs/classes assigned in the grant master, the value help is restricted to those programs/classes.
• GL account is derived automatically from the Account for Budget of the sponsored class.
  Note

  Only sponsored classes with an account can be selected.
• The Budget Validity Number is derived from the grant master and the posting date (aligned with exactly one budget validity number)
• The Budget Period is OVERALL as the fund for external budget is always OVERALL

All other values - for example, document and budget type - must be entered manually. Note that it is not possible to transfer budget between different grants.

The following figure, Manage Budget Documents (Grant External), depicts an example of the creation of a budget supplement.

Most features of the Grants AVC are equal to the AVC of Budget Management. For example, the consumable budget consists of released budget and the Principle of Prudence for Workflow applies. Furthermore, AVC and tolerance profiles are being used to configure grants AVC, however the budgeting scenarios Grant Management Internal and Grant Management External apply.

The budgeting scenario of the operational process is determined by the used fund and grant:

• Not Grantee Management relevant (Grant = NRG ) → Scenario Budget Management
• Grantee Management relevant + external fund → Scenario Grantee Management (External)
• Grantee Management relevant + internal fund → Scenario Grantee Management (Internal)

The main differences are the grants account assignments (grant, sponsored program/class/budget validity number), which can be assigned in the AVC profile.

The following figure, AVC Message for a Grant, shows an error message by Grants AVC.

Other AVC topics are as follows:

• As you set up AVC exceptions by AVC profiles, it is possible to set up specific AVC exceptions for grants budget and cost sharing budget.
• For AVC situation handling, a separate situation template called PSM_GM_BUDGETTRESHOLDEXCEEDED exists for Grants AVC. The teams need to be set up using team type S_PSMGMAVC and category GMAVC. It is possible to set up different teams for specific grants control objects such as a sponsored program hierarchy node.

The reports available for budget management are also available for the GRANT_SPECIALIST (corresponding role):

• With focus on budget only:Budget Line Item AnalyzerBudget Analysis
• With focus on budget consumption:Budget Commitment Actual AnalyzerMy Budget OverviewBudget Consumption Dashboard (Embedded or Standalone SAC Analysis)

Customers can create their own reports or extract their budget into external reporting systems.

For AVC, the analysis for grants is called Grants Budget AVC Overview. It is shown in the next figure, Grants Budget AVC Overview app.

The Grants Budget AVC Overview app enables you to check the status of budget consumption.

Watch the simulation Create a Grant to learn more about the system-related activities.

Watch the simulation Upload Grants Budget to learn more about the system-related activities.

Watch the simulation Create a WBS Element to learn more about the system-related activities.