Multi-Department Budget Process Ideas?

Michelle Harper
Michelle Harper
Sixth Anniversary Name Dropper Participant Facilitator 1
in Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT® General Discussions

For the last several years, I have been trying to find a better way to do our budget process, and I would like to know how other people do theirs. Here is how our process normally goes:

We export the budget distribution report for each department so they can see their historical data and add a column for the new year numbers so they can add them in by month. Then, we combine all the spreadsheets together (each dept on a different tab) and have a summary tab that takes the information and combines it in the format needed to use the NXT budget tool.

The way that we are doing it now is better than what it was years ago, but it still seems very inefficient and prone to error, especially if one of the summary formulas gets messed up in excel or we add new account numbers.

Does anyone have a better way of handling the budget process when working with multiple departments?

Comments

  • JoAnne Thielen
    JoAnne Thielen
    Third Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    @Michelle Harper I have the same issue. One big spreadsheet with many tabs, one for each department. It sounds like my process is very similar to yours and I would also LOVE to hear of a more efficient way to export the historical information, add information for next years' budget, and then have that information flow into an import for FE…. Maybe someone will have a solution for us ?

  • Michelle Harper
    Michelle Harper
    Sixth Anniversary Name Dropper Participant Facilitator 1

    @JoAnne Thielen I hope so! My ideal way to do it would be where department heads can see their historical information on a browser (or something that isn't excel!) and enter their new amounts in the same place and we can just export their information into a format that can then be imported into FEXT. Of course, I have no clue how to make that happen ?

  • Alex Wong
    Alex Wong Community All-Star
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 Facilitator 4 bbcon 2025 Attendee Badge

    @Michelle Harper
    What you have sounds like a good approach to this problem.

    next level (still staying in excel) would be to use password to protect everything other than where you allow user to enter information so that the structure of excel is not messed up and formula stays intacted.

    However, if you truly want to get the best user and admin experience, then a custom solution needs to be built using SKY API, which you could potentially do yourselves (or someone more technical in your team) if you want to dive into the world of low/no-code programming, or use a partner like @Barton Dyson

  • Beckie Osterman
    Beckie Osterman
    Sixth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    @Michelle Harper
    We had almost the same process over the last ten years. In 2023, we integrated with Questica (EUNA solutions). We have used them for one budget cycle, but let me tell you, the amount of time savings/fewer errors our team has experienced has been a game changer! The system also flows actuals in to help project the future years! (I am still learning more about this part) It also allows budget managers to promote/demote and see their changes in real time.

  • Michelle Harper
    Michelle Harper
    Sixth Anniversary Name Dropper Participant Facilitator 1

    @Beckie Osterman Do you mind me asking how many users you have and what you pay for Questica? I have scheduled a demo with them for next week.

  • Beckie Osterman
    Beckie Osterman
    Sixth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    @Michelle Harper If I remember correctly, pricing is based on the size of your organization and the number of users you want in the system. We have unlimited users, with almost 40 currently in the system. We have only done one budget through Questica, but it went SO much smoother for our department managers and my accounting team. The other cool thing is managers can now run reports of actuals that flow into Questica from FE. I have yet to make it far enough to train everyone on this, but it is next on my list.

  • Michelle Harper
    Michelle Harper
    Sixth Anniversary Name Dropper Participant Facilitator 1

    @Beckie Osterman thank you so much for your advice. We did a demo with Questica and decided that they are the way to go for us!

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