Scenario and Version

Scenario Dimension

Scenarios are used to differentiate between the different types of financial data.

 These scenarios are most frequently used:

• Actual contains historical data
• Forecast is the current fiscal year budget by month
• Operating Budget is the future fiscal year budget by month

 Forecast

• Forecast is an update to the current year budget based on changing priorities, revenue and spending activity year to date, and anticipated changes through the end of the fiscal year
• Forecast ensures that Divisions respond appropriately to circumstances that have changed since the budget was created
• It lays the foundation for the next year’s budget

 Operating Budget

• Operating Budget is a plan for how resources will be allocated in a future fiscal year to support the goals and strategies of the unit
• Operating Budget is a plan of action for receiving and spending money within a specific period of time
• It is intended to set realistic goals and expectations – based on past experience, current information and assumptions about the future
• Once finalized, the Operating Budget cannot be changed. This is so that variances can be measured via quarterly reviews to forecast

Version Dimension

Versions are iterations of Scenarios created over the planning process. The versions that are read-only can be described as a snapshots of the data in a budget planning process. These snapshots support comparison and variance analysis of plan to forecast and actual data. The Working version is editable throughout the budget cycle until the Final snapshot is taken.

• Initial: Read-only scenario snapshot taken at the beginning of a planning process
• Working: Editable scenario where plans are created and revised over the planning process
• PriorMnth: As the name suggests, PriorMnth is a read-only snapshot from the prior month.
• Q1, Q2 & Q3 Submissions: Read-only, year total forecast snapshots taken after quarterly close, reflects any changes made to forecast up to the time of snapshot
• Planner Submission: Read-only scenario snapshot taken after budget submission due date in the planning process
• Final: Read-only scenario snapshot taken at the end of the planning process

Scenario and Version Combinations

Scenario and version work together to differentiate plan and actual data, whether open for editing or a snapshot taken at a point in time.  Here are some examples of frequently used scenario and version combinations:

Actualized Forecast

Following the monthly close of the general ledger in BFS, actual data is loaded to the Working version of the Forecast scenario for the month. Once loaded, the month becomes read-only, and can no longer be edited. In response to this information, Planners may need to update future months in the Working Forecast version and scenario combination.

Read-Only Versions

In addition to the Working version, which you can edit, there are several snapshots taken from the Working version throughout the year. You can use these versions to compare your plan from a point in time. See Versions for descriptions of Initial, Q1 Submission, Q2 Submission, Q3 Submission, Planner Submission, and Final.

Version Scenario Creation

The graphic below shows the timeline for when the versions are created in the Forecast and Operating Budget scenarios:

• The Working version is open for the Forecast until the last month in the year, except for brief outages at the end of the quarters when the quarterly snapshots are created
• The Working version for the Operating Budget is open until the budget submission deadline. At that point, the Planner Submission snapshot is created
• At the beginning of the fiscal year, the Final Operating Budget is copied twice; one copy becomes the Initial (read only) Forecast for the new fiscal year and the other becomes the editable Working Forecast