Create and Edit a Budget with the Budget Creator Excel Add-In

The Budget Creator for Financial Edge NXT add-in enables bulk data entry and saves time, especially when entering similar data. For information about how to enable and download the add-in, see Budget Creator Excel Add-In.

Note: You can use this to enter budget data in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, and then submit the data to create a new budget in the database view and view it in the web view.

To successfully submit a budget in the add-in, contact your admin to make sure you have rights to add budget scenarios in the database view.

To learn best practice tips for creating a new budget in the add-in, see Create Budget Best Practices for Budget Creator Excel Add-In .

  1. In the Microsoft Excel menu ribbon, select the Manage Budget add-in. The Welcome panel appears.

  2. After you sign in to the add-in using your Blackbaud ID, a panel appears for you to create or edit a budget. Select Create new budget. A spreadsheet appears with the Create new budget panel.

  3. Under Scenario ID, select the scenario to use for the budget.

    Tip: The existing scenario IDs that appear in the drop down default from the database view.

      a. If the scenario ID does not exist, select Add New from the bottom of the list in the drop down.

      b. After you enter the long and short descriptions, select Save.

  4. Under Budget type, select whether you want to create the budget by fiscal year or period ranges and then select the applicable dates. For example, to create a budget by periods, select Period range and enter the start and end dates.

  5. Under Budget by, select whether to include project or grant columns in the spreadsheet.

    A budget requires an account so its checkbox is selected and disabled and the Account number and Account description columns will automatically appear in the spreadsheet. To include columns for projects or grants, make sure to select Project or Grant.

  6. To display budget columns based on your selections in the spreadsheet, select Continue. The summary panel appears with the scenario's ID and description.

  7. After you copy and paste your budget data from your workbook to the spreadsheet and confirm it is accurate, select Submit to create the new budget in the database view.

    Note: If you want to re-use spreadsheet formulas, make sure you save them in Excel. These do not appear in Financial Edge NXT.

    The Success panel appears with a link to the budget.

Warning: To avoid losing data when you submit an edited budget from the add-in to Financial Edge NXT, make sure you have rights to all accounts and projects when you edit budget scenarios in the database view.

  1. In the Microsoft Excel menu ribbon, select the Manage Budget add-in. The Welcome panel appears.

  2. After you sign in to the add-in using your Blackbaud ID, a panel appears for you to create or edit a budget. Select Edit existing budget.

  3. On the Edit panel, filter by fiscal year and scenario ID to open the budget you want to edit.

    Tip: You cannot edit finalized or inactive budgets. Also, the existing scenario IDs default from the database view.

  4. Select Continue. Your budget's scenario data appears in the spreadsheet for you to edit as necessary.

    Tip: When you edit data, you can update notes and apply distributions. However, you cannot make an adjustment at this time.

    Note: If you want to re-use spreadsheet formulas, make sure you save them in Excel. These do not appear in Financial Edge NXT.

  5. To view the summary panel with the scenario's ID and description, select OK.

  6. To submit the updated budget's scenario, select Submit. The Success panel appears with a link to the budget.

  • When you enter an account number and project ID, their corresponding descriptions auto-populate.

  • To make the spreadsheet larger as you enter data, drag the Blackbaud sidebar over to the right to extend your workspace. We recommend you not close the Blackbaud sidebar completely because you will lose the auto-fill functionality as you enter account numbers.

  • You must enter a value in each row for every column, even if it is 0. All fields are required.

  • When you select Submit, your input will be validated. Where possible, the cells with errors are highlighted in red. Some errors may not be highlighted, but they appear in a toast and will need to be corrected before you can submit it.

  • Once data entry is complete, from the summary panel, select Submit. A new budget is then created.