Budget Editor

The Budget Editor is where you plan your budget. Categories and line items are the rows. Months are the columns. Open it from Budget Editor in the sidebar.

A new budget is empty. Add a category first, then add line items and enter planned amounts.

Add a category

Categories group your line items, for example Headcount, Paid Media or Tools. Only administrators can add categories.

1. Click Add Category at the bottom of the grid.
2. Click Add Category in the menu.
3. Enter the Category Name.
4. Optional: select a Parent Category (optional) to put the category under a master category.
5. Click Create Category.

Turn on Create more to keep the dialog open for the next category. In an empty budget, click Create Category in the middle of the page.

Master categories

Master categories add a second level, for example one master category per region with Paid Media and Events under each. The grid shows the total of each master category. Access to a master category gives access to all categories under it.

To add one, click Add Category at the bottom of the grid, then Add Master Category. Learn more in Master Categories.

Add line items

A line item is one row of the budget, for example a campaign, a contractor or a tool.

1. Click New Line Item at the bottom of the grid.
2. Enter the names in Item Names. Separate names with commas or line breaks to add up to 50 at once.
3. Select the Category.
4. Select the Currency. Etropo selects your default currency first.
5. Click Create Items.

To add a line item to one category, click New line item below the last line item of that category.

Members who are not administrators can add line items only to the categories they can access.

Enter planned amounts

Click a cell, type the amount and press Enter. You can also start to type a number when a cell is selected.

• Paste from a spreadsheet: copy a range in Excel or Google Sheets, click the first cell in the grid, and paste.
• Clear cells: select the cells and press Delete or Backspace.

To select a range, drag across the cells, or click a cell and then Shift-click another cell.

Right-click menu

Right-click a cell to open its menu:

• Leave comment: add a comment to the cell. If the cell already has a comment, the item is View comment.
• Set for all months: copy the amount in this cell to all other months of the line item. For example, right-click a cell with 3,000 to plan 3,000 for every month.
• Clear row: delete the amounts of the line item in all months.

On an actual cell, the menu also has Add expense. Learn more in Expenses.

Undo and redo

Click the Undo or Redo button above the grid, or use the keyboard shortcuts below. Undo applies to changes to amounts, including changes that Budget Buddy makes. Etropo keeps the last 50 changes for the version you are viewing.

Keyboard shortcuts

Edit a line item

Click the name of a line item to open Line Item Details. It has two tabs:

• Details: the Name, Category, Owner, Status and Currency of the line item. It also shows the Cost Center and your custom properties if your organization has them. Click Save Changes after you edit, or click Delete Line Item to delete it.
• Expenses: the dated expenses that make up the actuals of the line item. Learn more in Expenses.

The status of a line item is Draft, Pending approval, Approved or Rejected. Learn more in Budget Approvals.

Manage categories

Administrators manage a category from the ⋯ menu next to the category name:

• Edit Category: change the name and the description.
• Manage Access: select which members can see and edit the category. Learn more in Budget Access Control.
• Move Category: put the category under a master category. This item shows only when the budget has a master category.
• Delete Category: delete the category and all its line items, planned amounts and actuals. You cannot undo this.

Bulk actions

Administrators can change many line items at the same time.

1. Select the checkbox next to each line item. The checkbox on a category row selects all line items in that category.
2. Click an action in the toolbar above the grid.

The toolbar has these actions:

• Move to Category: move the line items to a different category.
• Assign Property: set one value of a custom property on all line items.
• Assign Cost Center: set or remove a cost center on all line items.
• Change Status: set the approval status of all line items.
• Delete: delete the line items with their amounts and comments. You cannot undo this.

Click Clear selection to close the toolbar.

Filter line items

1. Click Filter above the grid.
2. Select a filter type: Category, Currency, Status, Owner, Total Cost or Monthly Cost.
3. Select a value. For Total Cost and Monthly Cost, select an operator, enter an amount and click Apply Filter.

You can add more than one filter. Click X on a filter to remove it, or click Clear all.

Change the display

Click Display above the grid to change what the grid shows:

• Column Visibility: show Plans, Actuals and Variance. Variance is the difference between the planned amount and the actuals. Learn more about actuals in the Spend & Actuals Guide.
• Properties: show the Owners, Status and Yearly Totals columns. You can change the owner and the status directly in these columns.
• Period View: show amounts by Month or by Quarter.
• Period Filter: turn on This Quarter Only to show only the current quarter.

The Budget Editor link in the sidebar opens the grid with Plans only. The Actuals link opens it with Actuals only.

Target budget and budget status

Administrators see a summary at the bottom right of the grid. Etropo converts all amounts to your default currency for this summary.

Draft budget

• Planning Progress shows the sum of planned amounts, the target budget, and the percentage of the target that you planned.
• Click the numbers to see the Approval Rate: the number of approved line items out of all line items.
• Click the pencil icon to set the target budget.

Active budget

The badge shows how much the budget is over or under the target budget. Etropo uses the actuals for each month that has actuals, and the planned amount for the other months.

• Green: under the target budget.
• Red: over the target budget.
• Blue: On Target.

Click the badge to open the Budget Summary. It shows the Target Budget, Planned Total, Actual Total and Variance. Click the pencil icon next to Target Budget to change it.

Each version has its own target budget.

Budget versions

A budget can have more than one version of its plan, for example the live plan and a reforecast. Use the version switcher next to the budget name to open a different version. Administrators click Make this version active to change the version that your team works from.

Planned amounts belong to the version. Categories, category access and actuals are the same in all versions. Learn more in Budget Versions.

Comments

Right-click a cell and click Leave comment, or select a cell and click Leave comment at the bottom of the grid. The counter above the grid shows how many comments the budget has. Learn more in Collaboration.

Rename or export the budget

Administrators click the ⋯ menu next to the budget name to see these actions:

• Rename budget
• Budget summary
• Export budget. Learn more in Exporting Budgets.

For additional help you can reach out to our support team at: help@etropo.com