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The Budget Review and Maintenance screen incorporates data analysis tools. These tools allow the user to not only view actual and budget (current and revised) figures for the current financial year, but also compare these to prior years. The user can view the relevant figures at a single General Ledger account level or use the filter to view the figures at a category, sub-category and department level. The screen also includes graphical representation of the figures.  

 

2.     Analysis features 

The analysis features enables the user to analyse groups of accounts by category, sub-category and department. It therefore becomes simple to visualise the evolution of Revenue accounts or Expenses, etc. The following section highlights the different analysis features included in the General Ledger Explorer screen.

• The highest level of grouping is the General Ledger Category. From the header section, it is possible to select any combination of categories for display.

• Selecting any high level grouping will disable the choice of single General Ledger Account and all maintenance features.

• It is possible to select a combination of categories and a combination of sub-categories.
• A summary of data that matches the selected criteria will be displayed, i.e. the relevant values in the respective General Ledger accounts will be combined to form these values.
• The departments can only be selected one by one, or all selected together. There is no multi-select combination possible on the departments.

• It is possible to clear all applied selections in the filter by clicking on the "Clear Filter" button on the right side of the header.
• Once all criteria have been selected, the "View" button must be clicked to update the data in the main section.

It is not possible to drill down on actual figures selected from a combination of criteria; only single General Ledger Account – single department figures can be drilled through to the audit trail.

 

Comparisons:

• A comparison function exists that allows the user to conduct comparisons of the data contained in the six columns.
• The first step is to click on the drop-down arrow in the column header.
• A drop-down comparison list is displayed.
• The user can choose a comparison item to compare to the data in the selected column.

 

 

• Once a comparison has been selected, the screen will display the result of the comparison as a percentage.
• The green indicator shows a positive change, i.e. an “increase” in value.
• If the comparison figure is negative, an “increase” indicates a lesser value rather than a greater value.
• A red indicator shows a negative change while a blue indicator indicates a stable figure.

 

3.     Output features:

 

• The data main section can be exported for printing or further analysis purposes.
• The export toolbar is on the top right hand side of the main section.
• Click on the drop-down arrow of the "Export to" field
• Select the export file type, then click the export button.
• Click the Save option to save the relevant export file.

 

 

Charts:

The screen allows the user to view the financial data contained in the main section of the screen in a graphical format.

The Chart screen can be access by clicking on the "Chart" tab.

 

After a slight loading time delay, the chart will appear. The charting area is as follow:

• The chart displays the data found in the grid on the Budget tab.
• By default, the Actual values are displayed for both years as bars and the budget values are displayed as lines.
• The Display signs as reversed tick can be ticked to reverse both the chart and the data from the grid on the other tab; this change is only for presentation, the data stored does not change sign.

 

 

• The visualisation used in the chart can be changed.
• Click the "Graph Settings" button.
• The user can select the relevant data sets that should be displayed in the chart.
• The user can also select the type, marker, marker size and select whether to display a label.
• The colour scheme of the palette and background can also be changed by the user.
• Click "OK" to apply the changes to the chart.

• Once the setting have been changed the chart screen will refresh and display the chart with the new settings.

• The export functionality is also available on the Chart tab.
• The user can also print the chart, however the chart is quite wide, therefore the user might have to change the printer mode to landscape.

 

Note: The Graph Settings are reset to the default once the user exits the General Ledger Explorer screen.