Import Budget File

Explanation

Use this activity to import data related to a budget year (or some other period that you define) from a file to the General Ledger. The file may have been created manually in an editor or using a program such as Microsoft Excel.

The import dialog box is used to control the following:

• Which File Template to use when unpacking the file.

• How to filter imported transactions.
  An interval of accounts can be defined in order to filter out the budget values that refer to these accounts. A single From account or a From and To account interval can be defined.

• How to handle imported budget values, e.g., whether imported values should be added to existing budget values or replace existing budget values.

• Whether allocation of year budget values should be performed directly after import of year budget values. The allocation can handle either unallocated year values or all year values.

A standard installation of IFS Applications contains predefined file templates for exporting and importing Budget Year and Budget Period values. The file templates can be found in the External Files toolkit in Accounting Rules. It is also possible to create user-defined templates. The system-defined file templates require that each value be delimited by a text qualifier (e.g. "10000"), which is the standard case when a file is created using Microsoft Excel.

The file to be imported contains the values and format specified by the system-defined external File Type that is associated with Budget Year or Budget Period import/export. Each file template maps some or all of the possible file type columns.

Prerequisites

A budget version must exist in the current company in order to perform the import.

A file with budget year values must contain at least the following:

• Account
• Code B-J, if the code parts are required
• Amount
• Quantity, if required by the account
• From Period
• To Period
• Allocation Key

If the year value should be equally allocated among the existing periods, then the following fields should be left empty (do not enter a value in them): From Period, To Period, and Allocation Key. If a year value should be equally allocated over specific periods, then you must specify the periods by entering a value in the From Period and To Period fields. If a year value should be allocated according to an allocation key, then the value in the Allocation Key field must refer to an existing key, and the From Period and To Period fields should be empty.

A file with budget period values must contain at least the following information:

• Period
• Account
• Code B-J, if the code parts are required
• Amount
• Quantity, if required by the account

To get a better overview of values represented by standard or user-defined templates, refer to theExternal File Template window in IFS/Accounting Rules.

System Effects

As a result of this activity, the budget values in the imported file can be viewed or modified using the windows Budget Year Amount or Budget Period Amount in IFS/General Ledger. The budget is available in all queries and reports using budgets.

Window

Import from File

Related Window Descriptions

Import from File

Procedure

Use the following procedure to import budget values from a file:

1. Open the Budget Versions window in IFS/General Ledger and select the budget version into which you want to import budget values. The budget version must have Active status.
2. Select the Import from File operation. The Import from File dialog box is then displayed.
3. Select Category, i.e. Year Values Only or Period Values Only. Year Values Only is used when the budgeting is based on a specific year and is to be allocated into periods at some later time.
4. If you select Period Values Only, then From Period/To Period can be specified to define the period interval that is valid for budget period import.
5. The system-defined file template for either Budget Year export or Budget Period export is suggested automatically. Click List to select another file template.
6. Click Browse to select the file name.
7. If necessary, you can specify an account or account interval to ensure that the only account imported is the one that satisfies this interval.
8. Select Add Values if the imported values are added to existing budget values. Select Replace Values if the imported values are replacing existing budget values.
9. If period allocation should be performed, then select the Allocate Period check box. This leads to automatic period allocation of unallocated year budget values immediately after importing the new year budget values.
   Select the Allocate All check box (which is only available if the Allocate Period check box is selected) to perform allocation of all the year budget values immediately after importing new year budget values. 
10. Click OK to start the export.
11. The execution will end with a message dialog box. Click OK.
12. If errors occurs during the import, you can view the imported data in the External File Transactions window in IFS/Accounting Rules. All errors can be viewed there. This window can be used to modify the loaded data and to perform the execute step again.