Glossary

Budget Analysis and Review Dashboard

Written by Nils R. | Sep 27, 2020 7:00:00 AM
What is a Budget Analysis and Review Dashboard ? Budget dashboards are considered planning and analysis tools, and are often used by budgeting managers and executives to review the proposed annual budget once users have completed the data entry process. Key functionality in this type of dashboard displays trend charts for the budget as well as actual last year. The visualizations are broken into three major areas: Revenues, Profitability and Liquidity. The latter assumes a balance sheet budget in order to display cash, receivables and payables. The many links at the bottom of the screen take the user to supporting, detailed reports and dashboards. You will find an example of this type of dashboard below. Purpose of Budget Dashboards Companies and organizations use Budget Dashboards to analyze and review the proposed or approved budget. When used as part of good business practices in a Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) or budgeting department, a company can improve its planning process, as well as, reduce the chances that managers and board members don't fully see the forecasted trends in the budget figures. Budget Dashboard Example Here is an example of a interactive Budget Summary Dashboard. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="2175"] Budget Analysis and Review Dashboard Example[/caption] You can find hundreds of additional examples here. Who Uses This Type of Dashboard ? The typical users of this type of dashboard are: Executives, board members and budgeting managers. Other Dashboard s Often Used in Conjunction with Budget Dashboards Progressive Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) or budgeting Departments sometimes use several different Budget Dashboards, along with budget input models, detailed budget dashboards, financial statements with trended budget figures and other management and control tools. Where Does the Data for Analysis Originate From? The Actual (historical transactions) data typically comes from enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems like: Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365) Finance, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (D365 BC), Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics SL, Sage Intacct, Sage 100, Sage 300, Sage 500, Sage X3, SAP Business One, SAP ByDesign, Acumatica, Netsuite and others. In analyses where budgets or forecasts are used, the planning data most often originates from in-house Excel spreadsheet models or from professional corporate performance management (CPM/EPM) solutions. What Tools are Typically used for Reporting, Planning and Dashboards? Examples of business software used with the data and ERPs mentioned above are:
  • Native ERP report writers and query tools
  • Spreadsheets (for example Microsoft Excel)
  • Corporate Performance Management (CPM) tools (for example Solver)
  • Dashboards (for example Microsoft Power BI and Tableau)
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