After you have created a new budget, you are able to analyze why budget variances have occurred by comparing results over time, looking at trends, and examining changes in performance. Budgeting can store several versions of the budgets and forecasts so you can reference them to accomplish this task. However, you only use two datasets at one time: a working dataset and a reference dataset.

With Budgeting, you can create new budgets, edit existing budgets, and copy budgets that can be used as a starting point for new budgets.

General Terms about Budgeting

Term	Description
Budget	Consists of a set of lines and data for a particular year, that are used to calculate income and expenses. Budgets are stored in datasets.
Dataset	Consists of a year and type of data that are grouped in an organized manner. Type—Consists of data that is grouped in an organized manner. There are several default data types (Original , EOY, Actual, Flex, 30-Day/60-Day/90-Day) and up to 10 user--defined types. Original—Original forecast budget for the year. Once created, this dataset is frequently locked. EOY—Updated original budget. This budget may be changed throughout the year as forecast volumes fluctuate. You can save multiple versions of the EOY Forecast as user-defined types. To create the EOY Forecast, copy original budget to the EOY Forecast. Actual—Created after you input your actual data. Actual budgets can only be reference budgets, not working budgets. Flex—System calculated, optimal performance dataset. Actual KBI volumes from the Actual dataset, and methodologies from the Original dataset are used to calculate expenses. The flex budget is used as a reference to see how well your division/department is performing. The flex budget is generated after you have entered your actual values and performed the Generate Flex Budget task. 30-Day/60-Day/90-Day—Created during the re-forecasting process. User-defined—Datasets that you define for your own use. For example, when you revise your budget, you may not want to overwrite the EOY Forecast, so you would create a new dataset. You can create up to 10 user-defined types.
Working Budget/Dataset	Budget/dataset that you are working with and changing.
Reference Budget/Dataset	Budget/dataset that you are using as a comparative reference while modifying the working budget.

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