Digital Budget Book - Carry Forward from Legacy

Creating a new budget book doesn’t have to mean starting from scratch. With the Carry Forward tool, you can quickly bring over narrative content like text, images, and custom charts from a budget book previously created in the legacy module to jumpstart your work in ClearDocs.

Below, you will learn:

• What does and does not get carried forward from your legacy book
• How to create a new Digital Budget Book using the Carry Forward tool
• Pro-tips for quickly reviewing imported content
• How to create a dynamic financial page

What Gets Carried Forward?

• Static narrative pages (text, charts, images)
• General content pages like Capital Improvements, Demographics, Debt, and the Glossary (auto-generated—no need to import manually)

NOTE: Financial pages, attachments, and dynamic content will not be carried forward. These must be recreated in your new document.

Creating a Digital Budget Book using the Carry Forward tool

From the Budget Book tile, select the Create button to begin your Digital Budget Book journey!  

You will follow four easy steps: 

1. Select Fiscal Years and Template Type
2. Choose a Prior Budget Book (optional)
3. Connect Your Operating Budget
4. Add Your Capital Budget Projects (optional)

Now select the Let's Get Started button to create your budget book document. 

Step 1: General Information: 

1. Choose Fiscal Year Start and Fiscal Year End. Note: This is informational only. The data source is controlled in Step 2.
2. Enter your Budget Book Name.
3. Select the Budget Type:
   1. Annual Budget - Use if budgeting annually for a single year.
   2. Biennial Budget - Use if budgeting across two years.
4. Choose the Template from which your budget book should be pulled:
   1. GFOA - This customizable document template is designed around GFOA best practices and budget award criteria, enabling you to create high-quality, transparent, and engaging budget books while tailoring content to meet your unique needs.
   2. ASBO - This template meets ASBO's Meritorious Budget Award (MBA) criteria with automated financial templates while allowing for personalization through added pages and customizations.
   3. Basic template - A professional budget book with automated financials, debt reporting, and demographics integration. Includes essential budget reporting sections with flexibility to match your needs.
5. Select the Next: Prior Budget Book button. 

Step 2: Carry Forward Content (Optional)

1. Toggle ON Include pages and content from a prior budget book
2. Select the year of your previous budget book.
3. Select the budget book you wish you import.
   Note: Compatible pages will be imported:
   1. Pages that match the template you’ve selected in the previous step will be merged
   2. Pages that don’t will be marked as “(unmatched)”
4. Select the Next: Connect Budget Data button.

Step 3: Connect Budget Data

1. Select your Budget Data Year from the dropdown menu.
   • Note: If you are creating a biennial budget book, you will select data for both the initial year and the second year. Selecting a biennial Operational Budget for the initial year will require you to select the same budget for the second year.
2. Then choose a Data Source:
   • Client Onboarded Data - This is data that has been prepared and uploaded for you by the ClearGov data team.
   • Operational Budgeting Data - This is any information that has been created through the Operational Budgeting module.
3. Choose the Version of your data you wish to display. Note: If you choose the Most Recent version your book will automatically update anytime you save a new version in your Operational Budgeting module.
4. Select the Next: Capital Budget Data button to move on to Step 3. 

Step 4: Capital Budget Data (Optional) 

If you want to include Capital Budget requests, toggle on Include Capital Budget Data in this Budget Book. Then select the Create New Budget Book button. 

Regardless of whether you have the ClearGov Capital Budgeting module, ClearGov will create a few templated CIP pages. 
Note: These templated pages will be static pages since there is no dynamic connection between the capital budget module.  

Now you are ready to add and edit financial pages, invite collaborators, add narrative to pages, and publish your document. 

Review Imported Content

Once your document is created, a summary pop-up will show how many charts and images were carried forward. You can always view this again by selecting the DBB Import Report at the top of your document.

Carried-forward pages will appear in your Table of Contents with a status of Review Required. Use the page status filter to find and finalize these pages.

Tips:

• Hover over a page name and select the action menu to rename, reorder, or delete unmatched pages.
• Remove the “(unmatched)” label after reviewing and editing content.
• Turn off the filter before reordering to see all pages.
   

Add Financial Pages

Because financial pages aren’t carried forward, you’ll need to recreate them:

1. Select Add Page at the top of your Table of Contents
2. Select the Financial Pages tab
3. Choose your desired dimensions (Fund, Department, etc.) and configure placement
4. Use Document Settings to manage chart/table settings in bulk

For detailed instructions, visit the Dynamic Financial Pages article.