Budget Book checklist:

• Complete Roll Forward
• Upload New Budget Data 
  • Update Account Strings
  • Upload required historical and actuals data
• Budget Data Collection
  • Enter Operational Template Data
    • Adding New Accounts 
    • Departmental Data Collection
    • Rollover Budget cycle
  • Enter Personnel Data
    • Adding New Positions or Employees
    • Update Benefit Rates
    • Check Calculation
  • Enter Capital Template Data
    • Adding New Projects
    • Change Projection Amounts as desired
• Finalize Operational, Personnel, and Capital Templates 
• Data Refresh inside of MDFM
• Add Ensure Data Matches Operational Template ALL
• Add New Reporting Units to Dimensions
• Add New Budget Categories to Dimensions
• Map new accounts to statements
• Create new MDFM Imports as desired
• Roll Up Hypercubes
• Refresh MDFM Imports
• Review tables in Budget Book
• Update narrative part of the report
• Update Manual entry tables 
• Update and Refresh variables
• Update narrative documents 
• Review formatting
• Generate Report

Complete Roll Forward

To begin your budget book process, ensure that you have already rolled your budget book forward. If you need a guide to roll forward your budget book, follow the QR code.

Upload New Budget Data

Update Account Strings:

To begin working on your budget book, you will update all account strings by utilizing data integration services.

What to Upload: You will have to follow the report specific instructions in the Administration folder to successfully upload any data. This will require you to ensure that file name, file extension, file structure, and file count are correct. All this information will be unique to your report. 

When: You can upload files with Data Integration Services at any time. This is useful if you want to update financial information throughout your reporting period. Other popular times to use Data Integration Services are when you roll forward or on a monthly/quarterly basis. 

How to Upload Data

To upload data:

1. Click on “Data” in blue bar top center of the report.

2. Click on “Data Integration Services”.

3. Click on “Start Integration”.

4. Select the operation where you want to upload new data. 

5. Select the “Data Store” Destination.

6. Upload the required files. 

7. Click the blue “Start” button.

Tracking Upload Progress 

After you have started Data Integration, click on the notification inbox icon in the top right corner of Gravity. A drop-down menu will appear with the most recent data upload. If everything has worked, your data upload will have a green checkmark beside it. If not, there will either be a yellow caution sign or a red circle. 

If you are having any problems uploading files to Gravity, refer to our instructional video on Data Integration Services: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnKu1QmpreE&t or follow this QR code.

Upload required historical and actuals data:

Similar to uploading your account strings, you will have to upload historical and actuals data using data integration services. Follow the guide above to upload this required information. 

Enter Operational Templates Data

If you are not utilizing Gravity’s budgeting templates, you can skip this step. 

The baseline for your budgeting in Gravity is accomplished through the operational templates. The operational templates 

1. Open your operational template by double-clicking on the template you wish to open.

2. In the operational Template, you will see all reported financial data for your department or organization. All columns in blue are columns you cannot edit, and columns in grey are columns you can edit.

3. To filter the data, click on any upside-down triangle.

4. Then select the properties you wish to filter by.

5. Click "OK".

6. In the bottom right of the table, you can see which filters you have enabled. By clicking on the checkbox, you can enable or disable your selected filters.

7. To clear all filters, click "Clear" at the bottom right of the table.

8. To change how the table is displayed, click on any column header and drag it beneath the "Main Template" tab.

9. Now the table's view will be changed. To reverse this, simply click on the column header underneath "Main Template" and drag it back into the table.

10. If you want to export the operational table, click on the folder icon to the top right of the table to export the operational template as an excel file. This will export the current view of the template.

11. To edit the table's cells, double-click on any cell in a grey column.

12. If you want to add individual transactions to the cell, right-click the cell you want to edit. Then click "Open Details".

13. In this menu, you can add any number of transactions in the details panel.

14. In the second text field, select a status for this transaction. Recurring expenses can be rolled forward into next budget year.

15. Click on this field to enter information.

16. After you have added your transactions, the sum will automatically be calculated underneath the details.

17. You can attach a file to any detail by clicking on the paper clip icon.

18. As well, you can delete any detail by clicking on the trash can icon.

19. Once you have added all the necessary details, click "Save".

20. Once you are done with data entry, and you would like to submit the template for review, you will need to change the workflow for the template. Click on the three dots to the right of the operational template.

21. Click on "Workflow Step" and then select the desired step.

Note: Once the workflow status has changed, you may lose the ability to edit the file - if for some reason, you want to bring it back to editing, you will need to contact your admin.

Adding New Accounts, Departments, and Functions

You may enter all your new accounts, departments, or function through the data integration services, but if you do not, or if you must add an additional account, department, or function, you will have to do so through the resource tables. 

1. Click "Data" in the ribbon of Gravity.

2. Click "Budgeting".

3. Click "Resources Tables".

4. Click here.

5. Select the resource table you want to add.

6. Once you have select the area you want to edit, click "Open".

7. Click "Add a row".

8. Enter out all the fields marked with an asterisk.  

Note: The “Active” checkmark box needs to be left on if you want this entry to appear in your templates.

9. Once you have completed entering all data, click "Save".

Note: If you do not add an account to the “Additional Accounts” resource table, it will not appear in the O&M templates. 

Departmental Data Collection

You may be requiring departmental users to input Gravity inside of the operational templates. At this point, your departmental users should input their financial data into the operational templates. 

Rollover Budget Cycle

Once the departmental members have inputted their financial data, you will have to rollover the budget cycles. The number of budget cycles will be unique to your organization. To roll over your budget cycles: 

1. To roll OM Budgeting templates from one cycle to another, open the current OM template, and verify the columns you want to roll. To roll to a new cycle, you will just be moving data from one column to another, within the same OM template. For example, rolling from “Proposed” to “Adopted”, you will be moving the numbers from the Proposed column, to the Adopted column.

Please note: you can edit information in previous cycles after rolling over your budget cycle to budget cycle, but it will not update automatically in all future budget cycles. 


 

2. To roll the data over, click “Data” at the top of the template, then select “Rollover Scenario”. Alternatively, if you only want to roll some of the data but not all, you can pre-filter the rows and select “Rollover Visible” to only roll the rows you have filtered for.
   
     
3. Select the source column you’re rolling from, and the target column you’re rolling to. You can optionally multiply all the amounts by some number if desired, otherwise leave that box blank, and click Ok.
   
     
4. Now all the data should be copied to the target column, in this example “Adopted Budget 2026”. You have successfully rolled your OM data to a new budget cycle.

Enter Personnel Data 

If you are not utilizing Gravity’s budgeting templates, you can skip this step. 

To accurately report your personnel financial information, you will have to edit personnel information using the Personnel Templates in Gravity. 

1. Double-click on your Personnel Template to open it.

2. To see all the details for each row, use the scroll bar at the bottom of the table.

3. At the far right-hand side of the table, you will find the totals for each staff member.

4. To add a staff member, click on the plus sign in the top right corner.

5. Fill out all the relevant fields to add the position.

6. Before you can save this position, click "Allocations".

7. Click "Add Allocation".

8. Fill out all the values. One caveat is that, regardless of how many allocations you add to a position, they must total 100%.

9. Once you have completed adding your allocation, click "Save".

10. To edit an individual employee's details, click on the pencil icon.

11. After making your changes, click on the checkmark.

12. Click "Benefits & Premiums".

13. In this menu, you will see your organization's benefits.

14. There are three ways that you can calculate benefits in Gravity. 

% : This option will calculate the benefit amount using a specific percentage. This option will refer to the table on the right-hand side to apply the amount to add to the employee salary row. 
1: This option will add a flat-rate amount to the employee’s salary row. This option will refer to the table on the right-hand side to apply the amount to add to the employee salary row. 
Attribute Value: This option will allow you to enter numbers directly into the “Position Cost” table. 

15. If you are making changes to an Attribute Value benefit, click on the plus sign to the right of the panel.

16. In this panel, you can modify the steps of this insurance.

17. Once you have completed adding entries, click "Save".

18. To access the COLA table, click on "COLA".

19. In this menu, the different COLA for your organization can be found.

20. To add a new COLA rate, click on the plus sign to the top right of the table.

21. Add the desired values for this COLA step.

22. Click "Save".

New Employee or position

Please note, that if you are trying to add a new employee to the template, you will first need to add the new employee to the resource tables. The resource tables is an addition source of information where we store information about the different funds, employees, department, etc. The resource tables need to be maintained regularly to make sure all the changes in the organization are presented correctly. To add a new position or employee:

1. Click "Budgeting".

2. Click "Resources Tables".

3. Open the drop-down menu by clicking on the arrow to right of the box, and then select "Employees". In your environment, it may be called "Personnel". If you are adding a new position, the table will be called “Positions”.

4. Then click "Open".

5. Click "Add a row".

6. Enter out all the fields marked with an asterisk.  

Note: The “Active” checkmark box needs to be left on if you want this entry to appear in your templates.

7. Once you have completed entering all data, click "Save".

Update Benefit Rates

After adding all your employees and positions, you should go into the template to review the benefits and premiums. Follow the instructions above to adjust any benefit amounts. 

Note: If you need to add any brand new benefits, please contact support for them to add your new benefit. 

Check Calculation

Having finalized your HR template, it is advisable to spot-check a few rows to ensure that your financial data is calculated correctly. 

Enter Capital Template Data

If you are not utilizing Gravity’s budgeting templates, you can skip this step. 

In Gravity, you can enter your capital project data in the capital templates. To utilize the Capital Templates: 

1. Double-click on the template you want to open.

2. In the template, you will have to fill in the information required.

3. You can do this by simply clicking on any field and entering the information for your project.

4. Once you have entered your information, you can upload photos of the project or pin a map location.

5. To upload a photo, click on the upload icon to the right. You can only upload a maximum of 5 photos.

6. Click the "Location" tab to pin the project’s location on the interactive map.

7. In the right-hand panel, you can search for a location, set the location, and draw on top of the map.

8. Once completed, click on the floppy disc icon.

9. After you have entered the relevant information in the "Project Information" tab, click on the "Budget" tab.

10. In the budget tab, enter in the related budgetary information for your project. 

Note: Your table's columns will be determined by your organization's budget cycles.

11. Once you have completed your work, you can easily move the capital template forward in the workflow by clicking here.

12. Select the next stage of the workflow.

13. The Template will autosave as you work, so you will not need to click save after you have completed your work.

Editing the Options in the Dropdown Menu

If you would like to add an option for the dropdown menu, just add the new option in the file called “Properties”.

1. Double-click "CIP Properties". This file should located in your Properties or CIP folder.

2. Enter your new drop-down menu option under the correct column header.

Note: Your properties table may also be a resource table. If you do not see the properties spreadsheet, navigate to the resource tables to change the properties of your capital templates.

Change Projection Amounts as desired

Since CIP projects will span over a 5-to-10-year budgeting period, it may happen that projected amounts will change from year to year. Review each project and change the projected amounts as desired.

Finalize Operational, Personnel and Capital Templates

If you are not utilizing Gravity’s budgeting templates, you can skip this step. 

After uploading any new department using Data Integration Services, you will want to finalize all your operational, personnel, and capital templates that you are utilizing. By finalizing these templates, you will ensure that the most accurate budgetary data is presented inside of your Budget Book. 

Data Refresh inside of MDFM

If you are not utilizing Gravity’s budgeting templates, you can skip this step. 

Once you have finalized your operational, personnel, and capital templates, you will have to refresh the data inside of Gravity. This is a necessary step to present the correct data in your budget book. 

One set of numbers that you need to maintain are the period variables. These are located in the Period Report or Period Template.  

To edit the Period Report: 

1. Open the Administration folder. 

2. Double-click "Periods Report".

3. Click on the cell where you enter the period value.

4. Once complete, click on the three lines in the “Periods Report” tab. 

5. Click "Submit".

To refresh data sets:

1. Navigate to the MDFM. 
2. Click on “Administration”.
3. Select “Datasets”. 
4. Expand “Budget Book” and click on all the refresh icons. 

Ensure Data Matches Operational Template ALL

After we have uploaded your financial data into Gravity, you will want to validate that your data is inside of Gravity. To do so, enter your operational budgeting template ALL, and look at the bottom row. Once this amount is correct, you can proceed to working inside of the MDFM.

Add New Reporting Units to Dimensions

After verifying all projected data, you may have to add new reporting units to the MDFM. To add new reporting units to dimensions: 

1. Access the MDFM
2. Once in the MDFM, click on “Administration”.

3. Click on "Dimensions".

4. Click on the Dimension where you want to add a Line Item.
5. Once in that dimension, click on the pencil icon to the right of the Dimension, such as Accounts or Funds.  

6. Once you entered into a category, click on the chevron to the left of the item you want to add line item or fund. 

7. To add line item to “Governmental Funds”, click on the plus sign to the right of Governmental Funds. Clicking on the plus sign to the right of any item will create a line item within the item you have selected. 

8. Once you have selected the correct item, enter the Name and Code of your new line item. 
9. Then click the floppy disc icon to the right. 

10. A menu will appear asking if you want to add this line item to the pivots. Click "No".

Add New Budget Categories to Dimensions

After you have added all new reporting structures to the MDFM, you will have to repeat the process above to add the budget cycles. 

Map New Accounts to Statements

After validating your data, you can start mapping accounts to lines on your financial statement. Gravity mapping functionality will automate your financial statements. As you create accounts, you will have to map the new accounts to your financial statements.

It is imperative that you map all accounts in all hypercubes if you want your budget book to be accurate.

 To map accounts to your financial statements: 

1. Mapping can only be accomplished in hypercubes. Select the hypercube you want to work in. 

2. Once you have opened the hypercube you want, click on “Mapping”. 

In the Mapping Menu:

We have arrived in the Mapping menu. In the Mapping menu, we see three panels. On the left side, we see the parameters panel where we can filter accounts by parameters such as period, reporting structure, or fund. Selecting these parameters will show us different views of all accounts and how they are mapped. 

On the right side, we have mapped accounts panel which shows us all accounts corresponding to the parameters chosen on the left side. Underneath the mapped accounts panel, there is the unmapped accounts panel. This panel shows us accounts that are unmapped. 

In general, we want to avoid having unmapped accounts, since unmapped accounts are not present in your report. There are two ways to map accounts: 

Method 1: Relinking Local Rules: 

This method will be the standard method to ensure that your accounts are mapped. 

1. Click the chevron on the right side of the screen.

2. Then click on “Local Rules”.

3. Once in the Local Rules tab, click on the three lines between “Local Rules”.

4. Then click "Re-Link All".

Method 2: Creating or Editing Local Rules

If you have added new line items, you will have to create new local rules to have those new line items present in the report. To create a local rule: 

1. Click the chevron on the right side of the screen.

5. Then click on “Local Rules”.

6. Select the parameters you want the local rules to apply. For instance, if you have created new line items for your current financial period’s report, select period you want the new line items to appear in. 

7. Once you have selected the parameters that should apply to your new line item. Click on the blue circle in the bottom right to create a new local rule. 

8. Each rule is a set of conditions that sort data according to these conditions. Click on the plus sign on the right side.

9. You will have to select what parameter you want the rule to apply to. 

10. Then select the type of condition you want to utilize. The “equals” condition means that it takes all values that exactly match the values. “Not equals” will exclude all values that exactly match the values. “Starts with” captures all values that begin with certain letters or numbers. “Not starts with” will exclude all values that begin with certain letters or numbers. 

Note: the “equals” and “not equals” conditions are easier to set up since the Value selection will populate with options from the field select. 

11. Then select the values you want to apply the conditions to. 

12. Once you have modified this condition, click on the floppy disc icon to save the condition. 

13. To add further conditions, repeat steps 6 through 10. 

14. Once completed, click “OK”.

15. Once we have completed adding the local rule, we can immediately see all the line items that the local rule maps in the Matching Rows panel. 

16. To ensure the local rules will be applied, click on the three lines between “Local Rules”.

17. Then click "Re-Link All".

Create new MDFM Imports as desired

Pivots in the MDFM allow you to customize how your financial data is represented on the fly. Pivot tables in the MDFM function very similarly to how pivot tables in work in spreadsheet software such as Excel.

1. Access the MDFM.
2. Select a hypercube or dataset that you want to export a table from. And then click on Pivot.

3. You will arrive at the default pivot view. To modify this table, click on the “Pivot Chooser” on the top-left of the table. 

4. In the Pivot Chooser menu on the left side, you can select which types of data and parameters you want to compare your data with. Then you can click and drag how you want the data to be represented in the table. Once you are done, click on the X in the top right-hand corner of the Pivot Chooser.

After you have completed making your table, we will have to save it. To save your new table: 

1. Right-click anywhere on the table. 

2. Click "Save as..."

Note: If you wish to modify the pivot further, click on “Show Field Chooser” to return to the Field Chooser.

3. Name the table you created. This name will be referenced later when exporting. Then click "OK".

4. The view you have created will appear underneath “Pivot”.

Roll up hypercubes

If it is the case that you think that a journal entry or mapped account is not making its way into the pivot tables inside of the MDFM, you will want to roll up the hypercubes. To roll up the hypercubes: 

1. Right click on the hypercube.

2. Click “Rollup”.

This process will rerun all the rules, formulas, and journal entries you have made and ensure that the most accurate data is pushed out into the report. 

Refresh MDFM Imports

To push the financial data from the MDFM to your report, you will have to 

To refresh the MDFM imports: 

1. Click on the three dots to right of the top-level report folder. 

2. Select “Data”. 

3. Click “Refresh MDFM Imports”.

If you want to force a particular MDFM import to refresh: 

1. In the MDFM import, click on the three lines between the document tab. 

2. Click “Refresh All Imports.”

Review and Update Manual tables 

While your budget book will have a plethora of automated tables, some of your tables will be manual entry. The Implementation signals which tables have manual entries with “[M]” in front of the name. Also, all manual tables will have rows and columns denoted that you will have to fill out. 

Update and Refresh variables

Variables are an important source of automation inside of your report. Variables will automate numbers. These variables can be used to automate either manual tables or narrative documents throughout your budget book. 

To Refresh Variables: 

1. Click on “Data” in the blue banner at the top of Gravity. 

2. Select “Refresh Variables”.

If you are working with variables in your report, it is a good idea to refresh variables regularly to ensure that your work reflects your numbers accurately. 

Update narrative documents

Throughout your budget book, you will need to update all your narrative documents such as transmittal letters, budget overviews, department goals, descriptions, mission statements, organizational charts, and so on. These documents will be unique to you and your organization. These documents can be edited like word documents. 

Generate Snapshot

Generating a snapshot is a crucial phase in your Budget book creation. Gravity’s Generate Snapshot

To generate a snapshot: 

1. Click on the three dots at the top-level report folder. 

2. Select “Generation”. 

3. Click on “Create Snapshot”. 

4. After clicking on “Create” Snapshot”, select the folder where you want to place the snapshot. Generally, there is a review folder at the bottom of the report tree on the left side. 

5. Click “Create”

Optional settings: In the snapshot creation menu, you may want to enable the option “Overlay Object Links”. This will create links in the top left-hand corner of each page that will warp you to the document you are looking at in the snapshot. 

Review Formatting

While reviewing your A Budget book, be sure to review the formatting as to ensure your report is as attractive as possible. The GFOA awards place much weight on the readability and attractiveness of your Budget book.

Generate Report

When you are finished with the review phase of your Budget book, you will have to generate a high-quality version of your report to 

1. Click on the three dots at the top-level report folder. 

2. Select “Generation”. 

This will create a high-quality version of your report to download and distribute to your constituents.