Budgeting and Availability Control 

Purpose

This component supports with your functions the budget creation process and the monitoring of available funds.

Budgeting

The budget is allocated according to a defined budget profile and various budget versions. You can allocate overall budgets or annual budgets. You can only allocate an overall budget if you are using a fund.

With the functions of this component, you can allocate your budget on the top-down principle or the bottom-up principle. You define the basic rules for the budget allocation in the Budget Structure, a procedure which makes allocating budgets at central level or local level easy. The rules defined in the budget structure include which responsibility area (funds centers) may use the budget for which expenditure categories (commitment items) and how the budget may be distributed within the budget hierarchy to the individual funds centers and commitment items.

You can adapt the budget to changes in conditions by entering releases, supplements, returns, and transfers.

Availability control

Within the budget execution framework you can claim the assigned funds for expected expenditures via Earmarked Funds Postings in the Funds Management feeder systems, which refer to these earmarked funds, establish obligations (commitments such as a purchase order) and actual data (such as through invoices and payments) incurs. These forms of budget usage are known collectively as assigned funds.

The funds management can use the information system to compare budget usage and funds currently available. In addition to the funds overview in the information system, which acts as a "passive" availability control, the component includes an "active" availability control facility whose functions prevent budget overruns.

Integration

Availability control influences the posting procedures in Funds Management - earmarked funds, funds transfers, budget transfers, supplements - as well as the posting procedures in the components integrated with Funds Management. For further information on which components are integrated with Funds Management, see Actual and Commitment Updating

When you enter an activity, such as a purchase order, which is assigned to a funds center and commitment item, the system checks whether the budget or released funds available are sufficient.

If you have Controlling integrated use with Funds Management, availability control can be active both in Funds Management and in Controlling orders and projects.

For performance reasons, you must decide in which component you want to activate it.

Features

This component offers

A wide range of tools for maintaining budgets:

Fine-tune budget monitoring:

The defining of tolerance limits allows for an individual definition for each commitment item, funds center, and fund for individual transaction groups (such as purchase order, actual posting).