All about Budget

Summary

A budget is key to trac your performance and understand how you compare to your projections. In this article, you will learn how to update your budget in Blent and include it in your reports and dashboards.

Budget vs. Forecast

Some may be confused about the budget and the forecast approach, so here is the difference:

A budget details the financial goals to be achieved (it may be at a daily, monthly, or yearly pace) during a specific period.
A forecast predicts how close the property is to achieving the budget.

While a budget should not change during the period it covers (as soon as it is approved), a forecast can be regularly reassessed to provide the most accurate landing. Forecast will always take actual data for the past dates in the considered period.

How to update budget

Your budget is presented on a monthly basis by default. If you want to switch it to a daily basis, please contact support@blent.io

There are two ways to use the budget configuration:

Manually, directly on the platform, following "Add new budget" in the left-hand ribbon
The first option is very intuitive; however, it can be time-consuming since the budget is entered line by line. This option is best suited for making corrections or when you only have a few lines to enter.
Imports and exports with Excel
This option allows you to upload all your budgets at once. It is faster and is more adapted if you have a lot of lines.

How to export/import budget

To import a budget into Blent, follow the steps below.

Note that:

During the import step, elements that are not included (i.e., budget lines not imported) are not modified, removed, or set to 0; they simply retain their previous values.
You can import only part of the year, rather than the full year. To do this, keep columns A to D unchanged. The remaining columns should correspond only to the months or days you want to import.
When you want to add a new budget, do not upload the old files! Always, first export the current file, and then enter the changes and/or add new lines into the newly exported file!

2. How to modify the budget file that you have exported

Here are the guidelines for each column of your budget template:

Column A is for the budget name. If your budgets correspond to accounting codes, it may be useful to link them to the name to facilitate mapping. If you make a change in this column, then the title of the budget line will automatically change in Blent platform.
Column B should not be modified! It is the budget ID, which is assigned at the creation of the budget line. If you add new lines, leave them blank
Column C defines if the budget is cumulative or an average. It must be filled with 0 or 1
- 0 = If the budget is cumulative (revenue, expected number of attendees, costs, etc.)
- 1 = If the budget is an average (ADR, RevPAR, Occupancy rate, average ticket).
Column D defines if the budget is a revenue or a charge. It must be filled with 0 or 1
- 0 = If the expected figure is revenue, or several services sold, guests, or tickets.
- 1 = If the figure corresponds to an expense or a cost.

Overall, only modify the fields mentioned above. If you do not wish to modify existing budgets, we recommend that you delete the corresponding lines to avoid unintentional modifications (this will not affect the budgets on the lines).

Create a budget as a formula

Some budgets are calculated based on other budgets. You now have the option to create a budget using a formula that includes other budgets.

Note that these budgets will not appear in the Excel export.

How to display Budget

You want to display your budget in a line or on a dashboard like a classic KPI? Use the widget Budget and select one or multiple budgets to display. You can create a report only to display your budget if you want to.

How to attach Budgets to reports and dashboards

Now that your budgets are imported, you can attach them to each line of the report or a dashboard widget.

Note that if you are working with a calculation line, the budget will automatically calculate itself from the calculated lines. If you add a budget at the top (which is not advised), then this imported budget will overwrite the calculated budget.

For dashboards:

Keywords / Tags

update my budget, change my budget, monthly budget, daily budget

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