Budget Development Tool
The Budget Development Tool is presented as an MS Excel Workbook. If you are comfortable working with Excel or any other spreadsheet program, you will also be comfortable working with the Budget Development Tool.
To start, download the Budget Development Tool and save it to your hard or portable drive as an .xls file
Be sure to download and save a current copy of the Budget Development Tool every time you start working on a new budget; the rates used in the calculations will be updated several times a year. The latest update date is shown above and in the top right corner of the project data sheet.
Worksheets
The workbook contains several worksheets. They are as follows:
- General Instructions: Same as this page.
- Detailed Instructions: Contains instructions for data entry in each of the worksheets.
- Notes: To be used for notes, additional calculations, and other details; does not link to or affect any calculations in any of the other worksheets.
- Project Data: Contains basic information as well as data that will provide the basis for calculations in the other worksheets; must be completed for every budget.
- Budget Period 1: Enter detailed data for the first budget period. The first five columns for all non-student personnel should be entered in Budget Period 1, even if there is no salary requested until subsequent years. In addition, the name of each subaward should be entered in Budget Period 1 even if there are no costs until subsequent years.
- Budget Periods 2-6: Enter detailed data for subsequent budget periods, using as many budget periods as required for your project. Some information is pre-populated from the prior budget period (including non-student personnel information with salaries increased by the inflation rate specified on the project data sheet), but is not activated until additional data is entered into white cells on each line..
- Cumulative: Provides totals for all years of the project by personnel and other budget category detail.
- Totals: Provides amounts by budget period for budget categories and total as well as project totals for each budget category and total.
- Rates: This sheet is informational only and none of the rates can be changed.
Working within the Workbook
- To move to a different sheet, click on the tab for that sheet. If you cannot see the tab for the sheet you wish to work on, use the arrow buttons in the lower left corner of the screen.
- To SAVE the workbook, use Save under the File menu to save to the same name; use Save As to save to a different name.
- To PRINT, select Print from the File menu; you may print the entire workbook or only the active sheet.
Working within the Worksheets
- All worksheets are “protected.”
- Only editable (white) cells can be changed. To edit a cell, use your mouse to click within that cell.
- Other (colored) cells are locked and cannot be changed. This was designed to prevent calculation errors.
- Some cells contain a “dropdown” option to aid in preparing your budget. These dropdowns list the valid values for that cell. To use the dropdown, click on the down arrow to the right of the cell and then click on the appropriate value for that cell.
- You may use the Tab and Enter keys to move around the worksheet. The Tab key will move the cursor to the next editable cell that does not contain a dropdown option; the Enter key will move the cursor to the next row in the worksheet.
- If the contents of any cell display as #### (pound signs), change the zoom level.
For more details on using Excel, contact your computer support staff. For any other questions about the Budget Development Tool, including budget categories and other budget-specific items, contact OSP at 229-3332 or budtool-help@uwm.edu.