Budget Planning | Yarken Help

Budget Planning helps teams analyze budget, forecast, baseline, and variance data in Analytics.

Use this page when you need to understand how planned spend is moving across cost centers, vendors, accounts, entities, projects, SKUs, and TBM taxonomy structures.

For the workspace layout, report builder controls, filters, visualizations, and saved report behavior, start with Getting Started with Analytics.

What Budget Planning helps you answer

Budget Planning is built for planning analysis, not budget entry.

Use it to answer questions such as:

Where is planned spend increasing or decreasing?
Which cost centers are above baseline?
Which vendors or accounts are driving forecast movement?
How does the current plan compare with the previous forecast?
Where is YTD spend reducing the remaining forecast?
Which projects or SKUs need closer review?
Which TBM categories carry the largest variance?

Budget creation, budget line item maintenance, approvals, and publishing are handled in Planning.

Access Budget Planning

To open Budget Planning:

Navigate to Analytics
Select Budgets & Forecasts

The page opens the Budget Planning analytics cube.

Budget Planning data

Budget Planning uses planning records created or managed through Yarken Planning.

Planning data may come from:

Budgets created in Planning
Forecasts created in Planning
Budget files imported through Planning workflows
Budget line items added manually
Planning data loaded from Cost Transparency where supported
Workforce Planning entries converted into budget or forecast values

This makes Budget Planning the analysis layer for planning data after it has been created, updated, or published through the planning process.

Key planning fields

Budget Planning includes fields for reviewing budget and forecast performance.

Common planning fields include:

Field	Use it to understand
Budget Name	Which budget or forecast the record belongs to
Status	Where the budget or forecast sits in the planning process
Type	Whether the record relates to budget or forecast analysis
Assumption	Business context or planning assumptions behind the value
Notes	Supporting comments added during planning
Spend Category	The spend grouping applied to the planning item
Spend Classification	How the planned spend is classified for reporting
Project ID	Project-level planning attribution
SKU	SKU-level planning attribution where used
Total Planning Amount	Current planned amount for the selected context
Previous Forecast Amount	Prior forecast amount used for comparison
Total Baseline Amount	Baseline value used for variance analysis
Total Spend (YTD)	Year-to-date actual spend included in planning analysis
Remaining Forecast Amount	Forecast remaining after accounting for actual spend
Variance vs Baseline	Difference between current planning value and baseline
Variance vs Previous	Difference between current planning value and previous forecast

Use these fields together to review plan movement and isolate the source of variance.

Planning dimensions

Budget Planning can be analyzed across the dimensions used in finance and technology planning.

Common dimension groups include:

Expense Types for CapEx and OpEx analysis
Accounts for finance account-level review
Cost Centers for ownership and budget accountability
Vendors for supplier-level planning analysis
Entities for business unit, region, or operating entity reporting
TBM Taxonomy for TBM-aligned cost and service analysis
Timeline for month, quarter, and year-based reporting

Use dimensions to move from a total variance figure to the specific owner, category, vendor, or service driving the change.

Recommended report structures

Start with one planning question, then build the report around the fields that answer it.

Planning question	Suggested report structure
Which cost centers are above baseline?	Cost Center, Total Planning Amount, Total Baseline Amount, Variance vs Baseline
Which vendors changed most from the previous forecast?	Vendor, Previous Forecast Amount, Total Planning Amount, Variance vs Previous
Which accounts carry the largest remaining forecast?	Account, Total Spend (YTD), Remaining Forecast Amount, Total Planning Amount
Which projects need review?	Project ID, SKU, Total Planning Amount, Variance vs Baseline, Notes
Which TBM categories are driving movement?	TBM Taxonomy, Spend Category, Total Planning Amount, Variance vs Previous
Which entities need finance review?	Entity, Cost Center, Total Planning Amount, Total Baseline Amount, Variance vs Baseline

Save standard report views for recurring budget reviews, forecast checkpoints, and leadership updates.

Budget and forecast comparisons

Budget Planning supports comparisons between current planning values and financial reference points.

Comparison	What it explains
Current plan vs baseline	Whether the current plan has moved above or below the approved baseline
Current plan vs previous forecast	Whether the current view has changed since the last forecast cycle
YTD spend vs remaining forecast	How actual spend is affecting the remaining forecast position
Variance by owner	Which cost center, vendor, account, entity, or project is driving the movement

These comparisons help finance and technology teams review variance with the right operational context.

Relationship with Planning

Budget Planning depends on data created in Planning, but it serves a different purpose.

Use Planning to:

Create budgets and forecasts
Add or import line items
Manage approvals
Publish approved budgets
Set baseline values
Coordinate budget contributors and budget process owners

Use Budget Planning to:

Analyze budget and forecast data
Compare current values with baseline and previous forecast values
Review variance by financial and operational dimensions
Build saved reports for recurring planning reviews
Communicate planning performance to stakeholders

Relationship with entities and currency

Budget and forecast records can include entity and currency context.

Entity support helps teams review planning data by operating unit, business area, region, or legal entity.

Currency configuration affects how planning values are reported in multi-currency environments.

Before relying on converted values, confirm that:

Required foreign currencies are enabled
Planning exchange rates are configured
Entity assignments are consistent across planning data

This improves reporting accuracy across regional and global planning reviews.

Relationship with Workforce Planning

Workforce Planning can generate budget or forecast values from role-based workforce plans.

This helps connect labor planning to financial planning.

Use Budget Planning to analyze the resulting budget or forecast impact across cost centers, entities, accounts, and planning periods.

Recommended practices

Use these practices when working with Budget Planning:

Start with a specific planning question
Use variance fields for finance review workflows
Include cost center, account, vendor, and entity context when reviewing movement
Use project and SKU fields when budget owners need more detail
Keep naming conventions consistent across budgets and forecasts
Save recurring views for month-end and forecast review cycles
Check source planning data before escalating reporting differences
Align report structures with finance and TBM governance standards

Clear planning reports reduce reconciliation effort and improve budget accountability.

Common use cases

Budget Planning is commonly used for:

Monthly budget review
Forecast movement analysis
Baseline variance reporting
Cost center planning review
Vendor budget analysis
Project and SKU-level planning review
Entity-level planning governance
TBM-aligned budget and forecast reporting
Finance leadership updates

Troubleshooting Budget Planning results

If Budget Planning does not show expected values, check:

The selected budget or forecast period
Active Month, Year, Entity, and Status filters
Whether the budget or forecast has been created in Planning
Whether source budget items were imported or added successfully
Whether baseline values have been set where required
Whether the correct entity and currency configuration is in place
Whether workforce-generated planning values have completed processing

If totals still do not match expectations, compare the Analytics view against the source budget or forecast in Planning.

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