Import Spending Policy Budgets

If you calculate your Spending Policy outside of FIMS, you can use the Spending Policy Budget Import utility to import the values and create General Ledger Budget entries for selected accounts. This utility also allocates the annual Spending Policy amount between all of the budget periods.

Note: The spreadsheet must have two columns: one containing the FIMS Fund ID code and the other containing the Annual Spending Policy Amount. The spreadsheet must also be saved in comma-delimited (.csv) format. Please Contact FIMS Support for help running this utility.

Note: IMPORTANT: Always make a backup copy of your database before running this utility (or any process that will delete multiple records). You may also want to first run this utility in your Test and Learn database before using it on your actual data.

1. From anywhere in FIMS, select View > Spending Policy > Spending Policy Budget Import. A message appears to provide general information about the utility.

2. Read the message carefully, and then click OK. The Import Spending Policy Budgets window opens.

3. In the Import File field, enter the path and file name for the spreadsheet that contains your Annual Spending Policy information. If you are not sure of the exact path and file name, click the Lookup button (looks like a magnifying glass) next to this field to search for the desired file.

4. In the Load Budgets into Account field, enter the natural account number for the account where you want to add the budget figures.

5. In the Year field, enter the General Ledger year that you want to enter budget figures for.

6. Select the Overwrite Budgets in what periods checkboxes for each period where you want to allocate the new budget values.

7. Click the Import button. A message displays at the bottom of the Import Spending Policy Values window with the number of records imported.

8. Click the Edit Report button on the Import Spending Policy Values window. FIMS checks the imported records against existing Fund ID codes and General Ledger accounts to make sure that they match, and lists the Fund ID and Spending Policy Budget for each record. If there are no errors in the report, you are ready to save the values. If there are errors, fix them in your spreadsheet and rerun the import process.

9. Click the Load Budgets button on the Import Spending Policy Values window to save the new Spending Policy Budgets.