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User permissions: Budgets & Forecasts and Manage Budgets & Forecasts
Database driver tabs are not available in operational budgets but you can in those budget setups to drive the budget data.
The Database tab automatically drives the values in selected account rows on the Main tab. For example, you can use your Sales database to drive the Revenue accounts in the Main tab of your financial budget. You can also manually link to the data in the Database tab via formulas, which is a useful option if the new database does not easily map to the existing database.
The relationship between the Main and Database tabs is as follows:
The Main tab setup impacts the Database tab setup. The hierarchy and layout of the budget’s Main tab is determined by its setup. In the case of a financial budget, the budget displays in the P&L template that you selected with the number of levels you set. The following image shows how the budget setup impacts the driver tab setup. You can see settings for the category and other dimension levels (Country and Account) in the budget. Later in the driver tab setup, the dimensions in the new database need to be mapped (matched) to those in the existing database.
The Database tab drives the values on the Main tab. After the Database tab is set up, the values in that tab drive the values in the account row on the Main tab. There is no workflow for the driven rows.
The Database tab and Reference tab are very similar, as they both connect to another database to display additional data in the budget workbook. The two key differences are as follows:
Automatic driving of budget values: The purpose of the Database tab is to automatically drive budget values in the Main tab. This is achieved through the mapping step in the Database tab setup, where you match the dimensions in the two databases. As the Reference tab setup doesn’t have a mapping step, no dimensions are mapped, so no values are automatically driven. However, you can manually drive values by referring to the reference data in formulas.
Flexible hierarchy: As explained in the section above, the hierarchy of the Database tab is based on that of the Main tab. So, for example, if there are three levels in the Main tab, the Database tab will also have three levels. The Reference tab is independent of the Main tab, so you are free to determine the levels in the hierarchy to organize the data as required.
Do you need to add a new Database tab? If there’s already one in the workbook, save time by cloning that tab and editing its setup.
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Either click the Budget menu > Add tab or click the Add tab button (at the bottom of the workbook), then select the Database tab type. Then proceed to set up the Database worksheet tab. The setup process involves several steps and settings organized into tabs. Many settings are automatically selected for you to save you time but you can change them as required.
Click Save and finish. The new tab opens with the data from the other database or zero values if you selected that baseline data structure.
You can then manually link to the new data via formulas in the Main tab and other tabs. This is useful if the new database does not easily map to the existing database.
You can also add rows in the Database tab for new entities (see below).
Add (inject) rows into a Database tab to budget for items that didn’t have any activity in the baseline period. For example, you might be doing your Sales budgeting and have a new Sales Rep or product that you want to budget against. As this is a new budget item, it doesn’t display in the baseline data, you need to manually add it in. Add a row at the lowest level in the data, which might be a budget item, such as a Sales Rep or Product in an operational database tab or an account in a financial database tab.
On the Database tab, expand the rows to the applicable dimension, for example, UK > Sales Rep.
Hover over the entity row (UK), then click the blue Add button that displays.
Click the Unmapped button to open the mapping window for that dimension, then map (match) the dimensions in the new database to the dimensions in the main budget database and click Save and Finish. The budget reloads and the new row is no longer marked as unmapped.
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Set the to determine how the measures (numerical values) display in the grid.
Leave the Include ### suspense items checkbox selected if you want to display in the Database tab. If you do not want to include those items, clear the checkbox.
For example, if you are bringing in data from last year’s Profit and Loss statement, you might want to use the same Profit and Loss template as you used in the budget setup, so the data is laid out the same in both the Main and Database tabs. The following images show the impact of a statement on how the data displays.
(Applicable when linking to a financial database) Show or hide nested calculations as required. This setting determines whether nested calculation rows are shown in the worksheet or not. These calculation rows come from the selected statement. By default, Show is selected, which means the calculation rows in the worksheet are expandable and you can see the nested underneath. If that's not desirable, select Hide to remove these rows and only see the top-level calculation values.
(If applicable) Apply a tab filter: Select the Filter… checkbox > select the dimension that you want to filter (you can't select one that’s been added as a level) > select the entity you want to use as the filter > click out of the window to apply your selection. See for more information, as the concept is the same.
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After you add the Database tab, you should review the contents of the new tab and the corresponding, automatically driven values in the Main tab. If required, before editing any budget values.
If you have in the database tab, any new rows you add will get these additional measures by default.
. The new row displays in the budget with an Unmapped button (icon) next to its name.
Add a Database tab in your financial budget workbook to connect to data in another database and drive budget values.