Run the budget cycle

The budget is the plan your departments agree to. Finance asks for submissions, departments revise their own numbers, and approval keeps exactly what was approved.

Request submissions

On the Budget cycle tab, finance chooses the departments and an optional due date and presses Request submissions. Each department appears in the table with its status: requested, submitted or returned, and the last change with who made it and when.

Revise and submit

A contributor opens Plan, chooses the budget and changes only their own department's revenue, positions and expenses. They can leave a note under Comments for finance, then press Submit Sales, named for their department.

Return or approve

Finance can Return a submission with a reason, and the department revises it again. When the numbers are right, finance presses Approve and freeze revision n. Easel keeps that exact revision, who approved it and when; the approved numbers are never recalculated, even if a rule changes later.

The forecast opens from the approved budget. From then on, close each month against it.