As you begin to use ESP™, it is important to remember that the Scenario is a "Model" with many related moving parts.  In the early stages of preparing your budget,  it is important to limit the number individual Budget Item or Employee Funding changes.  As your budget process progresses,  you will find you need to create more individual adjustments or "Overrides",  however doing so will limit your ability to do "What If" modeling across the entire Scenario.

Financial Tab

1.Persistent Adjustments (PA)'s should be used sparingly and only when really necessary.  Try to change the model assumptions and factors first.  (PA's are changes to any item that is normally calculated or has an Glyph (picture or Icon) in the hierarchical data grid.

2.When moving or consolidating budgets, use the Move Budget Items function.

Employees Tab

1.Try to use the Split and Move functions to adjust Employee funding’s whenever possible.

2.Only deactivate Employee Fundings when they are to be truly removed from the budget.

3.For those cases when an employee need to be removed from their existing funding source, but you are not sure where they will wind up,  set them to Pending Status so they can be accounted for.  They will be visible, but removed from the FTE and Cost Calculation.  The can then be “Picked Up” and Moved (1 Step) or "Un-pended" and Moved (2 Steps) when their future is known.

4.For new positions,  use the “Add Funding” function to create Budgeted Position Placeholders.  For multiple positions in the same Account,  set the work hours to the individual position hours,, and then use the Position Count value (only visible for Budgeted Positions) to indicate how many Positions the placeholder is to be for.

5.Budgeted positions can be created for negative Position Counts to plan for reduced Staffing, but not necessarily identify who.  The Pending status can be used for that.