1) Enable and configure the budget feature, using the various fields and options in here…
– PURCHASING > Setup system > Cost center history/budget settings

A) First, check the box at the top of the screen to “Enable Cost Center budget calculation utility“.

B) If you will be using time-based budgets (e.g. yearly, quarterly, monthly), fill in the three fields just below that check-box to tell SpendMap how many budget periods there are in each year, and related settings. Then use the button at the bottom-right of the screen to [Create New Fiscal Period]…you must create one or more fiscal periods in order to enter budget amounts for those fiscal periods/years per section 2 below, but this is not necessary if you will be tracking “overall” budgets per section 1C below.

TIP: you can set up just this fiscal year for now and come back later and use this button to create additional fiscal budget periods, or you can add as many periods/years as you want up front. However, if you create just one and then set up the budgets for each Cost Center per section 2 below, when you come back to create your next fiscal period, SpendMap will give you the option of copying all the details (budget amounts) that you entered for all the Cost Centers in the first period, which can save you time if your budgets are the same or close to the same from year-to-year.

C) If you will be using overall budgets (i.e. that span all time), check the box at the bottom of the screen to “Enable use of OVERALL budgets”.

You can learn more about Fiscal/Time-Based vs. Overall budgets in this blog post.

2) You can now enter budget dollar amounts for your Cost Centers (projects, departments, etc.), in here…
– PURCHASING > Master Files > Cost Centers > Add/Modify/Delete

If you are setting up budgets at the Cost Center level (e.g. by department, project, etc.), use the [Budgets] tab.

Or, if you want to set up budgets by GL Account within each Cost Center (e.g. a separate budget for each category of spending within each Cost Center, like office supplies, computer supplies, etc.), you would enter the budget dollar amounts in the [Matching G/L Accounts/Budgets] tab.

From there, SpendMap will keep track of what you spend against each budget and you can track how much is left in each budget in real-time on various screens and reports, including while entering new Purchase Orders.

For more details, check out this section of the Online Help in SpendMap…
– System-Wide Features and Information > System-Wide Features and Utilities > Cost Center History and Budgets