Table of Contents:
UPDATES
Sept 19, 2026 - A Workday update has retired the Shortcuts tab on the Menu. If you wish to save a link to reports, you may do so under your Profile, using Favorites.
Getting started with Budget vs Actual Reports
To run a report in Workday that compares your actual financial activity to your budget...
- Recommended report: RPT00290 Budget vs. Actual by Program
- Run it by typing the report name into the top search bar in Workday (or save it to your Favorites within your Profile)
- Standard filter options:
- Company: CU0076 Metropolitan State University
- Organization: CCH1000015 METS All Metropolitan State University Cost Centers
- Budget Structure: Annual Operating - Parent - NEW
- Budget Name: leave blank
- Book: This should default to "Modified Cash"
- Period: Fy27-Jun
- The fiscal year ends in Jun, so this filter returns all activity that has happened so far this year.
- If you choose to run a report for a mid-year period (i.e. FY27 March), please note that
- Columns related to Total Activity/Actual will display YTD activity (i.e. July through March)
- Budget columns can only show the full year budget (July through June) since we do not load the budget by month. The 'Budget YTD' label is a misnomer.
- Worktags: Enter your Workday Program, project or grant
Report Running Tips
- When populating filters, type "METS" and part of the description or the 6 digit ISRS cost center number, and it typically will display the detailed option that you may then select.
- Multiple report FILTERS can be saved for each report for ease in repeatedly running a report.
- In the gray box below the filter inputs, enter a Filter Name and Save the filter.
- Next time you open the report you can pick it from Saved Filters
- Recommendation: start with one saved filter and as you become more comfortable you may add more. If you need assistance with filters to answer a specific question, contact Wendy Helm
- This report is not designed for GRANTS or PROJECTS - the amounts and transaction detail display, but all grants or projects included in the report are displayed on one combined [blank] line.
- For GRANTS:
- The report Award Budget to Actuals or RPT00546 - Award Budget to Actuals - Object Class is currently the best source for grant financials (informal VIDEO)
- This focuses on the grant award (not fiscal year).
- For PROJECTS (facilities)
- Run the report by a single Project worktag. The lines in the report will be labeled with 'blank' instead of the PR description
- There are other versions of the 'Budget vs. Actual reports (by cost center, by fund, by ledger) Type in the top search bar and use similar filters if you wish to try them. For assistance, contact Wendy Helm
- In order to view these reports you must have either the Cost Center Manager or Finance Analyst role in Workday. Contact Accounting Services if you need a Workday security role to view reports.
Video
- Budget vs Actual Report - Overview and drill down (10 minutes)
- Explains the structure of Budget vs. Actual reports
- Gives tips for how to drill down and analyze the detail to answer your questions
- Budgets funded by Transfer In (5 min)
- These look like a $0 Original Budget but are not
- Expanding the rows and understanding the logic may help with understanding
- Example: IFO or MSUAASF Professional Study & Travel, replacement lifecycle PGs, Facilities projects
Reading the report
Basic layout of the RPT00290 is as follows (other budget vs actual reports are similar)
- Revenue section at the top followed by an Expense section.
- Ability to click on gray circles/carats to expand/drill down or collapse (see Expand, Collapse and Drill down capability section for details)
- Columns:
- Original Budget
- full year budget initially loaded via Adaptive Planning on July 1.
- Contact Wendy Helm if you need to learn how to look up budget transaction detail. It currently is not available via these reports (but it is being worked on)
- Budget YTD
- This includes any budget amendments (budget transfers or loads done after the initial load)
- The 'YTD" label is a misnomer since budgets are not loaded by month. This column reflects the full year budget amount.
- Contact Wendy Helm if you need to learn how to look up budget transaction detail. It currently is not available via these reports (but it is being worked on)
- Commitments YTD - Requisitions or other pre-encumbrance activity
- Obligations YTD - Purchase order amount left, payroll yet to be paid this year, represents what in ISRS was encumbrance
- Actuals YTD - what has been paid/processed (invoices, expense reports, journal entries)
- Total Activity (YTD) - Total of the previous three columns (Commitments + Obligations + Actuals) How much has been spent or is committed.
- Budget Variance - Compares Budget YTD to Total Activity YTD
- % Remaining - Budget variance as a percentage of Budget YTD
- "Activity Last Year" columns:
- note: If you are running a report for Fy25 -- 'last year columns' will reflect FY24.
- ISRS is the system of record for Fy24.
- We were give no assurances of what FY24 data was loaded to Workday or if/how it was confirmed.
Expand, Collapse and Drill down capability
To navigate within a report, click on the gray circles to expand/collapse to the next level
Blue text indicates that an item is clickable for drill down into detail.
- Usually best to click on numbers for transaction detail. It is less useful to click on words (cost center names, etc.), since it will just reflect how that item is set up).
Once you've clicked into an Actual YTD number, you will see the transaction detail within. Worktags column seems to be most useful (contains supplier name, etc.)
- Analysis / Research features include
- Filter icon on top to narrow down results if desired
- Upper left corner, use the 'View by' to summarize info by spend category, date, or other field. Similar to Excel Pivot Tables.
- Export to Excel (2nd icon)
Changing Report filters
- Once you've run a report, you may change the filter using the Change Selection icon found next to the report name (three vertical lines with squares on it)
- Select the x to clear a filter and then search for the desired filter (if if you wish to save it, for future use, give it a name and Save Filter)
- Note that the Worktags column can be used as a quick way to isolate a specific program(s) within your filters; multiple may be added to that field.
Related System Office Resources