June 2020 SAGE Budget Redesign Release

SAGE Budget Redesign

SAGE Budget has been redesigned to streamline the proposal budgeting process and lay a foundation for future integration opportunities between SAGE and Workday. For this initial release, users will have the option of using old SAGE Budget (legacy) or the new design (current). This will help ease the transition and allow users to acclimate to the new changes without impacting critical deadlines.

Highlights

  • Temporary option to work in legacy budget design or new budget
  • New navigational structure for easy viewing of all budget components and worksheets
  • Quicker, easier budget setup
  • Improved Budget Summary roll-up layout for reviewers
  • Streamlined personnel & cost entry, with easy editing of details
  • More tailored entry of subawards
  • Improved export to Excel
  • Updated architecture to enable future integrations with Workday for post-award setup

Opt-In to New SAGE Budget (temporary)

A redesigned Budgets task list includes the ability to create budgets in the current or legacy designs. This is a temporary feature to ease the transition from old to new at a pace that does not hinder deadlines.

example budget list

For existing legacy budgets, users have the option to:

  • Upgrade — Upgrading will convert your legacy budget to the new design. Once upgraded, you can no longer work with the former budget in legacy.
  • Copy — Copying will duplicate your budget in the same format which gives you the opportunity to upgrade the copy and try out the new design without changing the original legacy budget.

After a stabilization period (length TBD) SAGE Budget will transition completely to the new design, upgrading all legacy budgets in the process. Users will be alerted well in advance of this full transition.

New Navigational Structure

The revised navigational structure creates better visibility to the various worksheets (sub-budgets) that comprise your overall budget. Key components of the navigation include:

  • Summary (All Worksheets) — a read-only summary of your budget that rolls-up costs from all worksheets. From the summary you’ll have the ability to filter to view particular worksheets, reducing the need to bounce back and forth between screens.
  • Worksheets — Worksheets are where the budget building and editing occurs. Each budget contains, at minimum, a Primary worksheet. Users can add additional worksheets for:
    • Subawards
    • Internal sub-budgets that have a different F&A rate or rules than the Primary worksheet
    • Fabrication sub-budgets

Special Note: Unlike legacy SAGE Budget, in the new design the primary (lead) worksheet no longer includes the roll-up data from sub-budgets. The Summary serves as the full budget roll-up view.

  • Budget Settings — Basic identifying information and setup details related to your overall budget such as sponsor, period start and end dates, access, caps and limits.
  • History — Users can view point-in-time snapshots of the budget and create a snapshot of the budget prior to sharing it with collaborators.
  • Collapse Panel — Allows for more budget viewing space by minimizing the navigation panel without compromising easy navigation between worksheets and summary.

navigational structure

Quicker Budget Setup

Creating a new budget from the Budgets task list will land users on the Budget Settings page, where they can enter their periods, budget title, sponsor, calculation preferences, etc. Budget Start Date is the only field that is required prior to adding costs, significantly reducing the information required upfront so you can quickly get started and refine settings later.

quicker setup

Budget Summary View

The Summary view was redesigned with reviewers in mind. The Summary contains a read-only roll-up of all worksheet expenses, plus the following highlights and features:

  • Salary and Benefits combined into a single “Salary and Benefit Costs” section
  • Sub-totals by Personnel role type
  • Total costs section at top for quick reference
  • Combined totals by object code for all worksheets, with quick access to each cost’s source worksheet for more detail
  • Expand and collapse of object codes to see high level totals or view detailed expenses
  • Ability to customize what personnel cost detail is displayed (for example, Annual Base Salary, Person Months, Percent Effort)
  • Facilities & Administrative details like rate, location, base type, and cost detail by worksheet
  • Ability to add, edit, and delete a note for specific personnel and costs
  • Ability to filter the Summary view to specific worksheets

summary salary

budget summary other costs

budget summary project totals

Worksheet Expense Entry with Side Panel Details

The budget worksheets are where the budget building and editing takes place. There are a number of key improvements made to expense entry, in order to streamline entry and improve usability. Features and highlights include the following:

Worksheet Settings

  • Set up details related to a specific worksheet (sub-budget) such as title, organization receiving funding, base type, location, and F&A rate.

Personnel Entry

  • Quick search for UW personnel using type-ahead, SAGE Budget still pulls in salary details from Workday.
  • Personnel detail happens in a side panel, no more pop-ups.

first budget personnel side panel

Other Costs Entry

  • Easy in-line entry of Other Direct Costs
  • Option to enter quantity and price in side panel

other costs side panel

Subaward Entry Improvements

Subawards can be added to your budget as either 03-62 lines on primary and internal worksheets, or as a subaward worksheet. Both methods of entry have been streamlined and tailored to the unique needs of subawards.

03-62 Lines

  • Breakout of Subaward Total Direct Costs from Subrecipient F&A to ensure accurate calculation of Total Direct Costs less Subrecipient F&A for the overall budget

Subaward Worksheets

  • Quicker personnel entry
  • Streamlined F&A entry

Excel Export Improvements

The layout of the Excel export has been improved, providing users with a more readable format. The following export formats will be available with this first release, with the goal to add more formats in the future based on user feedback.

  • Summary (budget roll-up) with Excel sheets for each period’s detail
  • Individual worksheets
  • SF424 Detailed Budget format

budget export example

Updated architecture to enable future integrations with Workday

The underlying infrastructure of SAGE Budget has been upgraded to allow for easier support and maintenance, and to enable further streamlining with the eGC1, personnel tracking, sponsor forms auto-population, and future integrations to Workday.