Budgeting & allocations

Lumel EPM provides an intuitive way to perform planning, budgeting, and allocations through an editable table interface. You can create a new plan/budget based on an existing data series or from scratch (zero-based budgeting). While using hierarchies, you can spread data entered on a parent cell to its descendants (rows & columns), based on weights from other measures.

1. Creating a series

Let's first look at how to create a new series.

1.1. From scratch (ZBB)

Let’s assume you would like to create a zero-based budget for the year 2026.

This can be achieved by creating a data input column, as discussed in this section. The result is shown in the image below.

1.2. Based on an existing series

Let’s take an example where we would like to create a 2026 plan based on the 2025 plan (or the most recent forecast).

This can be achieved by creating a data input column as mentioned in the section: copy as data input. The result is shown in the image below.

2. Allocate totals

In this example, let's consider a zero-based budget for 2026.

Enter a value of 40m as the Q1 2026 Budget in the formula bar by double-clicking on the cell.

Now, there are two ways to allocate values entered in a total or subtotal - equally or based on weights. These are discussed below.

2.1. Equal

a) After entering the value in the formula bar, press 'Enter'. By default, the values are distributed equally across all the categories and subcategories. The updated values are highlighted for a while.

Note that the values have been rolled up to the grand total (Grand total -> 2026 Budget).

b) Let's consider another example where we enter a budget at the grand total level. Click on the highlighted cell and enter 160 m.

c) Once you click 'Enter,' you can see the value distributed equally across regions, subregions (row-wise), and quarters (column-wise).

2.2. Weight

Instead of an equal distribution, we can also allocate the budget proportionally based on 2025 actuals.

a) Click on the context menu appearing on the cell with the value 160 m and choose ‘Distribute by weights of 2025 Actuals’.

b) Once this option is selected, the 2026 budget values are automatically updated quarterly based on their relative contribution to 2025 Actuals.

3. Lock values

Values in data input columns can be locked at the cell level or for all children (subtotal/total level). The cells that are locked are not affected by any of the allocation methods.

3.1. Lock this cell

Let’s consider a business case—there is an overall budget for 2026, which is distributed to the regions based on 2025 Actuals. Certain regions and countries have a fixed budget: for example, annual budgets for India and LA are 7 m and 30 m, respectively.

The overall budget must now be redistributed, while the budgets of the two regions mentioned above should remain unchanged. This can be easily achieved as shown below.

Note that we have inserted a numeric data input column for the 2026 budget, entered the budget 160m and distributed it by 2025 Actuals.

a) Click on APAC > India > Grand Total > 2026 Budget cell and update the value as shown below.

b) Once you press enter, click on the context menu and select Lock this cell.

c) The cell is greyed out, indicating that it is locked from further adjustments.

d) Similarly, update the budget for LA > Grand Total > 2026 Budget cell and lock the cell. Note that the overall budget has now become 162.7 m.

e) Let’s enter 160 m again as the overall budget. The budgets are redistributed as shown below.

3.2. Lock multiple cells

To lock multiple cells, Ctrl + click the required cells. Click on the lock icon and select Lock selected cells from the drop-down.

The cells that are locked are greyed out:

3.3. Lock all children

In some cases, you may want to lock all of the children in a particular cell. For example, all the children across rows, such as sub-regions (countries), and across columns, such as quarters, might need to be locked.

a) Click on APAC > Grand Total > 2026 Budget, and select Lock all children from the context menu.

b) All the child cells are locked, as shown in the image below.

c) Let's update the overall budget and see the effect on the child cells.

d) The increase is applied to all others, except the locked region and its children (APAC and its countries), in all quarters.

e) You can also lock at the country level by selecting the Lock all children option. It is important to note that the lock all children option is only available for the grand total.

f) The four quarters are locked, including the grand total cell.

3.4. Lock row

This option is available in the 'Measures In Rows' layout. You may need to lock an entire row when measures are displayed as rows. Consider a business case wherein you need to add a new measure to set the budgets for the next year.

After creating a new measure in the row, titled 2026 Budget, click on the row gripper and select Lock Row to lock the entire row.

The entire row is now greyed out, indicating that it is locked and updates are disabled.

3.5. Unlock

a) To unlock a locked cell, select Unlock this cell from the context menu. The selected cell gets unlocked.

b) All children of a locked cell can be unlocked by selecting the Unlock all children option from the context menu.

All child cells, both top-down and left-to-right—both countries and the quarters—are unlocked.

c) To unlock a row when the 'Measures In Rows' layout is enabled, click on the row gripper and select Unlock Row.

f) To unlock multiple cells, Ctrl + click on the locked cells and click on Unlock selected cells.

4. Edit period values

When you click a child cell, you can see that there is a different context menu.

There are two preset options to update cell values:

• You can copy the same cell value across rows or columns (or)

• apply a trend across rows or columns

If these options do not satisfy your requirements, you can customize your cells manually.

4.1. Copy

You can copy the current cell value and apply it to other cells using the following options:

• Copy until the last row in the row category

• Copy to all rows in the row category

• Copy to all rows

• Copy until the last column in the column category

• Copy to all columns in the column category

Let's take a simpler example - with two categories (Product category and subcategory) in the rows and Quarters in the column.

a) On selecting 'Copy to all rows', the value for Soda is copied to all other subcategories.

b) If you only want to copy a particular value within the category, you can select the option highlighted below.

c) Value can be copied until the last column using the highlighted option.

4.2. Trend

You can apply a trend based on the current cell value and apply it until the last row or column.

a) As you click on the '>', you can see a graphical slider where you can set a trend.

b) If you want to enter a percentage precisely, you can click on the 'Input custom value' option.

c) Enter a percentage and click 'Apply'.

d) The values for Soda and Tea & Coffee are updated as shown in the below image.

e) You can use 'Copy with trend' in combination with 'Lock this cell' to achieve different business cases. Let's consider an example where the value for Q3 is fixed and the trend needs to be applied to the other quarters. Click on the 'Lock this cell' for the cell highlighted.

f) On applying a trend of 20% as shown in the image, Q2 and Q4 values are updated. Q3 is greyed out as it is locked.