For any funding request, a concise yet descriptive budget is essential for making decisions. Use the tips below to collect them in a way that works best for your process.

Regardless of how you collect budget information, InfoReady allows:

• Administrators and reviewers to view the budget in the context of the entire application packet.
• Administrators to extract budget data for reporting purposes.

Form Fields

• Utilize Repeatable Sections to allow applicants to enter multiple line items.
• Create individual form fields (i.e., questions).
• Use Number or Currency fields for amounts.
• Use Text Fields, Text Areas, or Rich Text Fields for descriptions and justification.

Pros

• Each field comes in its own Excel column in reports
• Can use logic to collect certain budget categories from specific applicants while letting others skip those sections

Cons

• Takes longer to build the application form
• Design not as intuitive for applicants

File Upload

• Create a template budget file in Word, Excel. or Adobe and upload that on the Details page.
• Ask for applicants to upload their completed file on the Requirements page (i.e., application form).

Note: It is best to keep the template as simple as possible, as well as a vertical format so that it exports best in the vertical PDF view that administrators and reviewers access. If you use Excel, the file should only have one tab to export cleanly.

Pros

• Quicker to build the application form
• Intuitive design for applicants

Cons

• Data not included as individual fields in Excel reports
• All applicants must fill out same budget

Combination

• Ask for shorter responses as questions (e.g., requested amounts).
• Ask for full budget as file upload with longer descriptions and justification.

Have more questions about this topic? Go to the Community Forum to pose the question to other users or submit a support ticket to InfoReady.