1. Saving and Preparing School Finance Data from GEMS Budget Data Paul Taylor, OPI School Finance

2. http://opi.mt.gov/Index.html

3. http://gems.opi.mt.gov/Pages/Default.aspx

4. Go to School Budget Reports / then Year to Year Budget Comparison Determine your parameters and click View Report

5. Choose the dropdown next to the Save icon and choose Excel. Then open the saved file.

6. 1. Select the “all box” 2. Right click and choose Format Cells 3. Clear the box Merged Cells 4. Click OK

7. 1. Select the “all box” 2. Hover between 2 columns until you get the two-way arrow and slide the column width to a reasonable width.

8. 1. Highlight columns and rows that you won’t need and delete them.

9. 1.Add 4 columns to the front of your spreadsheet: Column A enter ‘01 Column B enter General Fund Column C enter Budget Column D enter this formula =C2&E2 and then paint down. Then hardcode the column. Delete highlighted rows as they are rolled up amounts that include other funds.

10. 1. Delete columns C and E.

11. 1. Copy the budget data to the bottom of your revenues base data. 2. Check to be certain the columns are lined up and delete the budget header row.

12. 1. Add this row to the bottom of your Budget data. 2. Enter the following formula to the last row. =((D65*0.001)*D59)+D63 ((TV *.001)*Total BASE Mills) + OB Levy = Total GF Levies

13. 1. Go to your pivot table / click on Pivot Table Tools and Change Data Source. 2. Adjust the range by including all the new budget rows.