Updating your Open Budget Site

All Financial Modules are powered by datasets located on an Open Data Portal or Enterprise Data Portal. Below we've outlined a general guideline for updating your Open Budget datasets.

1. Ensure you have the proper permissions to update Open Budget data

In order to update the datasets, you need to have a Data & Insights Account with a site role permission of Publisher or Admin, or be the owner or contributor of that dataset. Anyone can view and download the datasets that power your module.

2. Locate your Open Budget datasets

To identify the location of your datasets, administrators can find the domain under the Dataset Settings of the admin panel. Clicking the "View Dataset" button will direct you to the dataset.

Note: There are 5 datasets (Capital Project Phases dataset is optional).

3. Prepare your data before updating or uploading

Prior to importing datasets for the new fiscal year, you should confirm that each dataset meets our schema(s), otherwise, you will run into problems. The dataset schemas structure the data in a way that our module knows where to look for that information. If your dataset does not match our schemas you may find that figures or charts may show empty or not render correctly.

The most important thing to remember in updating your Open Budget site is that the new dataset must contain the same columns as the hosted dataset. Extra columns are all right, but the software powering the site will be looking for the schema which has been mapped to the columns. Missing schema values will result in problems within the logic of the site, causing it to break. Too many null values in columns that are powering aspects of the site - such as the drill-down hierarchy or the fund values, will also result in errors.

To avoid this, we recommend downloading the hosted dataset and cross-checking columns to be sure that everything is accounted for. Another way to check is by looking at the hierarchies set up in your admin panel. Taking extra steps to make sure you are ready with clean data will ensure a smooth update process. 

Capital Budget & Capital Projects

It is important to note that your Capital Budget dataset and your Capital Project List dataset work in tandem. The Capital Project ID field is the link (or key) between these two datasets. If you have added new projects or removed completed projects from your Capital Budget dataset, be sure to add or remove the corresponding projects from your Capital Project List dataset.

You only need to update the Project Phase List dataset if you want to change the names, order, or project phase descriptions used in your module.

Additionally, our platform accepts many different file formats, but we strongly encourage using .csv format. If you have trouble preparing your data to meet our schema, please feel free to contact our support team at datainsights-support@tylertech.com.

4. Importing and updating your dataset

There are several methods you could use for updating your Open Budget Data. The most common way to update your data is to do a manual import.

If you want to automate this update process, you can use one of our automation tools such as Gateways or Datasync.

Note: If you are adding a new Fiscal Year Budget to your dataset, you should append the new year’s rows to your existing dataset. If doing a manual data update, use the Append and Replace wizard to add the new data.

Your module should reflect the new data immediately once you have successfully updated your dataset and updated the current fiscal year in the Admin Panel. We also recommend clearing your browser cache or doing a hard refresh to make sure you are seeing the updated module.