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We need the ability to import budgets based on tracking category. Ideally we would be able to upload one budget, broken down by nominal code and tracking category. Trying to get monthly reports against departmental budgets at the moment means that individual departments budgets had to be entered into Xero and then each month reports run by individual departments. When you have 8 organisations and multiple departments this means we are running about 50 reports every month just to get actuals against budget. Then you can't even see them on a consolidated report without also uploading an overall budget. Being able to budget by tracking category properly would save so much time!

I also have the same issue, especially when trying to manage budgets in an organisation where projects, departments, and donors all overlap across different financial years. The tracking-category setup seems like a reasonable way to separate the information, but once there are multiple projects under each department, creating and maintaining budgets can become quite complicated. In the example given, having options such as Marketing Team – School Project and Marketing Team – University Project under the Projects category makes sense for reporting, but it would be much more useful if a single departmental budget could include multiple project options at the same time rather than requiring a separate budget for every individual tracking option. The donor side makes the situation even more complicated because one donor may contribute to several projects, and those contributions may span different financial periods. I am also trying to understand whether the budgeting functionality is intended to support this kind of many-to-many relationship between tracking categories, or whether budgets are currently designed around selecting one tracking option at a time.

It would be helpful if someone could clarify what the recommended structure is for this type of setup, particularly when the goal is to have one budget for a department that covers several projects while still retaining the ability to report expenditure by individual project and donor. I would not want to restructure the tracking categories in a way that makes the detailed reporting harder just to make the budgeting process easier. If multiple tracking options can be selected when creating a budget, knowing exactly where that selection is made would solve the question, but if that is not supported, it would be useful to know whether there is another approach such as separate budgets, departmental grouping, or a different tracking-category structure. Since the projects can run across different years and donor contributions can overlap those periods, the ideal solution would need to preserve both the project-level detail and the broader department-level budget view. I am also hoping someone with experience managing NPO budgets with multiple tracking categories can explain how they have handled this without creating a large number of separate budgets that become difficult to maintain. A similar idea comes to mind when using something like a Starbucks calorie calculator, where different selections can be combined while still keeping the individual values visible. https://starbuckscaloriecalculate.us/

When creating a food budget, having different tracking options can be useful for comparing menu choices and keeping restaurant spending under control. Looking at an https://innoutmenuz.com/ before ordering can also help you plan your meal and estimate how your choices fit within your budget.

It would be useful for the AI tool or even just a standard report to check if Department matched Budget. E.g. we have a Central department and all Central budgets start with Central. E.g Central: Stationery, Central: Web services. Or alternatively Xero to automatically allocate all Stationery purchases to Central Dept.

This would be so helpful, if you could choose multiple tracked funding. Also in the not-for-profit section, we track on mulitple contracts but with the same department.

Again, similar idea but slightly different. To try to explain:
We are not using the 'project' capacity in Xero. To avoid confusion I'll refer to our projects as 'missions'.
Our tracking categories are "unrestricted" and "Restricted"
Tracking options are different funding streams, so in restricted this might be "Grant X" and "Grant Y"
We have a mission that is funded by Grant X and Grant Y and would like a budget for the whole mission. How do I achieve this? Sometimes missions are funded by numerous funds, including, if necessary, funds from Restricted and Unrestricted Categories.
Thanks!
Simon

Budget summary by tracking categories. I would like a budget summary for multiple tracking categories please.