If you've built budgets in Aplos before, this article walks through what changes, what stays the same, and what to expect the first time you open Velora Budgeting.
The short version: Budgeting moves out of the Aplos budgeting screen and into a dedicated app. Aplos stays your system of record for actuals and for Budget to Actual reporting. Your history comes with you, so there's nothing to rebuild.
Side by Side
| Aplos Budgeting (Before) | Velora Budgeting (Now) | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you work | A screen inside Aplos (Fund Accounting) | A dedicated app in its own browser tab, opened from the "Budgeting" link in Aplos or at budgeting.joinvelora.com |
| Sign-in | Your Aplos login | The same Aplos login, with no new account to create |
| Starting a budget | Build from scratch or import a spreadsheet | Three built-in starting points: blank workbook, copy a published budget, or copy actuals from a prior year |
| Entering amounts | Annual amounts, with monthly distribution | Account-by-month grid with keyboard navigation, plus row actions: "Spread Evenly," "Copy Last Year," "Same Shape as Last Year," "Set Annual Total," and "Clear" |
| Versions | Budget visibility controls (hide, archive, delete) varied by budget type | Clear Draft, Published, and Superseded states, with earlier versions kept for reference |
| Changing an approved budget | Edit in place, following your own change-control policy | Published budgets are read-only; use "Amend" to create a new draft, then publish it |
| Discussion | Happened outside Aplos | Comments on an account line or a single month cell, with "Open," "All," and "Resolved" tabs |
| Budget vs. actual | Aplos Budget to Actual report | An "Overview" page with year-to-date cards, a Plan vs. Actual chart, What's Moving the Gap, and Unplanned Activity, plus the Aplos Budget to Actual report, which still works |
| Help answering questions | Not available | Mission Assistant answers questions about your budget and actuals; it can't edit, publish, or amend |
| Export | Report exports from Aplos | Download the budget as Excel (.xlsx) or PDF |
What Carries Over
- Your existing Aplos budgets and actuals move over automatically. There's nothing to import and no action needed on your part.
- Your chart of accounts and fiscal year come from Aplos, so your budget rows look the way your books do.
- The Aplos Budget to Actual report keeps working. When you publish in Velora Budgeting, that budget becomes your organization's budget for the fiscal year in Aplos.
What's Different in How You Work
- Publishing is a real state. A published budget is your approved plan for the year. It's read-only, and it replaces any budget you published earlier for that year (the old one becomes Superseded). To change it, use "Amend."
- Drafts are flexible. You can keep more than one draft going at a time, duplicate them, and delete the ones you don't need. Published budgets can't be deleted.
- The old screen is view-only. Past budgets stay visible in Aplos, but all creating and editing happens in Velora Budgeting.
- Publishing isn't an approval workflow. Anyone with permission to edit budgets can create, edit, publish, and amend. There's no second-person approval step and it isn't limited to administrators, so we recommend agreeing internally on who publishes.
Your First 20 Minutes
Step 1: Open Budgeting
Select "Budgeting" in Aplos. You'll land on the "Overview" page.
Step 2: Check Your Budget History
Open the "Budgets" page to confirm your historical budgets came across, grouped by fiscal year.
Step 3: Create Your Next Fiscal Year
Select "Create Budget" and start by copying last year's published budget or last year's actuals.
Step 4: Work Down the Grid
Use "Copy Last Year" or "Same Shape as Last Year" on rows that follow a stable pattern, then adjust the months that don't.
Step 5: Save and Publish
Select "Save," then "Publish" once the plan is approved internally.
Step 6: Track Plan vs. Actual
Come back to the "Overview" page after the first month closes to see plan versus actual.
Items To Consider
- Velora Budgeting is available to Core plan organizations only, and only for your primary Aplos organization. If your account has Advanced Budgeting turned on, the new Budgeting won't appear yet.
- Budgeting by fund or tag isn't available yet. Velora Budgeting is organization-level only today.
- Custom in-app budgeting reports aren't available. Use the Excel or PDF export and the Aplos Budget to Actual report.
- Forecasting and scenarios aren't available yet.
- Budget-only outside collaborators aren't supported. Use comments with your existing Aplos users.
Have more questions? Check out the Velora Budgeting FAQ.