Departmental budgets are established each year in the spring through collaboration between the WVU Division of Planning and the department. When they receive the total amount that will be budgeted for the whole university each year by the State Legislature, the Division of Planning sends allocation letters to WVU departments indicating how much money they will get for the upcoming fiscal year. The department then sends back their proposed budgeted expenditures and revenue before the budget is agreed upon and finalized.
There are two methods departments can use to set up their budget: detailed or summary. A detailed budget sets aside estimated amounts that are expected to be spent on various categories of expenditures. This reserves funds in an account (specified by Line Items) for each type of expenditure. Then, each time purchases or payments are made for that type of item, they will be charged to that account.
A summary budget sets aside departmental funds for broader spending categories, and departments can keep track of expenditures at the Line Item level, even spending on the specific line items that do not have their own budgeted amounts. Instead of budgeting separately for international travel, in-state travel, and travel using WVU vehicles; the dpeartment could choose to set aside an estimated amount for ALL travel.
| Office Expense | $4,000 |
| Postage & Freight | $3,000 |
| Printing & Binding | $1,000 |
| Telephone | $2,000 |
| Travel - General | $6,000 |
| Travel - Motor Pool | $2,000 |
| Equipment - Office | $1,000 |
| Equipment - Research | $1,000 |
| Total | $20,000 |
| General Expense | $10,000 |
| Travel | $8,000 |
| Equipment | $2,000 |
| Total | $20,000 |
If a department finds that they need more that the amount originally budgeted for one type of purchase, it is okay if that line shows as overspent in MAP, as long as the department's budget as a whole remains in balance. Meaning, you can spend on Travel- International line item to identify the purpose of the activity, even if your budget for international travel is zero - as long as there are funds in another category (such as Travel-General) to cover the expenditure.