Automated Budget Excel Dashboard

I need a robust yet easy-to-maintain Excel workbook (Office 365) that holds my full annual budget, then pulls in Simplifi monthly actuals via the CSV files the app exports. Once the file is dropped in, I want the sheet to refresh and immediately show me how my Income and Expenses are tracking against plan, both month-by-month and year-to-date.

You can take advantage of Office 365 tools such as Power Query, dynamic arrays, PivotTables, slicers, or whatever you feel delivers the cleanest solution, as long as I’m left with a single file I can use without any extra add-ins.

Deliverables:
• An unlocked Excel workbook with:
– a clear input area for my annual budget figures
– a simple “Import CSV” or “Refresh” action that loads the Simplifi export
– automated calculations for monthly variance and cumulative YTD variance on Income and Expenses
– easy-to-read summary and chart visuals
• A brief PDF or in-sheet notes explaining how to add the next month’s CSV and how the formulas/queries work.

Acceptance criteria: I drop a new Simplifi CSV into the designated folder, click Refresh, and the dashboard updates with correct numbers and charts in under 30 seconds without manual tweaks.