Creating a Budget Mind Map
This is a step-by-step guide to creating a budget in Coggle that uses calculations to automatically update totals and sub-totals when values change.
1: Create a new empty diagram from your documents list page
You'll see a new empty Coggle mind map diagram, with a single item, which is its title:
2: Click on the title of the diagram to edit it, and enter this text:
Budget total =(SUM(LEAVES))
Click off the item to finish editing. "Budget total 0" will be displayed in the title. (we don't have any leaves yet that are contributing to the total!)
Tip: to insert a newline you can use [ctrl] + [enter] . Pressing [enter] without also holding the [ctrl] key will finish editing the item.
3: Add an item with a value
Use the (+) button (or long-press on the title) to add a new branch. Lets call it "Project A", but it could be any item in your budget. We'll give it a value of 300. To do this, put the number in brackets after an equals sign:
Project A =(300)
Our total will immediately update:
4: Add a sub-category with values
As well as adding budget entries directly under the root of the mind-map, we can add sub-categories.
Add a "Project B" branch, but don't give it a value yet. Instead, repeat the =(SUM(LEAVES)) text, so it displays a sub-total:
Now, add three sub-branches to Project B, (hover over it, and use its (+) button, or long-press for the menu). We'll add values under here that should be counted under this category: 100, 450, and 200.
💡 Note that numbers are in brackets after the equals sign. This is a syntax that indicates these numbers should be included in calculations. Numbers can also be after an equals sign at the start of a line.
5: Continue to add other categories off the root item, with their own sub-totals
Remember to use the =(SUM(LEAVES)) syntax for a subtotal, and =123 at the start of line or =(123) within a line to enter numbers. Try adding a subtotal within a subtotal:
Notice now because each sub-total includes only the leaf items beneath it, sub totals can be nested within other subtotals without affecting the result. Here we have a sub total for "Project C": Project C: =(SUM(LEAVES)) , and also a subtotal for "Indirect Costs": Indirect Costs =(SUM(LEAVES)) .
We can also add intermediate labels without sub-totals, like "Direct Costs", "From Y", "From X". These can be useful to add explanations.
Tip: You can insert a branch above a leaf item by [shift] + clicking its (+) button:
We can also include multiple values within a single branch, by repeating the the =(123) syntax. This can be useful for grouping very similar and related items, and we've done that here for items "S1" and "S2":
6: Add currency or units:
Calculations in Coggle operate on pure numbers. They aren't aware of currency or other units. So, for example if we want our budget to be totalled in dollars, the dollar sign should be outside the calculations syntax (before the = sign):
7: Try changing numbers in the diagram
Notice how the total will immedaitely update. Like any Coggle diagram you can edit collaboratively in real-time with colleagues.
Congratulations on creating your first budget in Coggle! Please let us know what you think about this new feature, or if you have any suggestions about how we could improve Calculations at hello@coggle.it.
You can view and create your own copies of the complete example we created here.