It's the most wonderful time of the year... time for the budget round!

It's December, a festive and especially busy period. Year-end closing, planning for the new year, budget rounds, planning, forecasting. And how cumbersome and time-consuming it often is. December is therefore the month of reflection. A good time to take a close look at the process of creating this 2019 budget. What goes or went well, what can or could be improved, which learning points from the previous year have actually been implemented?

A budget cycle from practice: what's the latest version?

Traditionally, many organisations use Excel to record budgets. This creates flexibility for users. They can save, edit, review, re-edit and share their own version with colleagues without it being visible to the rest of the organisation. But there are also drawbacks to this solution. For instance, it is often unclear which version is the latest. In addition, changes made are not easily visible and Excel is difficult to transfer internally. It is also difficult to work simultaneously with several people in one document.

There are further risks in using Excel. Copying or modifying information is manual work, and manual work equals a high probability of errors. And that risk becomes even higher as Excels and processes become more complex and more business-critical information is recorded in them that is reported on. Is Excel still the right tool?

Standard or customised solution?

Meanwhile, there are several solutions on the market, each in its own way capturing the process of budgeting and planning in formats and ways of working. Of course, these tools are available in different price ranges. But what if you are actually a fan of your own solution, namely Excel? What if you want to organise the process as you see fit next year too? Can that also be done in such a standard solution? And at what cost?

Improven collaborates with Vena, Excel under control

A cloud solution that we regularly find appropriate is developed by one of our strategic partners, Vena Solutions. They have developed a CPM product that combines the ease of use of Microsoft Excel with the robustness of a stable database with the functionality expected of a budgeting, planning & forecasting application.

Vena is available to users as an Excel add-in. This add-in functionality makes it possible to work within the familiar Excel environment, with the major difference that the spreadsheets are stored in a Cloud database, complete with audit trail and frozen versions and periods. With Vena, it is possible to arrive at one version of the truth, model the process according to your own wishes and keep version control in your own hands.

Everything starts with ambition

We start with an inventory to find out what your organisation's actual ambition and needs are. What output do you want to have available and in what format? Current Excel reports serve as a basis (provided they meet the desired information provision). Together with the customer, we determine the ideal and optimal process. Which departments or functions are part of the process? At what time? And responsible for which input, check or output? Once this has been figured out, it is a matter of drag & drop to shape the process in the online application.

Next, we start working on the data model. Using input templates, the right data can easily be loaded into the database, combined with the right dimensions. A new budget round is created as a scenario with the click of a button. By assigning the right people the rights they need, you ensure that people only see the data they are supposed to see.

The colleague concerned then opens the input template in Excel. The new budget data are processed (again in the familiar Excel environment) and then stored in the database, and thus visible to all beneficiaries. Compared to the ‘old’ Excel, this is a big advantage! No more emailing or digging up files back and forth! Central storage, provided with an audit trail and protected using rights and role management.

Dashboarding

Through the dashboard, the manager can see the progress within the process at a glance. Who has not yet made a start? Which part is already finished?This insight enables efficient adjustment...because you can see the exact current status!

The result

An efficient budgeting, planning & forecasting process with the ease of use of the familiar environment everyone is used to working in? Reduce the lead time and increase the quality of your future budget rounds! Improven likes to think along with you.

Do you also want a smooth process of budgeting, planning & forecasting in 2019 or 2010? Or would you like a demo of Vena? If so, please contact me. Léon Lasker, leon.lasker@improven.nl 06-23278143.