Project Announcement: Business Improvement Process for Maintenance & Sustainment

Too many times, the public often tries to operate without a formal budget. Even some businesses that have a budget seldom consult it, meaning they are not gaining the business advantages that they could be through proper budgeting. Generally, there has always been a low confidence factor in budget analysis software due to concerns that the historical information is likely incomplete, inaccurate and/or difficult to populate. Although budgeting software allows direct data imports from integrated applications like a general ledger, many of the methods used in data collection are manual. A critical need exists for a cost-effective, automatic data input solution to mitigate risks associated with manual re-keying while generating confidence that all relevant information has been considered.

Public and private business are not the only ones facing this issue.  The U.S. Army is also evaluating how to update and improve their budgeting process to increase readiness.  This proposed initiative will demonstrate how COTS budgeting software can mitigate the following (known) gaps; yet, require only minimal development to meet functional requirements.

• Handoffs and integration between Planning, Programming, and Budgeting are hampered by disconnected data flows.
• Budget data collection is time-consuming, involving large amounts of information from sources that are not always authoritative.
• Poor management of data and the efforts required to understand existing interfaces is costly and stresses already limited resources.

To learn more about this project contact CTMA@ncms.org. We encourage the participation of Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs), including Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) and Women’s Business Enterprises (WBEs).