Background

A leading multinational commercial real estate architectural service company sought to enhance the financial management of its technical department via the addition of a structured approach to budgeting and expense tracking.

Challenges

The absence of a well-defined budget structure led to significant challenges within the company, including:

• Financial Management Struggles: The technical department faced difficulties in managing finances.
• Communication Breakdowns: The lack of clarity around available budget and payment status resulted in strained relations between the technical and finance departments.
• Supplier Relationship Strain: Difficulty in communicating payment status with suppliers created additional tension and operational inefficiencies.

Solution

To address these issues the company partnered with CloudBudget. CloudBudget consultants worked closely with the firm to design and implement a comprehensive budget management system:

• Customized Budget Structure: The implementation involved creating a tailored budget structure, organizing expenses into groups, and assigning individual budget owners.
• Integration with Deltek: A key component of the solution was integrating CloudBudget with Deltek, the company’s offline accounting system. Through queries and APIs, actual financial data is now extracted and transferred to the cloud nightly, ensuring real-time visibility into the department’s financial status.
• Enhanced Financial Processes: The solution also includes the creation of line-item invoices, an invoice approval process, and tools for monitoring payment status and tracking budget versus actual data.

Results

The implementation of CloudBudget brought about significant improvements:

• Increased Visibility: The technical department now has clear, real-time visibility into its financial plans and expenses. Thus gaining greater control over and confidence in its financial management.
• Simplified Budget Management: CloudBudget has greatly simplified budget planning and expense tracking tasks. Users can now easily monitor remaining budget amounts and department heads have continual access to an accurate financial picture.
• Improved Supplier Communication: The ability to track payment statuses has enhanced communication with suppliers, ensuring that budget owners are always aware of which vendors have been paid and the remaining budget available for future periods.