A prominent global commercial real estate architectural service company used CloudBudget to resolve budget planning and tracking pain points. The firm’s technical department, responsible for software support, hardware procurement, and support across multiple countries, faced challenges in managing finances effectively. A structured approach to budgeting was missing, leading to management unease due to substandard controls. Difficulties determining available budget and communicating supplier payment status caused a strain between the technical and finance and accounting departments.

CloudBudget consultants, based on client requirements, set up the department budget structure, groups, and individual budget owners. A key part of the implementation was an integration with Deltek, an offline accounting system. Via queries and APIs, CloudBudget extracts actual data from Deltek. As a result, actual operating expenses are transferred to the cloud on a nightly basis via scheduled batch jobs giving the technical department clear, real-time visibility into its financial plan and expenses. Another key to the implementation was the creation of line-item invoices, an invoice approval process, the ability to monitor payment status, and track budget vs. actual data.

In addition to greatly increased visibility, the use of CloudBudget has greatly simplified the task of planning and expense tracking. CloudBudget users can now readily track remaining budget amounts, while department heads now have access to the overall financial picture on a daily basis. Communication with suppliers has improved and budget owners are always aware of which vendors have been paid, which have not, and the remaining budget according to the end of month, quarter, and budget year periods.