Budget planning requires cooperation between many different departments, making it a time consuming activity with plenty of room for error. Now, budget planners have the option of using Internet-based programs, which consolidate operations and save time by controlling access to financial information and allowing multiple departments to enter budget data.

Despite the option to use Internet-based software, many local governments still rely on spreadsheet software to run the budget-planning process. Some of the templates used to enter forecast and budget information may be linked to provide an additive, roll-up capability that provides high-level budget summaries, while others submit electronic files or even hard copies that must be manually re-entered at each level of the organization. Budget administrators must be extensively trained as well as exceedingly accurate, or the end product will be neither correct nor reliable.

With an Internet system, the whole budget-planning process can take place on a network, using a standard Web browser. With such an interface, employees do not need programming skills or extensive training. All input and reporting takes place on Web pages that are delivered by a network server, eliminating the need to send electronic files or hard copies up and down the organization. Templates can be updated by the organization on a central server without having to send new versions to each department on diskettes or as e-mail attachments.

Reporting and approval capabilities that come from a shared, browser-based environment help increase efficiency. With Internet technology, budget planners can prepare, review and approve budget plans at any time, in any location, using a Web browser.

Web-based software allows planners to automate multiple tasks, including:

defining even or weighted spreads for budget allocation amount;

distributing budgets to preparers;

inserting new budget items without changing templates;

establishing base budgets using historical data;

creating multiple versions of proposed budgets;

analyzing budgets online with dynamic modeling tools;

downloading budget views to spreadsheet files;

consolidating views across salary, operating and revenue categories;

creating budget scenarios throughout the budget cycle and selecting any version for approval; and

routing budget data to the next approver.

Because many outdated legacy and in-house financial systems are due for replacement, local governments should identify technology advances that will help them get the most out of a new system. Pure Internet systems provide Web browser access and open integration, and they significantly reduce software maintenance costs because IT departments are not required to update each user's software when a process is changed. Instead, programmers update the code only on the server, and users see the change reflected the next time they access the application on a Web browser.

A growing number of city and county governments are successfully using new Web-based systems. For example, Tuolumne County, Calif., recently installed Internet financial software to replace a legacy system. “Staff with only minor skills can do far more accurate budgeting and analyses,” says Gregg Jacob, manager of Information Systems and Service for the county. “Our [Internet software] gives us the ability to forecast accurately, so that we know exactly how much funding is available for important public priorities like paving the roads and buying library books.”

The author is director of education and government industry strategy for PeopleSoft, Pleasanton, Calif.