With our ABC, you’ll never have to ask XYZs ever again. 😉
You’ve read the title. It intrigued you. You clicked on it. Before you click away you might be wondering- what in the heavens is ABC and XYZ?
ABC: a.k.a: Active Budget Check, Aristou’s Pte Ltd first ever ISV solution. Well XYZ isn’t really an acronym for a term, but let’s just say it’s a euphemism for any budgeting questions under the sun.
If you’re reading this article, you’re no stranger to the world of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. While ERP systems like Business Central are designed with a fantastic “jack-of-all-trades” encompassing multiple applications in the cloud, there is 1 key thing missing.
Their budgeting modules often don’t provide the level of functionality and immediate enquiries of budget within Business Central.
Recognizing this solution gap, highly functional and integrated budget tracker tool solutions have been created- with the likes of Active Budget Check.
In this blog post, let’s dive in deeper into the framework Active Budget Check and the benefits it provides.
Current budgeting options with Business Central
At the moment, there are no in-built budget tracker within Business Central- only third party apps available.
Active Budget Check (ABC) is a powerful solution designed to deliver seamless integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. ABC within Business Central is closely associated with GL accounts, allowing you to actively compare your budgets with the expenditure or purchase transition for the financial year within BC.
Problems that may arise when budgeting isn’t accurate:
When budgeting has gone over or under the stipulated amount, it can cause a lot of stress and headache for your financial staff. Some of the problems that may arise include:
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Frustrated and confused customers
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Inefficient process
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Decreased productivity
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Potential budget cuts
Overall, being unable to track your budget immediately can have cumulative serious consequences for your business.
Finding ways to streamline and optimize your budgeting process to be as transparent as possible is essential to minimize these issues.
The why, what and how in Active Budget Check (ABC)
Planning |
Layout |
Control |
Forecasting |
|
Why (Purpose) |
Ensure clarity and visibility across company’s finances |
Provide precision in the amount of money allocated to each unit |
Prevent any over or under spending amongst staff, accountability for company’s budget |
Plan for the future with reliable forecasting based on how much budget was utilized in the FY |
What (Feature) |
Define hierarchy levels according 3 levels: business unit, departments and sections |
Actively check how much has already been used vs remaining in the budget |
Provides a complete overview of budget status, producing full control and financial visibility |
Only user admin can touch the overall budget, amend budget rules and grant approval requests |
How (Function) |
Customizable templates for budgets and dimensions- easy to copy and paste |
Management can edit and change budget limit within Business Central |
When a user keys the amount to release, ABC will prompt approval or “insufficient budget” if within or out of limits. |
No room for human errors or multiple edits, gives accurate budget status progress for current and future forecasting decision making |
Overall, Active Budget Check solution is a powerful tool that can help you streamline your budgeting approval and tracking process and keep your employees happy.
Impact to your organization
The impact of implementing a budgeting, planning and forecasting system at your business is immediate and measurable.
Having the ability to import historical data and current actuals, as well as easily copy and pasting from excel into BC (and vice versa) to capture variance reporting provides staff with the tools necessary to make informed budget decisions is a major bonus in ABC that many other ISV solutions do not have.
Active Budget Check solution makes it easy to set and track strategic initiatives, by associating KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) to formulas in the budget, and by attaching cost-drivers to a budget.
ABC has key functions and features designed to provide multi-year forecasting, simulation, and scenario capabilities, a key feature unique to Business Central.
This enables managers and finance to formulate and develop the budget best suited to meet their business objectives, both short and long term.
How ABC can help
1. Change management
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Change management is easily handled within Active Budget Check.
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Transfer requests (transferring budgets within 3 hierarchies) can include supporting documentation, and can be tracked throughout the approval process.
2. Uphold budgeting ethics
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Only user admins will be able to change the budget limits at the G/L level, and all changes will be reflected accordingly MoM or YoY. No one else can enter and change the budgets to ensure standard of ethics across business
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In the case of insufficient budgets for the requested amount to be released, a clear notification will appear informing the user.
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Ensures common standards across each hierarchy and ensures the budget stays within the allocated amount.
3. Eliminate user error
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A key feature of ABC is with the user in mind. Easily copy and paste the raw excel budgets right into Business Central.
If you are thinking about implementing Active Budget Check, it may help to consider the following 1H3W questions:
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How tightly should your funds be controlled?
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We have 3 levels of hierarchy set within ABC- this is helpful to figure out which of the four levels of control you should set.
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What funds are accessible and okay to use?
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Who should obtain full control access to control the budgets within GL accounts?
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Where should the budgets be stored for accurate forecasting and reporting?
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