EECS' new forecasting and budgeting tool
– for more efficient financial management
The new system support will replace the current Excel sheets and can be used for follow-up and analysis at school level in the coming years. The tool will be used by financial officers, project managers, heads of divisions, heads of departments and other decision-makers. The pilot project with the new budget tool is a collaboration between EECS and ABE.
We have talked to the pilot's project manager Mattias Svanborg who tells us more.
Hi, Mattias! Tell us briefly about the new budget tool and why we are introducing it?
"The new and long-awaited budget tool has been developed to streamline and simplify budget and forecast work at the school. At present, the schools' budgets are made in Excel, which is time-consuming and results in unmanageable budgets with a risk of errors that can have consequences when financial decisions are made. The budget tool will reduce manual work and provide greater accessibility for financial officers and decision-makers / project managers to produce data and background material for decision-making."
What are the benefits?
"It will be faster and easier to obtain current, reliable data from the new system, all the way from an individual project to summation at school level. Instead of handling huge Excel files that risk crashing, you go into the browser and quickly sort relevant data."
Who can use it?
"The new system will be helpful for many more than today's budgeting once it is fully operational: project managers, heads of divisions, heads of departments and other decision-makers, in addition to financial officers."
Optimistic Heads of School
ABE's and EECS' Heads of School are also optimistic about the new tool.
"So far, we have made our budgets in Excel, which does not feel particularly efficient or secure. With the new tool, we get more efficient financial control and safer handling of data. It is also an advantage that more professional categories at the school, such as heads of divisions, heads of departments and project managers, will be able to use the tool", says Sonja Berlijn, Head of School at EECS.
"We welcome a budget tool that meets the requirements and needs we have to effectively run and plan our activities in the best possible way. It will be easier and faster to produce clear budget documents and forecasts in the new system, regardless of whether it is on a project level, department level or school level", says Muriel Beser Hugosson, Head of School at ABE.
The system is planned to be in use at the end of October, when the school's financial officers will use the tool. The plan is that more users will be granted access in the Spring of 2022.