A large independent statutory authority, with 17 cost centres, struggled with mid-year budget reviews. Data collection took a lot of time, and involved extensive manual intervention. We automated the budget file creation process; centralised control of budget templates; provided additional tools to simplify template manipulation, automated version control and file management; automated the phasing of the budget across 12 months; and provided strategies to ensure cost centre managers provided the required information. 1-2 weeks of work per year were freed up for the reporting team to focus on more important business tasks.
