Output budget into format that can be uploaded into corporate parent master budget system

Description

If your business is a part of a larger organization, you may be required to submit a formatted file for upload into a master budget system. These master budget systems are typically enterprise-grade platforms that have been architected to consolidate subsidiaries, or it may be a private equity ownership group that desires to see all their investments on one screen.

Example Use Case

Scenario: A Fortune 500 corporation uses consolidation functionality in an enterprise CPM system to maintain budgets for various departments. The corporate headquarters utilizes a separate master budget system that rolls-up budget data from all its subsidiaries.

Solution: The CPM software should be capable of exporting department-level and/or summarized roll-up budget data into a format that can be easily uploaded into the corporate master budget system. This format can come in many flavors - manual flat file via email, a direct API connection, a FTP directory for batch upload, and other potential options.

Considerations

If this feature is critical to your organization, we recommend asking the vendor to export the file exactly as you will need it to be formatted. This will avoid future problems where manual work is needed to manipulate the file before processing.

Questions to Ask a Vendor

• Export Formats: What data export formats does your CPM software support? Can it accommodate our parent master budget system format?
• Protecting Data Integrity: Confirm that the data export process captures all the fields and associated data required for the master budget system. This may seem obvious, but not all systems are capable of exporting data in a flexible format.
• User-friendliness: How easy is it for an administrator to export the budget data? Does it necessitate special technical skills?
• Automated Processes: Does your system support scheduling automatic exports? Can I also trigger the export manually?
• Security: How is the data transfer secured? How can I limit access?