Cross-functional, project-based planning with a budget process that is more accurate & efficient.

Many of today’s largest companies utilize cross-functional planning as a way to maximize operational performance and deliver better business results. At JCB Partners, we understand that while these project-focused plans provide an efficient way to move work between multiple departments, the challenges of developing and managing budgets across multiple functional teams often threaten to outweigh the model’s benefits.

In many cases, spreadsheets are circulated through as many as several hundred cost centers, where new formulas and edits are entered manually before being passed along to the next person. This process is time consuming, laborious and error-prone, and it makes it virtually impossible to ensure data quality.

Such was the case for one of the nation’s largest health insurance providers when they turned to us for help developing a solution that would alleviate their yearly budgeting headaches caused by allocating time and resources across multiple functional landscapes for thousands of projects.

Based on our extensive experience with project based planning, we understood the client’s need for a solution that would ease the annual budget process by reducing aggregation time while providing a scalable solution that would grow with the business and provide real-time, cross-functional transparency into project information.

We developed a two-part solution, starting with a web-based budget application that provided a standard platform for budget entry and consolidation and enabled real-time visibility into budget completion. An ad-hoc reporting package made it easy for project managers to pull detailed project budget information at any time for easy access to dollars and headcount budgeted against their project.

To ensure sustainable, long-term success, we developed a comprehensive training program for all users, which was carried out in their environment with content they created.

With a single location for budget entry and consolidation, the company’s project managers now spend more time understanding how to maximize their sophisticated planning model and less time manually compiling information from piles of spreadsheets. In addition to freeing up valuable time, the single source of information also ensures more reliable, accurate data.

Real-time access to a centralized location for budget information means managers no longer have to “pull” data about a project. Now, up-to-date budget information is available anytime, anywhere via the web.

By implementing a scalable solution, project managers will continue to reap the benefits of this streamlined process even as the business grows and specific project needs change. Now, this leading health insurance provider can take full advantage of the benefits of cross-functional, project-based planning with a budget process that is both more accurate and more efficient.