BudgetPak - Frequently Asked Questions
BudgetPak budget software instead uses a very intuitive approach to actively assist and guide users in the development of their budgets and expense management. We like to think of it as providing on-board navigation with turn-by-turn directions; as opposed to a paper map. Both will get the job done, but one is much easier to use for line managers and finance professionals alike.
Beyond the intuitive interface, there are specific out-of-the-box capabilities in BudgetPak that cannot be found bundled in other any other vendor product.
Click here to find out more.Many of our customers have some type of enterprise planning system (such as Hyperion, Cognos, Geac, OutlookSoft, etc.) already in place. Our budget software in no way replaces these systems; to the contrary, BudgetPak extends their usefulness and capabilities and increases their ROI. Enterprise Planning systems are great at consolidating and reporting budget and actual data, but do little to proactively assist a manager in creating his or her budget. BudgetPak software makes the actual budget creation process and expense management activities much easier, faster and more accurate for both financial and operational professionals alike.
There are specific capabilities found in BudgetPak that cannot be found bundled in any other available application.
Click here to find out more.Yes. BudgetPak has one click export to Excel, so that departmental budget data can directly feed any existing Excel based planning and budgeting system of worksheets.
Click here to see a video clip.On average, BudgetPak takes one to six weeks (not months) to implement. This includes value added consulting in best practices for budgeting, and how to maximize the new found capabilities in BudgetPak to reduce the cycle time and improve the quality of budget submissions.
Click here to find out more.Yes. In fact, some companies have used BudgetPak first to create an intra year forecast, to get users familiar with the application.
Our consultants work collaboratively with the Finance and Human Resources departments to configure BudgetPak to reflect all the planning parameters of the company (e.g., guidelines, policies, calculations, key assumptions, and so on). These parameters are then reflected in Business Rules. Implementation also entails building links to and from other systems such as Fixed Assets, H/R systems, and the General Ledger. Setting up security, making sure that each named user has the proper access and permission is also part of implementation.
Lastly, training and education, along with organization communication, rounds out the implementation process. XLerant can get this done in record time because of its easy to use, powerful graphical configuration tools that speed implementation.
Click here to find out more.Yes. BudgetPak uses graphical interfaces to configure the application for the specific budgeting and planning needs of each company. After the initial configuration, an Administrator can change most parameters in a few clicks.
XLerant uses a standard industry model for pricing. There is a server license coupled with a per user license. The only ongoing cost is a small maintenance fee (based on a percent of the license cost). Professional fees associated with configuration and training are estimated to run one to six weeks of consulting time.
Yes. Users can opt out (or back in) at any time, and use the navigation map to go and do exactly what they want.
Entirely up to you. BudgetPak comes with its own, very intuitive reporting engine, but existing reporting tools can be used instead.
Click here to find out more.Yes. Each company is unique in its own way, including the way a company wants users to step through the budgeting and planning process. BudgetPak therefore allows each company to tailor the budget walk through process to the unique needs of each company via easy to use but powerful graphical configuration tools.
Your company's chart of accounts, departmental structure, naming conventions and cost categories are all incorporated into your unique BudgetPak configuration.
It's all real time. With BudgetPak budget planning software, you immediately see the impact of changing salaries, start dates for new hires, depreciating standard assets like PCs, and hundreds of other changes. BudgetPak provides an "always on" running total of a budget compared to latest estimate, prior year, or any other relevant benchmark.
Our goal is to allow a first time user to navigate BudgetPak and successfully complete a valid budget without any formal training, just by reading the plain English prompts and making choices and selections. However, most customers feel more comfortable with formal user training, and XLerant will provide orientation and training sessions for users as part of implementation.
Like any other planning and budgeting application, BudgetPak can be used as one large what-if generator just by making changes to a budget and seeing the impact. But BudgetPak goes well beyond that to allow users to see the impact of making changes to the big levers of any budget in a single click.
For example, do you want to know how many dollars the company can save by delaying all new hires by X months? The answer is a click away. But what if only some new hires are delayed? Or what if we change the standard salary increase from 5% to 3%, how much will that save? What if we leave certain employees out of that? What if we take all discretionary spending down by 3%, how much will that save? Wait a minute, let's leave Software Maintenance out of that calculation, what does it look like now?
While answers to these questions are theoretically possible in other systems, the difference with BudgetPak is that the answer is one click away, whether you are looking a single department, the entire company, or any level in between.
Click here to find out more.