Enterprise Scenario Planning™ is a full featured budget modeling and decision support system geared towards medium to large public sector organizations with diverse operating units challenged to meet ever increasing efficiency and accuracy in its budgeting process.  Focused on the logical process of not only modeling and forecasting, but preparation and management of the actual operating budget details, ESP™ can dramatically improve your budgeting processes in the following areas:

A budget is basically a plan for an organization’s upcoming fiscal year created from the objectives, priorities, and strategies of the organization.  In the government sector, added to this are rules and regulations governing the specific function of the organization.  Today, more and more employees are involved in the budgeting process which indicates that it is becoming more complex and critical to the success of the organization.

Budgeting in most organizations is met with trepidation, stress, frustration, and sometimes just pure lack of interest.  These emotions are quite normal considering the final product is based in uncertainty, and intended to predict the future, or at least take a calculated stab at it.  Often executives want a budget that meets certain strategic priorities and objectives, whereas typically managers may be more operationally focused.

Intelligent budgeting incorporates good business judgment in the review and analysis of past trends and data pertinent to the organization.  This information assists in decisions relating to organizational structure, how much money will be invested, the type and number of employees to hire, and how it all impacts strategic goals.  In budgeting, an organization usually develops both long-term and short-term plans to help implement its strategies and to conduct ongoing evaluations of its performance. Although budgeting can be time-consuming and costly, it can provide a variety of benefits including an increased awareness of costs, a coordination of efforts toward goals, improved communication, and a framework for performance evaluation.

As we begin to look at the processes involved in managing and modeling budgets, it is important to understand a few of the key ideas and concepts used in ESP™. The following sections explain these key ideas and concepts.