Michigan Benchmark LLC, the leading K12 analytics and financial planning professional services company dedicated to Michigan K12 school districts, announced the immediate availability of its latest analytics-as-a-service offering, Budget Navigator.
Already in use by multiple K12 public school districts in Michigan, Budget Navigator transforms financial transaction data into interactive dashboards that allow Boards of Education, district administrative and financial professionals, and taxpayers to see all district expenses and revenues on a year to date basis. By doing so, stakeholders can avoid budget surprises and assess the district’s adherence to adopted and amended budgets.
Budget Navigator subscribers can assess the district’s fidelity to its budget plan at their desired frequency (commonly monthly). The dashboards, which can be accessed via an online web portal, embedded into the subscriber’s website, or shared via PDF are ideal additions to a district’s battery of monthly financial reports that are shared via Board of Education packets and on district transparency web pages.
“Budget Navigator furthers Michigan Benchmark’s brand promise to create value for Michigan school districts beyond the low bar of simple transparency,” shared Brendan Walsh, Michigan Benchmark’s founder. “Transparency is void of value if it only reports raw numbers that lack context and are received past the time when action should have been taken by district administrators and Boards of Education. Budget Navigator ensures that a district can correct its course when expenses show signs of exceeding budget thresholds.”
With dozens of customizable visualizations and tables, Budget Navigator provides a multidimensional view of subscriber district’s budget progression. Monthly and year to date revenues and expenditures are presented in relation to the previous year’s results, the current year’s budget, the year to date results, year to date encumbrances, and year to date balances. Budget Navigator addresses the gap of accounting systems that fail to memorialize monthly expenses and revenues. By programmatically memorializing monthly financial data, school district subscribers can more effectively manage cash flow and account for budget seasonality.
Saving district financial professionals hours of report creation time, Budget Navigator organizes data in both Functional (e.g. Instructional, or Support Services) and Object (e.g. Salaries, Benefits, Purchased Services, and Supplies) views. Via programmatic intelligence, function and object codes (both major, minor, and sub-minor) are transformed into accessible coded terminology that can be understood by district trustees and taxpayers.
Financial data is made more useful by enabling a greater degree of granularity to the building level. As the majority of Michigan school districts continue to battle declining enrollment, the ability to view district expenditures on a more granular basis is critical to future financial viability.
Retailing at less than $500 per month, Budget Navigator provides immense value in relation to its cost. Interested parties can see the Budget Navigator Service live via Michigan Benchmark's model school district, Cherry Creek Community Schools, via this link.
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