Make Life Easier

Many Local Authorities and their schools manage their financial planning process using excel spreadsheets developed over a number of years.

Local Authorities are now recognising the limitations of excel and may experience some of the following issues:

• Maintaining cumbersome and complex excel spreadsheets.
• Planning process is constrained by the limitations of excel.
• Cannot guarantee a common set of data as spreadsheets can be changed and amended.
• The system requires a large amount of time and effort to supply an adequate level of financial support in budget and financial planning.
• If a school has a problem with their planning process, an onsite school visit is often required by a Financial Support Team member to fix the issues.
• Excel does not provide the financial modelling tools required to build accurate budgets.
• Excel can only provide a low level of budget monitoring information to schools.
• Providing poor data security with spreadsheets being emailed across the council.
• Ensuring schools are using the latest version of excel.
• Updating new releases and distributing the latest spreadsheets from the council's website.
• Chasing schools to submit late budgets.
• Re-compiling returned budgets into a common format.
  

SchoolsBPS has been developed to retain the familiar ‘format’ of excel with all the functionality and consistency of an integrated web based application and incorporates all of the following improvements and advantages:

• Easy to set up and maintain.
• Easy to distribute and implement to all schools.
• Easy to release updates.
• All budgets returned in an identical format.
• No more complex user guides and multiple spreadsheets.
• Easy to monitor and help schools through their planning process as the system is online.