5 Best Budgeting Software Solutions for Government

Government Finance leaders today are under pressure to improve decision support, increase transparency and create efficiencies. In addition, agencies are up against the constraints of legacy systems, tedious manual processes and inefficient analytics tools. Agencies thus turn to the best government budgeting software solutions to automate processes and mitigate those challenges. Here, we've curated the 5 best budget government software solutions based on their features, customer reviews and industry recognition.

To compile this list, we've considered software that meets the following qualifications:

• Earns industry recognition on reputable review platforms such as Gartner Peer Insights
• Offers comprehensive budgeting features for government agencies
• Provides reliable customer support

What Is Government Budgeting Software?

For government agencies, budgeting software plays a pivotal role in the ability to streamline planning processes, increase transparency and gain new insights. Solutions should be tailored to the specific needs of government agencies. How? By encompassing the entire budgeting process from strategic planning, budget formulation, budget execution and performance management to reporting and analytics.

Below are some common features found in budgeting software for government agencies:

• Automation of budget preparation tools
• Robust integration and enterprise data management
• Standard and ad-hoc reporting and dashboard capabilities
• Strong security measures
• Intuitive workflow management

By leveraging these features, agencies can streamline planning processes, minimize errors and make well-informed financial decisions.

Not sure what budget software solution best suits your agency? You're in the right place!

In the comparative analysis that follows, we'll explore the features and functionalities of 5 leading government budgeting solutions: OneStream, Oracle EPM Cloud, SAP, Workday/Adaptive and Anaplan.

The Best Budgeting Software Solutions for Government Agencies

1. OneStream

OneStream is a leading enterprise Finance solution trusted by government agencies. It offers a comprehensive platform that uniquely unifies financial consolidation, planning, reporting and analysis. With robust budgeting features, OneStream offers the following benefits to government agencies (see Figure 1):

• Unifies all financial and operational data
• Allows agencies to accelerate and simplify planning processes across the Budget and Finance offices
• Embeds AI for better decisions and productivity

OneStream's unified platform enables Finance and Operations teams to better collaborate and deliver a single source of truth. Having that single source eliminates the complexity of multiple solutions, interfaces and integrations. Not to mention, agencies can also avoid the heavy cost and duplication of data and metadata while avoiding time-consuming processes and upgrades.

Pros:

• Highest customer success rate in the industry.
• Only complete, end-to-end FedRAMP Moderate certified and DoD Impact level 4 (IL-4) provisional authorized cloud CPM provider.
• Intuitive platform with a logical, efficient and modern user experience.
• Comprehensive platform that supports end-to-end PPBE processes for government agencies.
• Ability to support growth and evolution of agencies over time without reimplementing or adding more technical debt.
• Built-in self-service reporting, dashboarding, ad-hoc analysis and deep integration with Microsoft Office in one platform – from balance to transactional details with seamless drill down and drill back to supporting details for transparency, auditability and actionable details behind every number.

Cons:

• Implementation may require additional time and resources.
• Users may face a learning curve during initial implementation.

2. Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud

Oracle Enterprise Performance Management Cloud (Oracle EPM Cloud) provides a solution for federal agencies to automate budget formulation and execution. It offers features for planning, forecasting, reporting, security and workflow capabilities.

Pros:

• Access to a pool of skilled professionals, services, partners and domain expertise thanks to a large customer base and global network.
• Integration with Oracle solutions (ERP, HCM, CRM, etc.) and databases, and a good solution for master data management, data integration and data quality.
• FedRAMP low authorized provider.

Cons:

• Limited live references, footprint and peer reviews/insights for the cloud EPM solutions.
• Multiple fragmented solutions that require multiple complex integrations across solutions to reconcile actuals with plans and bring in financial and operational data to support end-to-end consolidation, close, financial & operational planning, and reporting processes.
• Implementation may require significant time and resources.

3. SAP

SAP's solution for EPM are a combination of SAP Group Reporting embedded in S/4HANA for consolidations and SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) for financial and operational planning.

SAP S/4HANA Group Reporting is an enterprise solution for consolidations. As part of S/4HANA, the Group Reporting solution leverages a combination of features tied to Group Reporting for consolidations and S/4HANA for core close capabilities. SAP Analytics Cloud is a cloud-based platform for planning, business intelligence (BI) and predictive analytics that enables organizations to visualize, plan and make data-driven decisions.

Pros:

• Reliance of both solutions on the same S/4HANA technology to streamline integration with SAP ERP systems.
• Global footprint that ensures access to a vast pool of skilled professionals and SAP domain knowledge.
• FedRAMP authorized provider.

Cons:

• Group Reporting and SAC use the same underlying technology, but remain separate solutions with separate implementations and resources.
• Multiple products must be connected and result in disparate data silos. Each product implemented means an additional integration point. Each integration is a point of failure risk due to needing data quality testing and problem resolution, plus on-going maintenance and modifications as requirements change.
• Lack of features, capabilities and flexibility means solutions cannot meet comprehensive and changing requirements of organizations.

4. Workday Adaptive Planning

Workday Adaptive Planning covers planning, consolidation, analytics and reporting functions. Built on a proprietary in-memory database, the solution enables collaboration and real-time updates in a spreadsheet-like browser user interface.

Pros:

• Supports financial planning process support that covers budgeting, forecasting and strategic planning.
• Intuitive interface for users across different departments.
• Easy integration with Workday Finance and HR.

Cons:

• Limited live references, footprint and peer reviews/insights for the cloud EPM solutions.
• Not a FedRAMP authorized provider.
• Fragmented, multiple solutions and technologies that require multiple complex integrations across solutions to reconcile actuals with plans.
• Limited data model for all CPM/EPM processes and limited data integration capabilities for managing the multiple ERP and other source system data integrations.
• Potential learning curve for new users.

5. Anaplan

Anaplan is a cloud modeling technology that enables planning, budgeting and forecasting on a single platform. The solution serves clients in an array of verticals and functions, including Finance, Sales and Marketing, Supply Chain, and HR and Workforce.

Pros:

• User-friendly browser interface.
• Flexible modeling that supports a broad set of planning use cases.
• Professional services team that works alongside its partner network to ensure implementation support.

Cons:

• Limited live references, footprint and peer reviews/insights for the cloud EPM solutions.
• Not a FedRAMP authorized provider.
• Extra time and resources potentially needed to scale and evolve with agency to update and/or connect modules in response to changes.
• Limited financial intelligence in platform, requiring everything to be developed each time.
• Potential learning curve for new users.

Conclusion

Choosing the right budgeting solution is essential for agencies looking to move beyond legacy/manual processes and evolve to a modern EPM solution. In this blog post, each of the 5 best budgeting software solutions highlighted offers unique features and benefits, catering to the diverse needs of government agencies.

However, one financial budgeting software solution stands above the rest if you're looking to streamline back-office Finance processes and significantly increase confidence in reporting and planning. OneStream ultimately offers the best software to handle your agencies evolving needs, no matter how complex.

Learn More

To learn more about how government agencies are conquering complexity and modernizing back-office processes, click here to check out our customer success with government agencies.