First Byte Corporation: Public Finance Manager
PUBLIC FINANCE MANAGER
BUDGET MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
The Budget Management System has been designed specifically to satisfy the
unique needs of government and non-profit organizations. Fully integrated and
intuitive architecture automates the budget maintenance, accounts payable, and
reporting functions. Designed for Windows 95, 98, ME, and 2000 the system can
function as a stand-alone single user system, or as a multi-user system in a
network environment. The Budget Management System features an intuitive user
interface with interactive menus, context-sensitive help, multiple levels of
user access, customizable grids for simplified data entry, and the ability to
create templates for repetitive cash receipts and disbursements entries. Both
sides of the public budget are supported through appropriation and revenue
accounts. A fully customizable account structure is provided for use with
alphanumeric account codes. Temporary Budget amounts and transactions are stored
separately for review and budget preparation. Contracts are supported as
completely independent expenditure authorizations. Vendor payments can be
scheduled for future dates. Users are notified when over expenditures are
created and restricted from proceeding without a proper security level. Optional
restrictions can be entered to limit expenditures by category, by vendor, and by
single purchase. Invoicing purchase orders for payment is a one step process. A
comprehensive set of standardized reports in included, as well as a custom
report designer. Reports may be previewed on the screen or printed to any system
printer. Information may be extracted by a range of dates, a range of accounts,
or using virtually any combination of criteria as search parameters.
Both Appropriation and Revenue Accounts have no pre-determined structure. The
Budget Management System supports up to nine customized levels. Account codes
can consist of any alphanumeric combination, limited only to 255 characters.
Whenever an account is accessed, the description of the account is displayed on
the screen. The Account Finder feature helps to locate the correct account and
eliminates the need to refer to a printed chart of accounts.
Most data entry is accomplished with the use of grids. The grid simplifies data
entry and provides a clear view of the numeric data. Numeric fields in the grid
accommodate mathematical calculations. Column widths may be adjusted. Whenever
an account is selected in the grid, a description of the account is displayed on
the form.
Contracts are unique in the non-profit accounts payable system, and the Budget
Management System recognizes the challenge of contract encumbrances and
expenditures. Each contract entered into the system is treated as an independent
entity, similar to an account. When a contract is recorded, the account charged
is encumbered for the full amount of the contract, and the contract becomes a
completely independent expenditure authorization. Multiple purchase orders may
be encumbered against the contract, and multiple checks may be disbursed. All
transactions related to the contract are kept in a separate contract file. The
Contract History can be viewed on the screen or printed in a report. Contracts
may also be encumbered against multiple accounts. Change orders, refunds of
expenditures, and contract cancellations are fully supported.
Purchase Orders are recorded in a grid form that is similar to the actual
printed purchase order form. Lookup functions are readily available to find
accounts, contracts, and vendors. New vendors may be entered "on the fly."
Individual purchase orders may be printed or invoiced from this form.
Entering and scheduling payments for future periods is easily automated. Enter
the payment information, the accounts to be encumbered and the scheduled date of
payment. The Budget Management System will automatically include this payment in
the appropriate check cycle. There is no need to invoice the payment or
otherwise prepare it for disbursement. This process simplifies payments to
vendors when amounts and due dates are known well in advance. For vendors who
receive known amounts and are paid multiple times during the fiscal period, a
separate line can be entered for each payment, directing when disbursements are
to be made.
Observing cutoff dates, bill list dates and check dates is accomplished by
scheduling payment cycles. Dates are entered as payment cycles, and the Budget
Management System enforces these dates throughout the fiscal period. There is no
need to temporarily suspend invoicing or the entry of purchase orders to avoid
an inaccurate bill list report or check run. Data entry and invoicing dates are
compared to the payment cycle dates specified by the user, and information is
selected for bill lists and checks in accordance with those dates.
Invoicing purchase orders is a one step process. The Budget Management System
displays all open purchase orders. Simply check the box of any purchase order to
be invoiced and it is automatically invoiced for the open amount and designated
for the next bill list/check run cycle. Add Invoice Information to appear on the
check stub. Individual lines of a purchase order may be invoiced on the purchase
order form.
The Budget Management System processes and stores vendor information in a manner
that maximizes automation and minimizes the amount of required user activity.
Default values for vendor status and Form 1099 information are kept on file and
applied to every new vendor. Temporary vendors – those vendors not expected to
receive any more payments – are automatically removed from the system at the
close of the fiscal period, and all transactions for these vendors are
automatically archived. An expenditure warning limit can be designated for each
individual vendor. The user is notified if this limit is to be exceeded during
the entry of any purchase order or contract. It is not necessary to perform any
specific year-end closing procedure before Forms 1099 can be printed. As with
all reports, Forms 1099 are printed in accordance with a date range, regardless
of closing procedures or non-calendar year fiscal periods.
Support for the Revenue side of the budget is included. The Revenue account
structure has the same flexibility as Appropriation accounts. The two sets of
accounts may be combined into one, or they may be completely separate. There is
no requirement that Revenue accounts and Appropriation accounts adhere to the
same number of levels, or share any common attributes. The two sets of accounts
can function independently. The Budget Management System provides the same
functionality for Revenues as it does for Appropriations, including the entry of
budget amounts, cash receipts, realization of non-cash revenues, adjustments,
search capabilities and reports.
From time to time, it may be necessary to consolidate information from seemingly
unrelated accounts. As the needs of the organization and the environment in
which it operates change, it is possible that certain "cost centers" will evolve
that did not naturally exist when the budget account structure was first
created. These previously unrelated accounts can be identified as a group, and
the transactions of each account in the group are combined for group reporting
purposes. This grouping does not affect any of the individual accounts, and is
not visible to any user unless working with the account group.
The Budget Management System contains an intelligent search engine capable of
extracting any information from its database files according to various criteria
specified by the user. The results of the search are displayed on the screen,
and can be printed out in a report. Once this information is extracted, the
criteria used to request the search can be saved for re-use.
A comprehensive selection of standardized reports is available. Reports can be
printed by range of dates, by range of accounts, and with either a detail or a
summary of transactions. All reports can be previewed on the screen prior to, or
instead of, printing to a system printer. In addition to standard reports, a
custom report designer permits access to database files so that specialized
reports can be created and saved to satisfy requirements that are not met
through the many standard reports. Most data entry forms also have the ability
to print specific transactions directly from the form.
There are no year-end closing and period-end closing procedures. All entries,
histories, searches, reports and transactions, are designed to segregate data by
dates, not by arbitrary fiscal periods. To assist in the transition from one
budget year to the next, special functions are included to create accounts for
the new budget year, transfer existing balances, and purge inactive accounts
from the system.
A complete set of database utilities is also available to optimize system
performance.
Virtually any parameter or limit can be easily changed by a user with the proper
security level. Whether revising a bid limit, or setting new vendor defaults, or
changing the budget over expenditure level, no special maintenance procedures
are required. The Budget Management System was designed to conform to the user –
the user controls the system.
First Byte Corporation is dedicated to providing practical software solutions
for the next generation.