PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 23, No. 18, April 22, 2004

New finance software helps units prepare budgets

By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor
217-244-1072; slforres@illinois.edu

Campus units will be using new software packages when they begin preparing their budgets for FY05, which begins July 1.

A finance package called Budget Development and a human resource package called Salary Planner, the final components of the finance and human-resource modules in SCT Banner, are replacing the Budget Create software that units have used to prepare prior years' budgets. Budget Create, a software package that was developed by university staff members, has been used for about a decade.

Colleges and departments will use Budget Development to build their annual operating budgets and Salary Planner to create personnel budgeting scenarios, such as annual reappointments and salary changes, that are then applied to Banner later.

Budget Development is the first finance application at UI to use SCT's Web for Finance, which contains forms with a Web-based look and feel and incorporates hyperlinks for easy navigation.

Users may be pleased to learn that the Budget Development application has only three forms, fewer than its predecessor.

Users who are apprehensive about learning a new system will find that hints will be available on every screen to guide them.

"As you're working with the product, you'll always be able to see tips about how parts work," said Dennis Owen of the UI-Integrate budget team.

Users also will notice that the hints and online help have been customized so they use UI terminology. Beginning April 26, users will be able to try out a Web-based tutorial that includes full-motion video of common tasks and access a realistic test site where they can practice their units' transactions.

Salary Planner, unlike Budget Create, has the capability of making salary changes in both percentages and flat amounts.

"We hope this will save a lot of work because everyone in a unit usually gets close to the average increase," said Connie Caveny, associate project manager.

Other personnel budgeting transactions, such as appointment additions, terminations and transfers, will be conducted in Banner itself.

To ease users' transition to the new system, the budget and reappointment process this year will be very similar to prior years.

"For this year, the process will be as close to how it was with Budget Create as we can make it,"Caveny said. "We will do just what we think we can handle with a new tool."

Beginning in mid-May, users of Salary Planner and Budget Development will be invited to attend weekly open learning labs that will be proctored by trained team members who can answer users' questions about the new applications.

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