SAP Offers Cross-Platform Solution for Public Budget Management
Business software maker SAP has introduced a new application that directly addresses the budget needs of public entities in the United States and Canada, including schools and districts. The SAP Public Budget Formulation (PBF), based on the SAP Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP), includes functionality for incremental, zero-based and performance-based budgeting, as well as features such as robust text handling and push-button budget book publishing.
The company describes the PBF application as an extension to an agency's existing accounting and payroll systems, integrating the data contained therein in order to optimize revenue and expenditures and develop a feasible budget. Although based on SAP's own ERP, the software can integrate data from a number of commonly used resource planning applications, including PeopleSoft, AMS, and even some older proprietary systems written in COBOL programming language.
SAP PBF is currently available and is applicable to all government agencies and publicly funded education institutions. A spokesperson for SAP announced that both the South Florida Water Management District and the City of San Diego have already begun to implement the application for their respective budgetary planning, and that at least two other municipal and state agencies are on the verge of signing up.
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