Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ:JKHY) is a leading provider of technology solutions and payment processing services primarily for the financial services industry. Its ProfitStars division today introduced a hosted version PROFITstar Budget Manager, supported by Microsoft Windows Azure for cloud computing.
The previous version of this browser-based distributed budgeting solution required an on-premise server at the financial institution. Now, Budget Manager is fully hosted by ProfitStars, further reducing clients' demand on their own internal IT infrastructure. Branch and departmental input is dynamic within Budget Manager to allow for sharing results throughout the budget year, so financial institutions gain improved workflow for budget submissions and approvals. Budget Manager encourages continuous contribution from all individuals involved in the organization's budgeting, maximizing accountability and process visibility to minimize delays and improve overall decision making.
Steven Bauer, vice president of Billings, Mont.-based First Interstate Bank, said, "Prior to using Budget Manager, we used an Excel workbook to prepare and consolidate annual budgets for almost 100 branches and departments. Budget Manager increased our efficiency, but equally as important decreased the risk involved in maintaining and updating reports on an annual basis. The ability to seamlessly merge budget data into our monthly financial reporting helps us to produce detailed budget variance and management reports which were not available via the previous Excel-based process."
Budget Manager was designed around front-line budgeters' needs; they can drill down to sub-ledger calculations, document budget assumptions by line item, and forecast financial targets. The solution accepts data from other applications and also offers graphical functionality to compare historical with forecasted balances, edit log automation, and account and sub-ledger formula support.
According to David Foss, president of ProfitStars, "Offering Budget Manager as a fully hosted solution only furthers the reduction in cost and resources to use this tool. ProfitStars is committed to helping banks and credit unions solve for their own budget needs. The timely availability of information within Budget Manager adds a strategic dimension to any financial institution's budgeting objectives."