How to implement budgeting software in your school

What is a budgeting software system?

Budgeting software allows you to keep track of your income and expenditure. You can set financial goals, monitor progress and create a range of reports. Forecasts can help to identify areas of over and underspend and scenario planning allows you to assess the impact of changes to your financial position.

Why should your school be using budgeting software?

Budgeting software does the manual work for you. It takes all the information about your costs and income and presents it back to help you plan for the future and make informed financial decisions. You can increase accuracy by avoiding data entry errors associated with manual processes.

As well as improving accuracy, budgeting software helps you to streamline your processes by surfacing the right data at the right time. Detailed financial reports including cashflow, budget monitoring and forecasts help to give you a better understanding of your financial situation.

All of this often leads to cost savings. Yes, there’s the initial software outlay but as people costs account for the largest proportion of any budget, being able to repurpose your staff can lead to significant gains.

Key things to consider when implementing budgeting software in your school

Once you have chosen your budget software provider, it’s important to get to grips with the implementation…what it entails, who is involved and the process you are likely to go through. There are a number of things to think about.

Project scope

Understanding the scope of your project can be tricky but it’s something to consider from the outset. If your provider offers a scoping session with a qualified consultant this can ensure your requirements are covered and everyone knows what to expect. As a school or trust you may want to think about specifics like do you want/need to setup your Chart of Accounts as part of the implementation for example?

Data migration

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges when implementing new software is transferring your existing financial data to your new system. This can be a time-consuming and resource-intensive process but it’s important to ensure that all your data is accurately and safely transferred. If you can combine your data import with a training session this could not only save time but using real-life examples makes it more relatable for your users.

User adoption

User adoption is important to ensure you’re getting the most out of your budgeting software. But getting the buy-in you need can be a challenge if people resist change and/or are comfortable with existing ways of working. Involving key users throughout the project and providing ample training and support helps to ensure that users understand how to use the new software effectively.

Customisation

Customising and configuring your budgeting software to meet the specific needs of your school or trust can be a challenge. Choose a specialist education provider can help. They will be used to, for example, a MAT with schools across different local authority areas with different pay scales so this type of functionality is likely come as standard. It’s also important to be clear about any specific requirements at the start of your project and work with the software partner to ensure they are met.

Support and training

Once you have done your due diligence and found your ideal budget software provider, you want to be sure that the support will be there for you if you have any difficulties. Think about the support that will be most useful for your users – whether that’s phone, email or online support – and ensure that they will cover your technical queries and questions. If your staff work flexible hours you might want to think about support with a dedicated LMS and/or knowledge center that your staff can access at a time that suits them.

6 steps to successfully implement budgeting software

1. Identify your school or trust’s needs and choose a software partner to meet your specific requirements.

2. Involve key stakeholders (school business managers, administrators, finance personnel and leaders) throughout the process. Also think about any adhoc stakeholders, for example, do you need to involve IT teams in case of questions around firewalls or such like?

3. Plan and prepare for your implementation, including tasks, timeline, and budget.

4. Data migration and integration: ensure your new budgeting software seamlessly integrates with other necessary systems (ie accounting and payroll software) and have a robust plan for data migration.

5. Training and support: provide training and support to all users from the outset to ensure immediate adoption and increase efficiencies across your school or trust. Answering some important questions will help you to understand the level or training you will need:

• Do any of your users have experience with the software?
• Will you be training sites together?
• How many people can/should attend a training session?
• Should the training be remote or in person?

You might also want to think about refresher training and supporting new starters.

6. Monitor and evaluate: regularly monitor and evaluate your software to ensure it continues to meet your needs.

Challenges when choosing a budgeting software

General Challenges

When choosing budgeting software there are a number of things you should take into consideration.

Integration

It’s important to think about compatibility between the budgeting software you choose and any other systems. This can include financial management systems, HR, payroll and/or others. Seamless integration means the data and analysis can be shared so you don’t have to enter the same thing multiple times across different systems.

Ease-of-use

Sometimes budgeting software is used by finance professionals but not always. Software that is simple and easy to use can save time and lead to a positive user experience.

Sector specific software

While budgeting and forecasting is carried out in almost all organisations, there are features that are specific to certain sectors or institutions. Opting for a budgeting tool that is designed for education and can meet your needs as standard can save you valuable time and money.

Access and security

Before choosing you budgeting software it’s important to think about who will be using it and how. If your staff are based in different locations, remote access will be key. You also want to know that your data is secure and that your software provider has the right security measures in place to protect sensitive financial information.

Scalability

As your school or trust grows it’s important that your budgeting software can scale with you. Some providers offer unlimited users at no additional cost. Others offer adhoc training for new users. In addition to a scalable setup, the software features needs to be scalable so things like the ability to forecast and regularly reforecast is important as is creating unlimited scenarios to allow you to get to be prepared for any eventuality.

Challenges for schools in particular

Managing change

Introducing new software can be challenging, particularly if your staff have been used to using certain systems and following specific processes for many years. For schools this might be spreadsheets. This familiarity builds confidence and change can impact that. There are some things you can do to mitigate this. Involving users as early as possible in the buying process and/or the implementation can increase their familiarity as can ensuring there is adequate training for all users before go-live. Choosing software that is easy for finance and non-finance professionals to use can also alleviate some of the potential anxiety.

Cost

The cost of budgeting software can vary greatly. Overall it’s important to choose the software that you can afford while ensuring it delivers all the features and functionality you need. At a more detailed level you will want to think about both the upfront costs and the ongoing costs. Is there an additional cost for implementation, training and ongoing maintenance or is this included in the base price? Is there any flexibility that could impact cost? i.e., could you have group and/or remote training sessions to reduce the cost? Are software upgrades included or do you have to pay extra for them? All of these things require consideration as they will impact the overall amount you pay.

Using your budgeting software to manage school budgets – top tips

Monitor income and expenses

Budgeting software helps you to manage your school or MAT’s income and expenditure. You can track your progress against your financial goals and help to identify areas requiring improvement. Creating multi-year forecasts allows you to plan for the future, identify trends and model the impact of changes to your financial position.

Offer real-time, customised and consolidated reporting

Schools and MATs have to provide a range of reports to staff, governors, the DfE and the ESFA. If your budgeting software can produce all the reports you need in real-time it can save you valuable time and money. For a growing trust or a school with local authority reporting requirements, customisable, easy-to-understand reports in a variety of formats can present data at the highest level or down to individual ledger codes. Consolidated budget overview reports provide a top down approach which can be vital for growing MATs.

Plan for a range of scenarios

Budgeting software can help you to quickly and easily model the financial impact of different scenarios. What would happen if teacher pay increased by 5%? What if pupil numbers fluctuate by 10%? What would be the impact of merging departments? Being able to run different scenarios at the click of a button can save you time and money and can help you to make informed decisions for effective short-, medium- and long-term plans.