David Schmidtknecht, Principal The role of the Federal CFO necessitates garnering in-depth insights from multiple sets of data for better decision making, quicker financial performance analysis, and accurate compliance reporting. However, data visibility becomes a mirage for CFO’s when their existing financial and accounting systems present inadequate detailed and untimely information. To overcome this situation, a solution is needed that automates data aggregation and executes decisions based on complete and integrated data. cBEYONData offers a solution that empowers Federal CFOs; the CFO Control Tower. An arsenal for CFO Office, the CFO Control Tower provides automation, external compliance, analytics, system assurance, and improved security compliance. It empowers the financial decision makers by automating numerous business processes and providing data insights, visibility, and transparency.
“Our solution mines the complete information even from the lowest level transactions and presents it through a single pane of glass,” says David Schmidtknecht, Principal of cBEYONData. The CFO Control Tower has pre-built systems integration routines that extract data from internal and public source systems. These routines cleanse and store data for external regulatory requirements such as GTAS and DATA Act reporting and eliminate manual assumption-based work. The solution includes multiple packages of data extraction tools for ERP, Procurement, Time, and Travel systems, and external public data stored in FPDSNG, and USA Spending. The aggregated data aids in notification generation and delivery, as the CFO Control Tower sends alerts and notifications of crucial tasks to be done or when a pre-defined threshold has been breached. For example, if an organization has invoices that are not paid and interest will be due soon, the solution sends alerts automatically to the concerned person or department.
“The CFO Control Tower helps clients automate cumbersome processes and comply with the regulatory requirements,” states Schmidtknecht.
The solution provides automated notifications regarding data inconsistencies with regard to regulations and helps CFOs enforce compliance across the complete process lifecycle. The solution alerts users if there are conflicts with pre-defined functional and accounting rules. For example, if the same user generates an invoice and approves the payment of that invoice, the system will notify the appropriate team that a separation of duties conflict has occurred. The CFO Control Tower prevents such conflicts and safeguards data with a suite of security measures. Based on information provided by user and supervisory approvals, access to data is granted, and CFOs can quickly see who has accessed the data.
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With more than 20 pre-built analytic tools such as the Open Obligation Dashboard and Status of Funds Analysis report, the CFO Control Tower helps to plan budgets and monitor spend plans with laser-precision. Users can also leverage third party tools to analyze financial data. If a user prefers Microsoft Excel for analysis, the solution facilitates integration with Excel. The dashboards can also be personalized according to the operational requirements.
Mr. Schmidtknecht cites a success story where the CFO Control Tower enabled a major transformation for a Federal agency. “The client was unable to mine information from their old accounting system that had to be integrated with the new financial system. To aid in the data process, cBEYONData implemented the CFO Control Tower which helped the client to extract the crucial information, build reports, comply with external regulations, and ensure audit readiness. Since the data was aggregated and reconciled, the client maintained transactional consistency across the two different systems. Real time data access was also a significant benefit for the client”, Mr. Schmidtknecht added.
The team of data and financial experts at cBEYONData harness the power of analytics and anticipate the challenges for the clients, keeping them ahead of upcoming regulations. Where can the CFO Control Tower take you? Future possibilities for the tool are endless. cBEYONData is excited about being able to solve financial data puzzles for Federal and state governments, making real time data sharing and usage a reality.
