Budget System

Budgeting System Full Speed Ahead

Screen shot of Cognos budgeting system
Screen shot of Cognos budgeting system

November 30, 2009

The implementation of the IBM Cognos budgeting system is moving forward. We have solidified the system design based on a flexible, driver-based methodology, which will allow users to easily evaluate a variety of budget possibilities and make decisions. In this way, Principals and department heads will have unprecedented control over their expenses and financial options.

During November, members of the Office of Management and Budget met with the fund managers for grants, special education, and adult education to give them the opportunity to provide feedback and ask questions about the new Cognos system. We also met with Chief Academic and Accountability Officer Dr. Barbara Byrd-Bennett and members of her cabinet to discuss the staffing models for elementary, middle and high schools and successfully finalized the high school staffing model. With Cognos’ dynamic user-friendly system, Principals will be able to adjust their schools’ staffing to meet student needs and academic goals.

We look forward to procuring servers and developing the budget calendar in December. Once the calendar is established, we will hold meetings with department heads and Dr. Byrd-Bennett’s cabinet to gather additional feedback on elementary and middle school staffing and other inputs.

In January, we will finish installing hardware, make modifications to the budget application, and start testing it. We will continue testing the application throughout February and begin training end users on the new Cognos system. Principals and department heads should be able to start entering their budgets by early March 2010.

 

The new IBM Cognos Budgeting System is on its way!

October 29, 2009

The new Detroit Public Schools budgeting system—based on IBM’s Cognos software—will provide a complete planning, budgeting and analytics environment to help us deliver timely, reliable budgets with far less effort and vastly better control than we have ever had before. This system will allow us to rapidly analyze and model the District’s financial options, while giving Principals quick, detailed understanding and control of all their expenses.

The Detroit Public Schools budgeting system will allow us to:

  • Reduce our planning cycles by 75% and our reporting time from days to minutes.
  • Provide real-time analysis of all the changing variables of the District’s financial drivers: Title 1 funding, State and Federal Aid, Special Ed expenses, personnel costs, school operating expenses, etc.
  • Use the Web to put financial decision making in the hands of schools and Principals to maximize the dollars directed at our students.
  • Provide a flexible modeling environment to explore financial options without requiring programming or traditional IT skills.
  • Deliver all information about the financial and operating plans—and results—from a single integrated view, eliminating the need to dig through paper or make multiple phone calls.

We expect our new DPS budgeting system to be up and running by February 2010. Please continue to check back here to follow our progress!

 

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