FEATURED REPORT · NOVEMBER · GOAL CATEGORY: CONTROL COSTS

Budget Watch

Department managers track their own budgets — without contacting Finance. In one hands-on week, your team builds Budget Watch from the delivered Birst Global Ledger Income Statement, with its drill-downs to account and transaction detail already in place.

HANDS-ON PRIVATE WORKSHOP

$4,950

Fixed price · up to 6 people · live in one week, with three weekly check-ins after the workshop week

Book the workshop

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Before and after

ILLUSTRATION · SAMPLE FIGURES

BEFORE · THE FINANCE VIEW

Budget vs actual, all departments

JanFebMarAprMayJun

Budget Actual

Built for Finance: every account, company-wide. A department manager wants just their own slice — so today they ask Finance.

AFTER · BUDGET WATCH

After: Facilities (cost center 1100), YTD

Account	Budget	Actual	Variance	Flag
Salaries	182,000	179,450	2,550	—
Repairs & maintenance	46,000	53,800	(7,800)	▲ Over
Utilities	61,500	60,200	1,300	—
Supplies	18,000	12,900	5,100	—

Each department sees its own expense accounts as rows: where it's over, where it has room.

DESCRIPTION

Budget Watch starts from the delivered Birst Global Ledger Income Statement, which already drills down to account and transaction detail. It is built for Finance: every account, company-wide.

In the workshop, your team builds Budget Watch from it: a view each department manager can use — one company and one budget scenario, with their own expense accounts as rows for each department or cost center, and the overruns over your threshold first.

WHY IT MATTERS

When managers can't see their own budget, they ask Finance — "where am I against budget?" — again and again.

Finance spends days each month answering those questions and building variance spreadsheets, and overruns still come to light at quarter-end.

FEATURES

Largest overruns first — no scrolling through every account
Threshold flags — by percent or amount, set by you (default 10% or $5,000)
Drill-down — from department to account to transaction detail
A view per manager — each sees their own department
Tied to your ledger — checked against Analyze Budget before go-live

BENEFITS

Managers serve themselves. They check their own budget any time instead of calling Finance.
Finance gets time back. Fewer questions, and no monthly variance spreadsheet.
Act sooner. Overruns are caught monthly, while there's time to fix them.
Trusted numbers. The view ties to your ledger, so the conversation is about the spending, not the report.

What you get for $4,950

Your team builds it

Your team makes every change in your own Birst test space, guided step by step — so you can adjust it, and the next report, without us. We show you the finished version in our demo system first, so everyone knows what they are building.

Mini-course for your team

Short on-demand lessons on reading and adapting Budget Watch. Access opens when you book, for everyone in the workshop.

Three live sessions

Intro call, 90-minute working session and wrap-up — all in week one, private to your team.

Weekly expert check-ins

Three weekly check-ins after the workshop week, 30 minutes each: we report your progress, clear whatever is slowing you down, and add helpful next steps to your backlog.

Your ECS dashboard

Your goal and its progress, each check-in, and a backlog of other solutions we think would help.

See a sample →

Assessment

A 10-minute questionnaire and your intro call: we confirm readiness and set your goal, its starting number and what will change.

Tie-out and handover check

Proof that Budget Watch agrees with your ledger, and a clear Ready or Not ready.

See a sample →

Owner instructions

How to run, review and adjust Budget Watch each month — so it keeps working after we leave.

Your week

Live in one week — about 4 hours of your team's time. Your team makes the changes in your tenant; we show you how at every step.

MONDAY · GET READY

Intro call · 30 min

Before the call: a 10-minute online questionnaire about your reporting
Confirm readiness
Pick the company, the budget scenario and the expense accounts in scope
Agree thresholds and department owners
We demo the finished Budget Watch and share the build guide
Team starts the mini-course

TUESDAY–WEDNESDAY · BUILD

Working session · 90 min

Set your thresholds
Map departments and owners
Adapt the views to your chart of accounts
Your team drives; we guide

THURSDAY · PROVE

Tie-out · on your schedule

Your team ties one closed period to Analyze Budget
We review it and flag any gaps

FRIDAY · GO LIVE

Wrap-up · 30 min

Handover check: Ready or Not ready, reviewed and signed off by ECS
You approve, and your administrator moves Budget Watch into production
Owner instructions finalized
We set your goal and its starting number on your ECS dashboard

THEN · THREE WEEKLY CHECK-INS AFTER THE WORKSHOP WEEK

A taste of ECS Reporting Advantage

A 30-minute check-in each week for the three weeks after the workshop week — are managers using it, are the thresholds right, what's in the way?
Progress on your ECS dashboard each week — your goal, the number, bottlenecks cleared, and other solutions added to your backlog.

Your team owns what it builds; we support it through these check-ins. It's how ECS Reporting Advantage works every month. The Advantage is optional — if this is useful, we recommend you keep it going. How ECS Reporting Advantage works →

READINESS

2-minute check: is your team ready?

✓ Birst is in use, with the delivered Global Ledger Income Statement available
✓ A budget scenario is loaded for this fiscal year
✓ Someone on your team can edit Birst content in a test space
✓ Department managers have Birst access — or you have a plan to give it to them

Missing one? Book a free Fit Check and we'll tell you what it takes.

BEFORE MANAGERS CAN USE IT

Let each manager see only their department

To share Budget Watch with department managers, each one needs Birst access and data security that limits them to their own department.

If your security is already set up, we'll show your team how to share the dashboard. If not, your Infor partner — or one of our partners — can set it up alongside the workshop, quoted separately.