Islington Council saves £3m with Advanced Business Solutions collaborative planning tool

'The budgeting and forecasting solution has eliminated various labour-intensive processes,' says Alan Layton, director of financial management

Islington Council is set to make £3m in savings after deploying the Collaborative Planning web-based budget management solution from business software provider Advanced Business Solutions.

The council first implemented the software in 2010, with the Advanced Business solutions budgeting and forecasting tool aiding the London authority in reducing core financial costs by 40 per cent, by allowing it to make more informed budgeting decisions.

"Previously it was almost impossible to gather accurate forecasting information within a reasonable timescale, plus there was a high risk of error due to our protracted consolidation process involving numerous complicated spreadsheets," said Alan Layton, director of financial management at Islington Council.

"Collaborative Planning offered the added functionality and flexibility we needed and could crucially integrate with our existing Advanced financial management system," he continued. "We can now quickly produce reliable monthly forecasting information, with minimal effort, and better understand our data."

Government funding restrictions have meant that Islington Council has needed to find savings while still providing support for services in the borough.

Therefore, by using the web-based tool instead of spreadsheets, Islington Council was able to analyse real-time financial information order to make the best decisions, something which Layton described as really contributing towards the council's drive to cut costs.

"The budgeting and forecasting solution has eliminated various labour-intensive processes, which will enable us to reduce our core finance costs by 40 per cent, amounting to over £3m. It has also been instrumental in keeping tight financial control of our budgets," he said.

"Implementing the latest version of Collaborative Planning has enabled us to move to a single revenue model to further improve efficiency and to focus on risk," Layton added.

Many local councils are implementing software solutions in an effort to improve services and cut costs. Moira Bragg, head of ICT at Medway Council, recently told Computin g how the Kent local authority is using new technology to support flexible working.