How cloud-based process automation transformed the Bureau of Budget and Planning's front office workflows

The Power Platform has revolutionized front office workflows, saving time and money. With its intuitive design, it’s easy to use and helps you get more done in less time.

Federal office

The Bureau of Budget and Planning is vital in helping the Department of State and the Office of U.S. Foreign Assistance Resources to reach their goals. BP helps by preparing and submitting budget requests and ensuring that the right resources are available. This way, the Department can ensure that its policies, plans, and programs help achieve U.S. foreign policy objectives.

Challenges

The Director of the Department of State’s Bureau of Budget & Planning (BP) is an experienced leader who understands that having an effective team is critical to achieving the mission. However, he soon realized that his office had limited resources regarding new technology, making developing a high-performing front office challenging.

His team’s priority became finding ways to streamline processes and maximize available support and technical expertise through cloud automation. He was determined to create a dynamic and successful front office to better serve his budget analyst, despite any obstacles that stood in the way.

Cloud solutions

Eminent Future revolutionized the existing business process with a Microsoft Power Platform implementation that allowed users to add new capabilities quickly and easily. By using Power Apps, Power Automate, and SharePoint, as well as Excel integration, our team was able to engineer a process that enabled users to have the ability to add on features in 1-3 days without needing any major effort or development. This innovative new process has improved productivity and efficiency by providing users with fast access to additional functionality.

Outcomes

Eminent Future significantly impacted the Department of State’s Bureau of Budget & Planning (BP) Front Office by leveraging Microsoft Power Platform and cloud automation. In no time, their workflows for the front office were automated, enabling them to respond quickly to external requests. By leveraging this platform, we were able to reduce paperwork and menial processes that clogged up time and resources. This allowed us to streamline processes, giving the Director and his team more time to focus on providing value-added services.

With automated workflows in place, BP met deadlines without fail, and projects became much easier to manage. Our team reduced emails, created a consistent data structure, and removed redundancies throughout the process. Over 600 items were processed and even imported from their old system. Our ability to use this technology has enabled BP to provide far greater service levels than would have otherwise been possible. We are proud that Eminent Future was able to utilize the Microsoft Power Platform as a tool for modernizing operations and creating new opportunities in efficient budget and resource management.

What is cloud-based process automation?

Cloud-based process automation is the practice of using cloud computing systems and tools to streamline, automate and manage business processes. It involves leveraging cloud resources such as computing power, storage, analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to automate tasks such as data collection, analysis, workflow management, customer service and more. Cloud-based process automation can help businesses save time, reduce costs and improve efficiency in their operations.

What are the benefits of cloud-based process automation?
Cloud-based process automation offers numerous benefits, including cost savings, scalability, rapid deployment, enhanced security and compliance, improved efficiency and accuracy in operations, data analysis capabilities, better customer service, and increased agility. Additionally, cloud-based process automation enables businesses to do more with less resources as it helps automate mundane tasks that would otherwise require manual intervention. This leads to increased productivity across the organization.
How did cloud-based process automation transform the Bureau of Budget and Planning?
Cloud-based process automation has transformed the Bureau of Budget and Planning by streamlining processes, reducing costs, improving accuracy and compliance, increasing agility, and providing better visibility into financial data. It is now possible to quickly access data from multiple sources, analyze it in real time, and produce actionable insights that help inform budget decisions. Additionally, cloud-based process automation enables collaboration between different teams in the bureau and eliminates the need for manual data entry or paper document processing. This leads to faster decision-making and improved efficiency in operations.
What processes were automated?

Cloud-based process automation has enabled the Bureau of Budget and Planning to automate a wide range of processes, such as budgeting and forecasting, data analysis, financial reporting, planning and resource allocation, compliance and risk management, project management, customer service, document creation and management. Additionally, cloud-based process automation can be used to automate mundane tasks such as data entry. This helps improve the efficiency of operations while reducing costs.

How did automation improve efficiency and transparency?
Cloud-based process automation has improved efficiency and transparency by eliminating the need for manual data entry, improving accuracy of financial data, enabling collaboration between teams in different locations, providing better visibility into budgeting and forecasting processes, streamlining document creation and management processes, improving compliance and risk management, and providing actionable insights that help inform budget decisions. Additionally, cloud-based process automation provides a secure platform that allows for greater transparency while reducing the risk of fraudulent activities. This leads to increased trust in the bureau’s financial systems and operations.
What was the ROI of the automation project?
The Bureau of Budget and Planning saw a significant return on investment (ROI) from their cloud-based process automation project. Automation helped to reduce the cost of manual labor, decrease the time needed to complete tasks, increase data accuracy, improve compliance and risk management, enable collaboration between teams in different locations, and provide actionable insights that inform better budget decisions. These improvements resulted in an overall reduction in costs associated with manual processes as well as improved productivity and efficiency.
Are there any other benefits that have been realized?
Yes, the Bureau of Budget and Planning has also seen additional benefits from their cloud-based process automation project. They have been able to increase transparency and visibility into budgeting and forecasting processes, as well as streamline document creation and management processes. Additionally, automating manual processes has allowed staff to focus more on high-value tasks, helping to drive innovation in their business operations and ensuring continued success for the Bureau of Budget and Planning.
How can other organizations benefit from cloud-based process automation?
Cloud-based process automation can provide organizations of any size with improved efficiency and cost savings. Automation can help reduce time spent on manual tasks, eliminate errors associated with manual processes, improve compliance and risk management, enable collaboration among teams located in different locations, provide actionable insights that inform better decisions, increase transparency and visibility into budgeting and forecasting processes, streamline document creation and management processes, free up staff to focus on high-value tasks, drive innovation in operations and ensure continued success. Ultimately, cloud-based process automation helps businesses become more organized and efficient while reducing operating costs.

"We want to spend our time on what's important and let automation take care of the rest." - Director

Director Insights for Power Platform

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