To replace, consolidate and enhance numerous failing legacy financial systems, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) developed an in-house budget analysis and statistical information application called BASIS. Using an intuitive and accessible user-interface design, BASIS provides analysts, departments and executive leadership with instant access to budget and performance data in a clear and concise fashion.

After finishing the development of BASIS, OMB looked to automate the time-consuming and tedious processes of copying content, migrating data, and uploading documents to a commercial open budget platform. The self-publishing website you are viewing now, OPERATING OPEN BUDGET, leverages BASIS to instantly display data, visualizations, and content. These scalable solutions ensure evolving budget needs are met in a cost-effective manner.

• Full Operating Budget Lifecycle Management *(including multi-level workflows, programs, budget requests, quarterly analysis, savings plan, target reductions, supplementals & transfers, future fiscal impacts, chargebacks, PO liquidation, narratives, department submission, planning (in progress), workforce (in progress), macro analysis, task management, )
• Entire Budget Publication *(800+ pages | 5 volumes / year)
• Decision Making Packets *(including versioning)
• Performance Management *(including PM to Budget mapping)
• Comprehensive Real-time Reporting *(including prior years data)
• Accessible *(ADA compliant, mobile, browser independent, works on any device)
• Complete User Management *(single sign on, permissions, user roles)
• Built-In Help | Video Training Tutorials

• Self-Publishing *(Entire Operating Budget Publications for each Year / Version)
• Department, Agency & Program Explorer
• Visual Budget Snapshot *(by Expenditures | Revenues | Funds)
• Exportable Open Data
• Downloadable PDFs *(for Departments | Budget Chapters | Schedules | Reports)
• Smart Search Engine *(Including Synonym Matching)
• Interactive Charts | Graphs | Tables
• Historical Reference *(Filter by Year | Version)
• Instantly Translates *(100+ languages)
• Accessible *(ADA compliant, mobile, browser independent, works on any device)
• Help | Video Tutorials

MULTIPLE PROBLEMS FOR MONTGOMERY COUNTY

The Office of Management and Budget survived for many years on a multitude of expensive and outdated IT legacy systems to produce the Capital and Operating Budget. This included custom software applications, MS Access databases, Excel spreadsheets, cumbersome and underproducing ERP systems and even paper-based forms. See diagram below (each yellow circle represents a different IT system used to put the budget together)

OMB IT SYSTEMS IN 2014

In many cases, these systems created cyber security vulnerabilities and could no longer be adjusted to accommodate simple changes in the budget process. It was a nightmare for both OMB and department budget analysts to figure out which system to use during each step in the budget process. This led to duplication of effort, long hours, frustration and numerous mistakes. In many cases, staff would have to bounce back and forth between 3-4 different systems to generate a report to validate a single data point. Even worse, these IT systems were often not in sync and led to situations where data for a department in one system would show a different figure than another. On top of all that, the amount of effort it took the IT team to maintain these systems far exceeded normal working hours, and the expensive ERP budget system Montgomery County implemented drained county dollars and resources.

THE MASSIVELY LABORIOUS PREDICAMENT FOR OMB

OMB maintained a tedious commercial open budget platform for four years. The effort to keep the content and data up-to date and accurate was substantial. To put it in perspective, for the 70+ departments and agencies supported by Montgomery County’s Operating Budget, OMB staff would have to manually copy every single paragraph of text and image from a Microsoft Word document and paste it into the commercial open budget’s text editor. One single department could have 20 different sections with multiple paragraphs and content. For data, OMB IT staff would have to manually extract the data from BASIS, transform the structure of the data to meet the vendor’s data format standard, revalidate all the numbers, and then upload it to the vendors site. On top of all that, OMB had to perform this cumbersome process twice a year at a minimum.

ONE SOLUTION FOR MONTGOMERY COUNTY

BASIS has replaced all outdated and failing legacy systems and greatly simplified the budget process. OMB and department budget analysts now go directly to one system to manage the entire Operating Budget lifecycle. This greater efficiency and focus allows Montgomery County to attract and retain higher quality analysts who provide greater analytical depth to the decision-making process.

The measurable results are undeniable, but one stat stands out above all else: In OMB’s busiest quarter (January-March) of the year, OMB analysts (20) spent 477 LESS overtime hours in 2017 than they did in 2016 utilizing the outdated systems. That is almost 3 days per analyst!

Even better, BASIS and OPERATING OPEN BUDGET were developed entirely in-house and there are no licensing, maintenance, hardware or software costs. Enhancements, new functionality and reporting are deployed within hours instead of days / weeks / months.

OMB IT SYSTEMS IN 2018

It cannot be overstated how much BASIS and OPERATING OPEN BUDGET impact Montgomery County. They create efficiencies, save tax-payer dollars, promote transparency, transform the budget process and ultimately lead to our County Executive having better options to make decisions. BASIS and OPERATING OPEN BUDGET are a collaborative effort across all County agencies and departments, and everyone is impacted by their success!!!

Director:	Jennifer Bryant
Phone:	240.777.2800
Address:	Office of Management and Budget  101 Monroe Street, 14th Floor  Rockville, MD 20850
Email:	[email protected]