MHUG ConferenceDigital transformation is changing how communities relate to their residents and local businesses. Municipality employees benefit from increased productivity and less time spent on repetitive tasks. However, not all software products are the same, and working across multiple technologies can cause its own problems. That is why we have designed our FastTrackGov® (FTG) community development software and our Financial Management Software (FMS) accounting system to work hand in hand. Read on to learn more about the advantages of a comprehensive, integrated solution.
Why Choose an Integrated Solution
Choosing an integrated software solution helps streamline your municipality’s workflow for both simple inquiries and more complex processes like construction permitting and licensing. Combining software to manage these processes with products that take care of financial management allows municipal leaders to control progress and costs simultaneously.
Our developers have created two software products that work extremely well on their own, FTG for community development work and FMS for comprehensive accounting. Both combine to deliver a powerful all-in-one solution for municipalities looking to improve their operations.
Integrated software solutions like FTG and FMS avoid many of the common issues communities encounter with individual solutions:
- Avoid compatibility problems between products
- One single platform gives access to all relevant information
- Sensitive data is held safely in one database
How FTG and FMS Work Together
Every software product our developers design is created with the needs of municipalities in mind. We understand that local government agencies have different requirements from private sector companies, and we are committed to giving municipalities access to the best possible software solutions.
When it comes to FTG and FMS, both have been developed with municipalities in mind. In addition, our team of developers has also ensured that these products integrate seamlessly. In practice, your team receives one solution that covers every process from licensing and case management to community management, online citizen services, and financial management.
Municipality employees can access details about all activities for each project or individual property on one centralized database. They can also see how a project is progressing against its planned budget and timeframe.
Moreover, integrated software products simplify interdepartmental communication. Rather than pulling separate files, employees in different departments access the same information in real time. There is little risk of miscommunication, misunderstandings, or lost data.
Why Choose FMS
FMS offers comprehensive features that cover all aspects of municipality accounting. The software has also been designed to be flexible and customizable ensuring it meets every community’s needs.
Here is a closer look at some of its stand-out applications:
1. General Ledger
The FMS General Ledger delivers a solid chart of accounts that can easily be customized to your municipality’s specific reporting requirements.
List views and dashboards are only two of the reporting options. Our General Ledger can accommodate customizations such as multiple ledgers and multiple fiscal years. With a few clicks, your employees and municipality leaders can access daily, weekly, and monthly reporting depending on their needs at the time.
FMS’s General Ledger allows your finance team to route requests to individual departments for budgetary approval, and send them to an accountant for verification of details or a manager for final approval. All of this functionality is accessible from one single place.
2. Accounts Payable
The accounts payable module is perhaps the most important tool to help your community manage outgoing cash. This part of FMS allows your team to reconcile accounts automatically, reducing the time-consuming monthly closing cycle.
Your accounting team can route invoices directly to managers for approval before paying and match invoices with receipts automatically. Both functions save time and minimize the need for repetitive tasks. As a result, finance professionals spend less time processing information and more time optimizing payment and invoicing processes.
The result is simple: your municipality benefits from smoother cash flow and better control of its finances.
3. Accounts Receivable
Like accounts payable, accounts receivable is integral to controlling your municipality’s financial health. FMS’s accounts receivable supports centralized or decentralized billing and accommodates multiple cash accounting methods.
A full suite of accounting tools allows team members to calculate sales and excise taxes, freight charges, and discounts within a few minutes. Plus, your finance team gains access to powerful reporting tools, allowing them to gain unparalleled insights into the community’s financial situation.
4. Purchasing and Encumbrance Accounting
FMS helps community leaders make smarter purchasing decisions and manage upcoming financial commitments. For example, the procurement software module automatically matches purchase orders, receivers, invoices, and freight charges. As a result, individual department leaders gain a better understanding of their budgetary situation.
The module minimizes paperwork by allowing employees to create requisitions and automatically send them to the respective managers for approval. Employees can also request quotations from external suppliers and match them with trade responses.
Like all FMS modules, the procurement software accommodates a locality’s special needs such as purchase price variants and commitment accounting.
5. Workflow Management
FMS streamline takes workflow management for the public sector to the next level. Municipal finance teams can customize the routing and approvals to their requirements and eliminate time-consuming financial paperwork.
Once set up, this workflow management software can automate requisitions, purchase orders, invoices, and reporting. Automation also limits the potential for mistakes during reporting processes.
How Your Municipality Can Transition Smoothly
Is your community ready to transition and streamline its community development and financial management processes? Digital transformation is a big undertaking, but with the right partner, this transition can work smoothly with minimal disruption.
By choosing software products designed to work together like FTG and FMS, you are laying the foundation for a sustainable digital future. Your employees benefit from increased productivity without getting to grips with different products.
Residents and businesses will notice that applications are processed faster. They will also appreciate the increased transparency, allowing them to check the status of an application or access inspection data. Consequently, municipalities and citizens form a closer connection.
We work hard to support communities with a thorough training program and ongoing support. Our goal is to help your municipality work smarter and get the most out of your digital transformation.