From Department Spreadsheets to Real-Time Budgeting at a Museum
Industry:
Solution:
Client:
Arts & Cultural
Workday Adaptive Planning
Museum
The Challenge
A budgeting process split across disconnected department spreadsheets
Arts and cultural organizations run on a rhythm that's far more granular than the annual or monthly budgets most planning tools are built around. A single sold-out weekend or a rained-out day can swing a month's numbers significantly, so attendance and revenue often need to be planned at a daily level rather than a monthly average.
For one museum, that level of detail was difficult to manage. Planning was done entirely in Excel, with each department building its own separate model and sending finished results to FP&A.
FP&A then had to manually stitch everything together into a single consolidated budget file. Planning daily attendance and revenue in spreadsheets was cumbersome and tedious, and personnel budgets had to be entered department by department.
Leadership couldn't see the full budget until that manual consolidation was finished.
The museum needed a shared planning model built around how the organization actually operates.
Our Approach
Building one shared model around how the museum plans
Ascend worked with the museum to replace its collection of department-level spreadsheets with a single, connected planning model in Workday Adaptive Planning. Rather than forcing the museum's operations into monthly averages, the model was designed to plan at the level of detail the organization actually needs.
Every department now plans in the same environment, so the budget comes together as it is built instead of after the fact.
The Solution
Putting daily detail and consistent inputs into a single planning model. Ascend configured Adaptive Planning around the museum's most important planning drivers.
Daily Attendance and Revenue Planning
Models were built to plan attendance and revenue at the daily time stratum, something that had been cumbersome and tedious in Excel but became straightforward in Adaptive.
Position- and Title-Based Salary Rates
Default salary rates were configured by position and title, making personnel budget entry fast and consistent across departments.
Automatic Consolidation
Because every department plans in one connected model, results consolidate automatically as soon as they're saved, eliminating the manual stitching of department files.
The Results
Easier budget entry and real-time visibility for leadership
The new planning environment changed how the museum builds and reviews its budget.
Daily
Attendance and revenue planning, replacing monthly averages and tedious spreadsheet work
1 shared model
Replacing separate department spreadsheets and a manually consolidated budget file
Real-time
Consolidated budget review and reporting for leadership as soon as plans are saved
Instead of waiting on FP&A to manually consolidate department submissions, leadership can review and report on the budget in real time.
The Impact
From manual consolidation to a connected, real-time budget
Workday Adaptive Planning gave the museum a planning process that matches the rhythm of its operations.
By planning attendance and revenue at a daily level and standardizing personnel inputs by position and title, the finance team can build a more accurate budget with far less manual effort.
The result is a budget that consolidates as it's built, giving leadership timely visibility without the delays of stitching spreadsheets together.