Financial planning and forecasting are essential activities of finance and leadership, and especially so in the age of COVID-19.
The Financial Intelligence Tool's (FIT) financial health indicators provide “retrospective” measures of financial health based on historic data. However, any government can use these measures to help plan for the future.
Benefits from integrating FIT's financial health ratios
Our Financial Intelligence Tool (FIT) has long offered a way for users to examine data on specific governments, government types, and specific revenue or expenditure streams. For the first time, FIT has a way to view all important information on a specific government type in one place, using new government-type profiles.
These new profile views for all government types show unique statewide data, including:
The Financial Intelligence Tool's (FIT) role-based functionality has expanded, giving local governments even more leverage over their data. Upon logging into FIT, a local government user has access to these new features:
Financial indicators have received a meaningful update in our Financial Intelligence Tool (FIT), making them even more useful by capitalizing on the power of FIT's statewide collection of financial data.
Comparison power
Each financial health indicator now shows both the mean and median for other governments of your type. A local government can view how its indicator compares to those of similar governments across the state.
Indicators refocused
Whether you are a new user, a casual explorer of data, or a government data power-user, SAO is here to ensure you feel confident using the Financial Intelligence Tool (FIT).
New users rejoice – Get FIT in 15-minutes or less!
The permitting counter was usually a busy place at a local city or county government, with contractors and homeowners stopping in to ask questions or buy permits. Most entities have probably changed their processes to reduce interpersonal contact since the pandemic started.
For some, it might be time to re-evaluate if your temporary solution is working for you and what other options you might have. Here is a current list of resources we have found that could help you.
Options and considerations
We have refreshed our Financial Intelligence Tool (FIT) with fiscal year 2019 data submitted by local governments! FIT makes it easy for you to understand the financial information of local governments in Washington.
Not only did we release the fiscal year 2019 data, but FIT now includes new enhancements based on input from our users. These changes make it an even better and more transparent experience for you. The infographic below lays out what is new with FIT.
Here is a safe bet: You have led more virtual meetings in the past few months than in the prior year. Maybe it has gone from one a month to one a week. Or from one a week to one a day. Or many each day. Virtual meetings are on the rise for everyone, so what can we do to make them better?
Remember the Basics
Even though it's virtual, it's still a meeting. So advice about better meetings still applies, and is even more important because virtual meetings can be more challenging. What are those basics?
Many local governments found themselves abruptly thrust into the world of online meetings when state-level mandates to prevent the spread of coronavirus forced them to cancel in-person events. After several months' experience, you might be reconsidering your initial choice. We have assembled a list of five things to consider when choosing an online meeting platform.
When it comes to financial transaction approvals, more is better, right? Not necessarily.
When we have a “close call,” such as an invoice approval when there was no budget authority, we often hope we can avoid future problems by putting “one more set of eyes” on the situation.
Over time, the number of signature lines grows. So how many approvals do you actually need?
It starts with asking one question
It sounds simple, but just asking each approver, “When this form comes to you, what do you do?” can tell you a lot.