Overview
Managing budgets, commitments, obligations, and expenditures is a daunting task for government executives, often hampered by fragmented systems and lack of actionable insights. The Financial Intelligence System (FIS) prototype was designed as a proof of concept to centralize financial data, provide real-time updates, and empower decision-making through a unified dashboard tailored to the needs of government agencies.
Challenge
Government executives faced significant barriers to effective financial management, stemming from fragmented systems and a lack of real-time visibility into financial flows.
Without a cohesive platform, executives risked inefficiencies, unspent funds, or budget overages, endangering operational goals.
Without a cohesive platform, executives risked inefficiencies, unspent funds, or budget overages, endangering operational goals.
Fragmented Data Systems
Information scattered across multiple platforms made oversight inefficient.
Lack of Actionable Insights
Decisions were often made without access to up-to-date or comprehensive data.
Disconnected Financial Flows
Tracking commitments, obligations, and expenditures required excessive manual effort.
Missed Optimization Opportunities
Inefficiencies in burn rate monitoring and vendor management prevented smarter resource allocation.
Approach
The team adopted a user-centric, collaborative approach to design a scalable financial management tool that addressed these challenges:
User Research and Design
Engaged CFOs and agency heads through interviews and feedback sessions to identify key pain points, such as fragmented oversight and lack of transparency.
Core Features
- Dashboard Overview:
- Provides key metrics, including budgets, burn rates, and financial trends.
- Department Insights:
- Detailed breakdowns of spending trends, sub-departments, and contracts.
- Vendor Analytics:
- Monitors vendor-specific obligations, contract values, and burn rates.
- Global Search:
- Enables quick access to financial data across departments, vendors, and contracts.
- Comparison Tools:
- Allows side-by-side evaluation of vendors, departments, or contracts.
Scalability
Designed to integrate with external financial systems, enabling deployment across large agencies while offering both granular and high-level insights.
Outcome
The FIS prototype demonstrated how a centralized financial management platform could transform the oversight capabilities of government executives, paving the way for smarter decision-making and resource allocation. By addressing fragmented systems and providing actionable insights, the prototype highlighted the potential for improving efficiency and financial clarity across government entities.
Consolidated Financial Data
Created a unified platform for budgets, expenditures, and vendor contracts.
Enhanced Decision-Making
Delivered actionable insights through analytics and visualizations.
Scalable Framework
Designed for expansion to agency-wide deployment, with potential to integrate predictive analytics and workflow management tools.
Hifi Screens – Detailed view (mobile, tablet, desktop)
Hifi Screens – Select pages (mobile, tablet, desktop)
Hifi Screens – All pages (mobile, tablet, desktop)
Reflection
While the Financial Intelligence System remained in its prototype stage, the process of developing it offered valuable insights into addressing complex financial challenges in large organizations. The project demonstrated the importance of engaging with stakeholders, iterating on user feedback, and envisioning future opportunities for growth and innovation.
Empathy in Design
Engaging with executives ensured solutions aligned with real-world challenges.
Iterative Development
Continuous testing and refinement highlighted the importance of usability.
Future Opportunities
The prototype’s success points to the potential for predictive analytics, enhanced vendor performance insights, and broader system integration in future iterations.
