★ GFOA Distinguished Budget Presentation Award Recipient ★
Primary Objective
Streamline budgeting processes to reduce manual workloads, improve departmental collaboration, and enhance transparency for both internal stakeholders and the public.
“I’ve always ‘sold’ [ClearGov] as, it’s one working document. You can control who comes in and out of it… It’s the simplicity of having everyone have access to the budget book at once.”
John Harrington, Finance Director, Village of Woodridge, IL
Challenge
Located just west of Chicago, the Village of Woodridge, IL had long managed its budgeting process through a combination of Tyler’s Enterprise ERP (formerly Munis) solution, manual tools like Microsoft Excel, Word, and PDFs, and paper. This approach led to inefficiencies, inconsistencies, and a heavy administrative burden across departments.
Building budgets in the Village’s ERP system was a slow process that involved working in multiple screens to input budget data and update it as needed. Some payroll projections had to be done outside the system, which added more steps to the process. Departments maintained their own versions of budget data, which often varied in format and content. This made data consolidation a time-consuming task for the finance team.
After budgeting was completed, Village staff created their budget books by manually updating charts and text using Word- and Excel-based schedules. They then manually formatted and updated multiple sections into PDF form. Departmental collaboration involved circulating printed paper reports, which increased the staff’s workload even further.
“Before ClearGov, we had a process in place that used our ERP system to enter our budget information. It’s a little tedious. It requires the user to navigate multiple screens to enter budget information for each budget line item. And then, the finance staff had to create additional schedules and reports for each department to review. So, during our department budget meetings, there was a lot more paper involved.”
John Harrington, Finance Director, Village of Woodridge, IL
Solution
When Finance Director John Harrington came to Woodridge in 2023, he saw the limitations of the Village’s existing budgeting system and processes. Harrington had used ClearGov Operational Budgeting and Personnel Budgeting at another municipality prior to his arrival at the Village, and he recognized ClearGov’s potential to streamline operations and improve collaboration.
Harrington knew from the start that he wanted to adopt ClearGov Operational Budgeting, Personnel Budgeting, Capital Budgeting, Digital Budget Book, and Transparency to improve the Village’s budgeting, reporting, and engagement processes. The Village adopted these products over time, with FY25 budget being the first budget for which it used all five ClearGov products.
“I knew what ClearGov could do coming in, and it’s easier to sell something when you’ve used it, or the majority of the functions. You can explain, ‘Here’s why it worked.’”
John Harrington, Finance Director, Village of Woodridge, IL
Implementation
The Village of Woodridge approached ClearGov implementation by having their Budget Analyst and Fiscal Operations Manager become the Village’s resident ClearGov experts. ClearGov’s client services team provided training and strong support to these two team members, helping them set the platform up and learn its ins and outs.
These two employees then trained other departments in using ClearGov. When Woodridge staff encountered questions or limitations, they turned to ClearGov’s support team to identify solutions or alternative workflows. As a result, implementation was embraced by all Village departments.
The Village initially implemented ClearGov Operational Budgeting and Personnel Budgeting. As staff grew comfortable with the platform, Woodridge phased in ClearGov Capital Budgeting. Once Woodridge had all of its budgeting information updated with ClearGov, it then adopted ClearGov Digital Budget Book. Woodridge most recently implemented Transparency as a one-stop-shop for financial and demographic information about the community.
“[ClearGov] is not hard to use. I haven’t had anyone that has struggled going in and dropping amounts into the budget. And it does save time.”
John Harrington, Finance Director, Village of Woodridge, IL
Results
Woodridge experienced numerous benefits in implementing ClearGov Operational Budgeting, Personnel Budgeting, Capital Budgeting, Digital Budget Book, and Transparency:
An award-winning Digital Budget Book: Woodridge has been the recipient of the GFOA Distinguished Budget Book Presentation award for over 10 years. Woodridge’s FY25 budget book was its first that was built with Digital Budget Book, and it won a GFOA Distinguished Budget Presentation Award. Using ClearGov’s built-in GFOA and ASBO award checklist, Harrington notes that he expects Woodridge to build GFOA award-winning budget books each year moving forward.
Time savings including over a week saved in document preparation: Using ClearGov negated the Village’s need to rely on preparing paper budget supporting documents. Harrington estimates that this saved his team a week’s worth of time. Harrington notes that entering budget information during their initial year of ClearGov implementation also saved staff time for all departments.
Automated scenario planning: Harrington especially appreciates the ClearGov budgeting suite’s automated scenario-planning capabilities. For instance, ClearGov has allowed Woodridge to quickly and efficiently model different payroll rate increase scenarios without changing their original operating budget. Previously, this would have entailed manually updating individual department schedules.
Efficient real-time budget reviews and revisions: ClearGov Operational Budgeting and Personnel Budgeting have allowed Harrington’s team to conduct live, on-screen budget reviews during budget meetings to review accounts and historical details and make a variety of changes on the spot. This has streamlined their budget planning processes, especially during more line-by-line-focused meetings.
Streamlined budget book preparation: Harrington’s team no longer has to manually update tables, charts, capital item pages, and formats to suit budget book changes. Now, Village staff can use ClearGov to quickly issue uniform budget book updates — all in a fraction of the time.
Improved collaboration with departments: ClearGov’s intuitive interface made it easy for Woodridge’s Budget Analyst and Fiscal Operations Manager to quickly train other departments in using the system. Now with ClearGov in place, all Woodridge departments manage their budget data in the same way, reducing the time previously spent on formatting and consolidation.
Easy expansion of ClearGov toolkit: Once Woodridge had adopted Operational Budgeting, Personnel Budgeting, and Capital Budgeting, Harrington called it a “simple transition” to adopt Digital Budget Book for the Village’s budget book (and Transparency later on).
The Village of Woodridge has successfully transitioned from manual, disconnected budgeting processes to a fully integrated, collaborative, and efficient system. ClearGov’s suite of solutions has empowered staff, improved budgeting accuracy, and enhanced transparency for staff and residents alike.
“In my old world, I spent a lot of time updating Excel schedules to get ready for the next year… with the budget process. When it’s in the [ClearGov] system, you can just roll it forward, and you’re ready to move forward.”
John Harrington, Finance Director, Village of Woodridge, IL
