Solve #12 and use Business in Action 9.2

\fBusiness in Action 9.2 Moving from Spreadsheets to Intranet Budgeting The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is one of nine multiprogram national laboratories of the U.S. Department of Energy. PNNL is operated by Battelle Science and Technology International, a global science and technology enterprise that conducts $3,000,000,000 worth of research and development annually. The Facilities & Operations (F&O) Business Office at PNNL has over 130 budget activities, each of which re- quires an annual budget. The total annual budget is $70,000,000. Prior to 2000, activity managers were re- quired to use Excel to process budget information. The F&O Business Office then uploaded this information to formulate the division's budget. As the F&O Business Office began the budget process for 2001, management decided to build a Web-based, or intranet, budget and planning system. The new system allowed managers to use the Web to input budget information directly, thus eliminating the need to upload initial budgets and subsequent budget changes. Moving to intranet budgeting benefited PNNL's F&O Business Office in several ways. Activity managers no longer had to use Excel to enter budget information, which saved 450 hours. The F&O Business Office saved 60 hours by no longer having to upload Excel budget information. Budget reports are easy to create, and the system provides real-time reports for analysis and project management. 017 Boston Academic Publishing, Inc., d.b.a FlatWorld. All rights reserved. MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING VERSION 2.1 Many organizations are adopting intranet budgeting as the primary source of planning and control. As the fin- ancial specialist at PNNL stated, intranet budgeting provides "a tool that is easy to use, accurate, and simple and will continue to save us time and money." Sources: Mary F. Astley, 'Intranet Budgeting, " Strategic Finance, May 2003; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, "Home Page,' http://www.pnl.gov