Budgeting and controlling

The budget plan as a spending control tool

The ChiliONE platform integrates the budgeting process with the entire spending cycle – from plan preparation, through purchase requests, contracts and orders, all the way to the settlement financial documents (e.g. invoices). The budget becomes a living controlling tool that at every stage of the processes guarantees compliance with the plan and prevents unforeseen expenditure. A solution especially important for public administration units, for which budget control is a statutory requirement.

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Budget planning

The platform supports two budgeting approaches – bottom-up and top-down – tailored to the organisation’s structure and management processes. In the bottom-up model, teams submit budget requirements with justifications, which are aggregated, analysed and approved at management level. In the top-down model, management or the relevant departments (controlling, procurement) create the company’s global plan based on historical data and strategic goals, then distribute the plans to teams for adjustments; once approved, changes are merged into the central plan. For each approach the system supports multi-level approval workflows with the option of parallel approvals by the different units responsible for individual budget categories.

You automate the collection and aggregation of budget requirements, eliminating manual summation errors

You cut the budget planning cycle from 4–6 weeks to 2–3 weeks thanks to parallel team collaboration

You ensure plan alignment with strategic goals through multi-level approvals 

You reduce planning errors by benchmarking the plan against historical data 

You increase process flexibility – teams can submit revisions and justify any deviations

Versioning and revisions

The budget plan is not a static document – it evolves continuously in response to the organisation’s needs, revenue changes, investments and new initiatives. The system automatically versions every budget change, preserving the full modification history with information about who, when and why changed a given line. Employees can browse previous versions, compare changes and restore historical plan versions. Every change goes through an approval workflow in accordance with established limits – minor revisions can be approved by team managers, while larger changes require sign-off at management or controlling level.

You maintain a full audit trail of budget changes required for Supreme Audit Office inspections and internal audits

You eliminate confusion caused by multiple plan versions – the whole team always works on the current plan

You reduce errors caused by accidental restores of old versions – every change is intentional and approved 

You speed up budget change processing with automated workflows – instead of emails and meetings, changes are approved online  

You support compliance – every employee can view the change history and analyse it for reporting purposes

Budget as a spending control tool

The approved budget becomes the controlling reference point for every expenditure in the organisation. Purchase requests, contracts, orders and invoices must reference a budget line and may not exceed it. The system automatically checks budget availability at every stage of the procurement process – when approving a purchase request it blocks unfunded expenditure, when concluding a contract it reports remaining funds, and when registering an invoice it checks compliance with the contract and budget. The budget “lives” continuously – employees can see in real time how much remains to be spent, and the system automatically notifies them when a limit is approaching exhaustion.

You block unfunded expenditure at the purchase request approval stage

You identify budget risks in real time – alerts about approaching limit exhaustion enable decisions on reallocation or cost reduction

You reduce budget overruns by 95% – the system will not allow spending more than planned  

You support compliance for public administration units – full budget control is a statutory requirement and is regularly verified in audits  

You optimise spending – full visibility of remaining funds enables more informed purchasing decisions and supplier negotiations

Selected case studies

Danone. Logistics support for a French FMCG manufacturer.

Black Red White. HR process support for Poland’s largest furniture group.

Poznań University of Physical Education. Efficient document workflow at a fast-growing university.

Frequently asked questions

Yes. The system supports any hierarchical budget structure – from the company or institution’s central plan, through department and division budgets, down to team and project budgets. The central plan can be created top-down (centrally, with the option to adjust downwards) or bottom-up (collecting requirements from each level and aggregating upwards). Changes at any level are propagated up and down the hierarchy while maintaining the consistency of the organisation’s overall plan.

Budget changes during the year are handled through versioning – each change creates a new plan version with a date, author and justification. The system handles various types of changes: reallocations between budget lines (changing allocation without changing the total budget), fund transfers (moving actual money between budgets), and budget increases/decreases (changing planned expenditure). Every change goes through an approval workflow tailored to the type and size of the change – minor reallocations are approved by a manager, while large transfers require consent from management or controlling.

System behaviour in this area is configurable. At every stage of the processes the system checks budget availability and can block, for example, a purchase request if its value exceeds the remaining funds. An employee can reduce the request value, reassign it to a different budget line, or request a budget transfer. The system also supports budget “reservation” – once a request is approved, the planned amount is reserved in the budget, reducing the available funds for subsequent requests.

Yes. The system supports any budget categories tailored to the organisation’s cost structure. You can create budgets for operational running costs, capital investments, salaries, external services, materials, energy – each category can have its own approval and control rules. For each category you can define limits, approval processes and reports specific to its nature. For example, personnel costs can be monitored as headcount, service costs as contract values, and investments as projects.

Budget transfers are movements of planned funds between lines or teams without changing the total budget. The system handles two types of transfer: reallocations (changing allocation between lines within the total budget) and increases/decreases (changing the total budget). Each transfer goes through an approval workflow – transfers up to selected thresholds can be approved automatically or by team management, while larger transfers require consent at controlling or senior management level. The change history is fully auditable.

Book a system demo

Would you like to see how the ChiliONE platform can be used for budgeting and spending control in your organisation? Book a demo with a walkthrough of the features tailored to the budgeting processes of your company or institution.