Empowering Federal Managers with Enterprise Decision Management Tools for Budget Planning and Forecasting

As April kicks off the second half of the federal government’s fiscal year, federal portfolio, program, and project managers are gearing up for their annual race to spend every dollar of their remaining budgets by Sept. 30. With the pressure to use and account for every dollar, these public servants are constantly seeking new capabilities and tools to help them make better decisions faster.

Fortunately, enterprise decision management tools, augmented with workflow automation aided by artificial intelligence, are proving to be invaluable for agencies looking to maximize the use of their budget dollars. These tools enable federal managers to find, understand, and utilize their data more effectively, ultimately leading to better decision-making processes.

In order to execute their second-half blitz, federal managers must sift through vast amounts of data across thousands of programs. They face challenges such as duplicative projects, unseen dependencies, time-consuming data calls, and legacy tools and formats. However, with the help of new advances in AI, workflow automation, and other advanced technologies, agencies are able to improve their budget forecasting and planning processes.

By strategically applying AI and automation technologies at scale, federal managers can reduce decision time, increase transparency, and enhance the discovery and traceability of data across programs. These capabilities are being used to improve strategic alignment, accelerate mission success, and potentially expand budgets in the future.

In 2024, the proliferation of AI is inevitable, and enterprise decision management platforms incorporating AI and automation technologies are crucial for federal managers to visualize data in new ways. Workflow automation can integrate diverse data sources, while AI capabilities can provide gap analysis and automated recommendations tailored to each agency’s unique mission requirements.

New decision-oriented workflows are transforming program actions with AI recommendations into data-driven learning cycles, making it easier to ask questions, get answers, and learn faster. Predictive natural language processing (NLP) is also being used to drill into each project, mine unstructured data, and link investments based on AI suggestions.

These features create transparency across data sets, enabling data organization and discovery in ways that reveal actionable insights. Portfolio managers can identify similar investments, project managers can adjust risk tolerance, and program managers can streamline data calls. By linking funding, project, portfolio, and capability data, managers can visualize alignment mapping of budget flows.

When considering enterprise decision management platforms with AI-augmented workflow automation for budget planning, federal managers should look for features such as similarity analysis, contextual search, command view, machine learning, and fast setup capabilities. These features can drive complete assessment and better decision-making processes.

Empowering managers to make better decisions faster not only improves annual spending for federal agencies but also enhances the government’s long-term capacity to serve the American people. Predictive tools for divestment decisions can help agencies optimize return on taxpayer money by identifying duplicative or deprioritized efforts.

At AFCEA WEST 2024, Rob Wolborsky, chief engineer at Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR), shared how his team recovered over $10 million through divestment analysis, enabling NAVWAR to fund strategic efforts such as AI. The U.S. Department of Defense’s willingness to test operational AI concepts as part of enterprise decision management sets a model for success across the federal government.

As federal agencies continue to explore and invest in these capabilities, their portfolio, program, and project managers can play a key role in leading federal digital modernization efforts. By leveraging AI, automation, and other advanced technologies, federal managers can make more informed decisions, optimize budget spending, and drive long-term success for their agencies.