Modernizing the Budget Request Process: Leveraging Data Virtualization and AI for Real-Time Decision Support

This session will showcase how collaboration among the Budget Office, Administrative Information Technology Services (AITS), and Technology Solutions transformed a cumbersome approval process into a streamlined, real-time decision support platform. The journey began with implementing an electronic workflow using Form Builder to standardize budget request submissions. While this improvement improved data collection and routing, leadership review still required extensive manual extraction, cleansing, and consolidation of data in Excel.

To address these challenges, submission data was virtualized using Denodo and integrated into a custom leadership review interface. This innovation eliminated repetitive data exports and enabled budget analysts and leadership teams to access live budget request information as submissions were entered and updated. Most recently, Microsoft Copilot has been introduced to further accelerate the process by generating initial summaries of budget requests directly from the virtualized data source, significantly reducing the time required to prepare executive-level briefing materials.

Attendees will learn how combining workflow automation, data virtualization, and AI can improve transparency, reduce manual effort, and enhance strategic decision-making without requiring large-scale system replacement projects.

About this event:

Presenters:

• Saleha Rizvi, Associate Director, Business Systems, Budget and Financial Analysis
• Dana Librot, Director, Budget Model and Financial Analysis, Budget and Financial Analysis
• Colleen Kehoe, Senior Director, Budget and Financial Analysis, Budget and Financial Analysis
• Tanya Wood Smith, Enterprise System Specialist, Administrative Information Technology Services
• Radhika Shah Reddy, Director, Software Development and Delivery
• Vishakha Patangay, Assistant Director, Software Development

Track:

Party Up — Share strategies, partnerships, and success stories that help us form stronger parties, coordinate across guilds, and conquer challenges together.

Experience Needed:

Intermediate

Learning Outcome:

Identify opportunities to modernize business processes without implementing a new enterprise application.

Understand how data virtualization can provide real-time access to operational data while reducing manual reporting effort.

Explore practical approaches for using generative AI to support executive reporting and decision-making.

Build a roadmap for evolving institutional processes from workflow automation to AI-enabled analytics.

Additional Keywords:

Data Virtualization, Artificial Intelligence, Denodo, Microsoft Copilot, FormBuilder