As cities across the globe increasingly focus on aligning strategic plans with operations (especially in critical areas like annual budgets and procurement), it’s become increasingly important to transform strategic planning efforts into concrete, actionable objectives.
Below, we’ll learn how strategic financial planning —facilitated by tools like Euna Budget and Euna Procurement—are revolutionizing the way cities implement a strategic vision.
From Strategic Planning to Actionable Outcomes
Cities engage in strategic mapping to set forth their long-term vision and objectives—it’s the first step in developing successful strategic plans that translate community goals into tangible outcomes.
Yet, the transition from the strategic planning process to execution often presents a significant challenge, as evidenced by municipalities like Gaithersburg, MD, and Berkeley, CA.
The City of Gaithersburg’s strategic plan, with its nine Strategic Outcome Areas, displays a comprehensive approach to urban development. By adopting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound) goals, Gaithersburg makes its organizational goals actionable, providing a clear pathway for transforming their strategic vision into budget allocations.
The City of Berkeley further illustrates this process. By identifying long-term goals and short-term priorities in their strategic plan, Berkeley sets a precedent for how cities can keep their budget in lockstep with strategic objectives. Each department’s performance measures—derived from the strategic plan—guide fiscal discussions, ensuring resources are allocated to projects that advance the city’s strategic goals.
The Role of Procurement in the Strategic Planning Process
Strategic procurement isn’t merely a function of municipal government: it’s also one of many strategic planning tools that can drive meaningful change.
Through a strategic planning process, cities can use procurement to achieve organizational goals relating to sustainability, economic development, and social equity. This shifts government procurement from a routine administrative task to a strategic priority, warranting dedicated resources and innovative approaches to be successful.
For instance, a strategic plan prioritizing green procurement can lead to taxpayer dollars being spent on sustainable products and services, influencing the local market and promoting environmental responsibility.
Similarly, strategic objectives focusing on supporting local businesses through procurement can enhance economic vitality and community resilience. Approaches to incorporating long-range goals into procurement can include:
- Goal-Oriented Sourcing: By analyzing spending patterns and vendor performance, Euna Procurement helps cities procure goods and services that align with strategic goals like sustainability or economic development.
- Efficiency and Transparency: The platform also automates more time-consuming elements of the procurement process, reducing administrative burdens and increasing transparency—the latter of which is crucial for maintaining public trust. Budget Book Studio provides data visualization tools and automated reporting, allowing government budget teams to present financial plans transparently to their community.
- Vendor Management: Euna Procurement—providing access to over 700,000 vendors across North America through its network—allows cities to manage vendor relationships effectively, ensuring that they partner with suppliers who share their commitment to achieving strategic goals.
The Strategic Budget: A Crucial Link
A strategic budget acts as an important connector between a city’s strategic plan and its execution, detailing how financial resources will be allocated to support objectives. However, crafting a strategic financial plan that accurately reflects and supports organizational goals requires sophisticated tools. They not only need to be capable of handling complex data, but also communicating a financial plan transparently to the community.
Euna Budget and Euna Procurement emerge as pivotal solutions in this landscape.
Euna Solutions: Connecting the Dots
Euna Budget transforms the process, allowing cities to categorize fiscal items under specific strategic goals and ensuring that a city’s financial planning aligns with an organization’s goals. Furthermore, staff can monitor spending effectiveness in real time with integrated performance metrics, ensuring resources go where they’re needed most.
Euna Procurement, on the other hand, revolutionizes strategic sourcing by analyzing spending patterns and vendor performance. This not only improves efficiency and transparency but also ensures that government procurement decisions support the city’s strategic priorities. By expertly managing vendor relationships, Euna Procurement empowers cities to work alongside suppliers who are aligned with their strategic goals.
In Summary
The integration of strategic planning into government budget and procurement processes is crucial for turning municipal visions into reality. And, as cities like Gaithersburg and Berkeley prove, this sort of incorporation is not only possible but essential for sustainable urban development. With the support of Euna Solutions, cities can ensure that their strategies are more than just documents—they are actionable guides that lead to measurable, impactful outcomes.
To learn how Euna Budget or Euna Procurement can support your agency and its strategic plans, contact us today.