Situation

The Port of Los Angeles had identified a series of bottlenecks in its budgeting and planning processes, including a lack of automated integration between General Ledger (GL) and budget data, and no synchronization between GL Accounts and Organizations. Additionally, manual position transfers across divisions were inconsistent and time-consuming, and regular tasks, such as calculating and transferring salary and benefit numbers to line items, and budget book generation, lacked efficiency and effectiveness. POLA had no central repository to capture supporting and appropriation details, and had limited financial reporting facilities, with a long cycle for data reconciliation.
POLA desired the following results from a modern planning and budgeting system:

  • Incorporation of target-based budgeting and the ability to share information with divisions;
  • An automated budget submittal and approval process with automatic freezing of submitted budget worksheets;
  • The ability for all divisions to enter requested information into a single system;
  • Abilities to mass update all position/employee salary or benefit information across divisions.

We have you and your staff to thank for the professionalism and commitment in successfully completing this critical project that has moved the financial systems of the Port of Los Angeles into the 21st century.”

Karl K.Y. Pan Chief Financial Officer, The Port of Los Angeles
Let’s Create Progress Together!

We have you and your staff to thank for the professionalism and commitment in successfully completing this critical project that has moved the financial systems of the Port of Los Angeles into the 21st century.”

Karl K.Y. Pan Chief Financial Officer, The Port of Los Angeles

Solutions & Benefits

AST brought many years of expertise in Port Authority Budgeting engagements to POLA’s project, and successfully implemented Hyperion Public Sector Planning and Budgeting, including industry best practices. The solution provides real-time integration with Oracle GL, keeping all chart of account segments synchronized and available in real time. The integrated system imports data from human resource systems, with the ability to modify this data as part of the budgeting process. A variety of salary and non-salary components of compensation are also now supported, including step-based, rate-based, and value-based computations of salary.
A summary of the benefits realized by POLA includes:

  • Shortened data reconciliation time by 60%.
  • Shortened closing and planning cycle time by 25%.
  • Gained control of data creation, modification, and synchronization.
  • Reduced use of email, calls, and offline spreadsheets by fully leveraging workflow and approval features.
  • Produced quality reports and budget books.
  • Achieved one system, with a single source of truth.
Industry: Ports and Port Authorities

Solution Components:

  • Hyperion Public Sector Planning and Budgeting
  • Hyperion Planning Plus
  • Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management Adapter Suite
why ast poster why ast poster

Why AST?


AST transformed the budgeting processes at POLA by providing an integrated system for simple-to-complex budget reporting, established business rules, data validation, strong data governance processes, audit capabilities, and reporting.