Exploring the Most Popular State and Local Government Software Programs

Governments at the state level of the United States government require robust and effective data management systems in order to operate at the most transparent, efficient, and collaborative levels possible. Sadly, many of the software programs that are still being used in today’s working environments in the government are cumbersome, outdated, or acts solely as data repositories.

There are many software government technologies available agencies and departments within the state governments of today can leverage data while increasing productivity and improving respective organizations. Government software programs include either a complete standalone suite, a custom program developed by a software development company (such as BairesDev), or applications to cover many series.

It is important that any government software adopted for use is easy to integrate into existing technology stacks, helps administrative tasks instead of hinders, and offers integrated solutions such as data visualization or budget publication.

State and local government require software for a wide variety of uses and functions, including:

• Collaboration and transparency between the government and its citizens.
• Information sharing with the public.
• Production and distribution of data reports.
• Planning, reporting, and forecasting during a budgeting process.
• Monitoring of revenue, transactions, expenses, and other financial data.

Top Management Software for Government Use

Software that has been developed for the public sector and is intended for use by local or state governments normally requires tailoring to meet the exact complex needs of these authorities. Governments use software to maintain data integrity, improve transparency, increase the ease of accessing public records, and promote participation and collaboration efforts between governments and their citizens.

Below are just a few examples of the most popular software programs used by governments of today.

OpenGov 

OpenGov is an integrated cloud solution to help with budgeting, performance, reporting, and communications. It aids government teams to build and visualize their budgets, receive commentary from team members, and get proposals approved on-time. This intuitive user interface also forecasts outcomes and tracks performance. Its effective two-way communication platform, Open Town Hall, helps local governments remove the barriers that sometimes prevent community involvement to help team members gain insight while improving trust from the public.

Kronos Workforce Central 

The Workforce Central Suite by Kronos is a widely-used software tool for driving business outcomes through employee engagement. It helps businesses and government entities alike handle employee time and attendance, absence management, analytics of labor, and many other features into a single management system. This helps organizations of all kinds reduce their labor costs, minimize compliance risk, improve employee engagement, and help teams improve productivity overall.

CGI Advantage 

Enterprise resource planning or ERP is a great solution for small, mid, and large enterprises. The focus is put on budget planning with some unique features like forecasting the unexpected and adjusting the expenses accordingly. CGI Advantage can be hosted in a secure cloud or implemented on-premises. This delivers solutions that simplify and create value through its various processes, including finance management, human resources management, performance budgeting, case management, obligation recovery, and more.

iCompass Technologies 

The focus of iCompass Technologies is the support of local governments in the United States and North America with their council meetings, board, and video management needs. A feature-rich and comprehensive platform for government needs, iCompass provides many extensive tools including meeting management, records management, agenda creation, and much more.

GovPilot 

Named a GovTech 100 company for three years and running, GovPilot is a web-based management platform developed exclusively to help local governments with their digital transformations. This “e-government” management solutions platform enables efficiency within organizations by eliminating single-purpose software programs, unifying departments, and storing data on a single secure, cloud-based platform. Areas of government that benefit from this program include animal control, public complaints, permitting and licensing offices, building and construction, code enforcement, and many others.

CityReporter 

Every year, local governments conduct thousands and thousands of inspections for fire prevention and code enforcement, building permits, public facilities checks, workplace safety, and many others. CityReporter is a comprehensive management solution for inspections such as these that empower governments to conduct faster, better inspections. This software helps government teams improve risk management, efficiency, and record-keeping thanks to its mobile-friendly, customizable interface.

Hyperion by Oracle 

Oracle’s Hyperion Planning software centralizes budgeting, planning, and forecasting into a single solution. This software integrates the operational planning process and finances to improve overall business predictability. Government agencies use Hyperion to reduce the cycle of forecasting, budgeting, and planning by large amounts of time. They also use it to improve the overall accuracy of said forecasts and budgets. The best of all is that it has a light user learning curve thanks to its simplified interface. Hyperion offers superior application deployment, packaged data integration, and better management tools.

Financial Edge NXT

Financial Edge by Blackbaud is software best suited for government and non-profit organizations like schools and churches. It’s cloud-based and compliant with all government standards in accounting. The latest edition is mostly used for mid-sized organizations and companies, as well as local government entities. Financial Edge is a user-friendly and comprehensive software that is perfectly capable of handling all sorts of accounts, including accounts payable, accounts receivables, journal entries, general ledger, and bank reconciliations. There is also a feature to limit your quarterly or yearly expense budget, regardless of the fiscal year, and the “what if” predictions that can predict unusual and extraordinary circumstances, and recalculate your expenses. Non-profit organizations find this software very useful with its Raisers Edge option which keeps track of every donation and donor information. The makers of Financial Edge offer superb customer service with a lot of how-to videos and 24/7 access.  

In the end, state and local government agencies require software tools that help administrators reduce costs, improve transparency and data relay between the government and its people, generate ideas, and better the decision-making process based on data. These software solutions help governments bring their teams together while streamlining processes to improve outcomes for a better tomorrow.