Budgeting App

A web app that carries each department’s budget from next year’s plan to the money spent every month

Platform
Web app, internal
Company
TÜV NORD Indonesia
Users
Department managers, heads of division, Finance
Year
2025

The Beginning

At TÜV NORD Indonesia, the budget is set once a year and spent over twelve months. It is built on two levels: a division is made up of several departments, and each department plans its own numbers.

A few months before the year begins, every department manager writes a plan for it. The Head of Division (HoD) checks the plans of their departments, adjusts what needs adjusting and submits the final version. Finance then checks whether the plan holds up, and approves it or sends it back.

Approval is only the start. Each department gets a target for every month, money is spent against it, and plans change along the way. The budget has to keep up all year.

The challenge

A plan made once a year has to stay true every month.

So the design question became

How can managers, heads of divisionm and finance plan a year together, then keep track of it month by month?

The Cycle

Before drawing screens, I put the process in order: who touches the budget, and when. It splits into two halves.

  1. Before the year

  2. Plan

    Each department manager fills in next year’s targets and budgets, account by account.

    Department manager

  3. Verify and submit

    The HoD reviews the division’s plans, adjusts them and sends the final version.

    Head of Division

  4. Approve

    Finance checks that the plan holds up, then approves or rejects it.

    Finance
  5. During the year

  6. Split into months

    Finance spreads every yearly number across twelve months.

    Finance

  7. Track

    Realization is compared with the target, month by month, at every level.

    Everyone

  8. Adjust

    A forecast each quarter, and transfers when one account needs money from another.

    Manager and HoD

The Design

The screens follow the cycle above, one role at a time. Pick a flow below: it plays by itself, zooms into what matters, and shows who is acting at each step. Tap any step to jump to it.

    The Ending

    In the end, a budget stopped being a file approved once a year.

    Each person now sees the part that is theirs: managers plan and ask for transfers, heads of division review the whole division and choose where transferred money comes from, and Finance approves, then splits the year into months with EBIT locked. The plan keeps up with the year, all the way to its last month.

    Without the Budgeting App

    With the Budgeting App

    The plan

    Approved once, then left behind

    →

    Split into months and tracked against what was spent

    Changes

    Waiting for next year

    →

    A forecast each quarter, past months locked

    Moving money

    Asked for without knowing who can give

    →

    The HoD picks the source, the department approves

    A budget is only as good as the month you are in.