# Can Your Business Escape The Endless Spreadsheet-And-Email Approval Chain During Budgeting?

*Source: https://trginternational.com/blog/replace-spreadsheet-email-budgeting-approval-chain-infor-epm/*

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In many organizations, [budgeting](https://trginternational.com/blog/signs-you-need-budgeting-solution/) still relies on endless spreadsheets and email chains to collect, review, and approve data. While familiar, this approach often leads to delays, confusion, and limited visibility. Multiple file versions, manual updates, and unclear responsibilities make the process slow and difficult to manage.

This blog explores how [Infor](https://trginternational.com/solutions/infor-epm/) [Enterprise Performance Management (EPM)](https://trginternational.com/solutions/infor-epm/) replaces the endless spreadsheet-and-email approval chain with a more structured and centralized system. By improving coordination, visibility, and control, EPM helps organizations streamline the budgeting process, making it faster, clearer, and more effective.

**Read more:** [The Shadow Excel Ledger Is Costing Your School More Than You Think](https://trginternational.com/blog/shadow-excel-ledger-education-finance-risk/)

## Why Finance teams already fall behind before the fiscal year starts

The budgeting process often begins in Q4. This is usually not planned, but happens because teams are focused on closing the current year and meeting targets. 

However, this timing comes with a hidden cost. By the time the budget is reviewed and approved, the new financial year has already begun. Leadership teams are then required to make [early decisions on investments, hiring, and operations](https://trginternational.com/blog/harmful-cost-saving-tips/), without the clarity of a fully aligned plan. Consequently, the sheer length of time accounts for 29% of the most frustrating issue for Chief Financial Officers (1). 

As a result, this often leads to missed opportunities during peak periods, when timely decisions matter most. Cost control also becomes less effective due to limited visibility and planning. Over time, management is forced to react to situations as they arise rather than guiding the business with a clear, proactive strategy. 

In reality, this delay is not intentional; it often results from the way the process is structured. Finance teams tend to rely on finalized month-end actuals before they begin, which naturally shifts the timeline toward Q4.

At the same time, data collection remains largely manual, with departments submitting inputs in different formats and at different times. Without a structured workflow to coordinate and run submissions in parallel, bottlenecks quickly build up. As a result, finance teams spend more time chasing emails and consolidating spreadsheets than focusing on planning, making it difficult to start earlier, even when the need is well understood.

**TRG’s suggestion: start budgeting as early as Q3 using a systematic approach.**

**Read more:** [Understanding 5 Most Common Budgeting Approaches and Their Pros & Cons](https://trginternational.com/blog/what-are-the-most-common-approaches-to-budgeting/)

## Out with the old and in with the new with the budgeting process

Starting the budgeting process in Q3 enables Finance teams to collect data in parallel across departments, reducing delays and improving overall input quality. With more time available, you can focus on meaningful scenario planning, exploring both best- and worst-case outcomes, while also reviewing cost structures more thoroughly.

This earlier start gives you clear visibility into next year’s commitments sooner, so you can plan with confidence. More importantly, it allows you to course-correct the current-year strategy while there is still time to act and improve results. 

These challenges are not just about timing; they stem from the way the budgeting process is traditionally conducted. The [reliance on spreadsheets and email chains](https://trginternational.com/en-GB/stories/business-as-unusual/your-spreadsheet-is-not-the-problem-your-spreadsheet-dependency-is/) is often the root cause, creating delays and inefficiencies.

### Old way: Spreadsheet & Email chain process

This diagram below shows a traditional budgeting process built around spreadsheets and email chains. Each department creates its own Excel file and exchanges them for review. Finance then has to manually collect and consolidate all these files before passing them along for approval.

![How spreadsheets and emails are typically involved in a traditional budgeting process](https://wpengine.trginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/spreadsheet-email-chain-1024x408.png)

_How spreadsheets and emails are typically involved in a traditional budgeting process_

This approach creates serious issues and limitations. Submissions are often delayed or missing, formats are inconsistent, and multiple file versions quickly become hard to track. If you are lucky, the submission gets approved instantly. However, in the worst-case scenario, the review process turns into long email threads with constant back-and-forth, where no one has clear visibility into the latest numbers or overall progress.

The Microsoft 2025 Work Trend Index Special Report found that, on average, we receive 117 emails per day, accounting for approximately 28% of our workweek (2). This leads to serious delays, missed decisions, miscommunications and a series of approval bottlenecks.

**Read more:** [Why Are We Procrastinating At Work?](https://trginternational.com/blog/why-are-we-procrastinating-at-work/)

As a result, finance teams spend more time chasing files and fixing errors than actually analyzing the budget, making the entire process slow, fragmented, and difficult to control.

[  
![Watch Now | Budgeting: From Manual to Agile](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/125873/interactive-191043739302.png)  
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### New way: Infor EPM workflow

Unlike the traditional spreadsheet-and-email model, [Infor EPM](https://trginternational.com/blog/infor-epm-enterprise-budgeting-forecasting-planning-guide/) replaces fragmented coordination with a centralized, structured budgeting system. Instead of departments working in separate Excel files and sending them back and forth via email, all data is entered into one controlled platform. This ensures consistency across inputs and provides real-time visibility into budget status.  

The finance review workflow replaces long email chains with a clear, standardized approval process, reducing delays and eliminating ambiguity about who is responsible for each step. Version management further strengthens control by ensuring there is only one source of truth, so changes are tracked, updated, and never lost across multiple file versions. 

**Learn** **more:** [7 ways Infor EPM empowers the C-suite | Download brochure now](https://blog.trginternational.com/infor-depm)

Infor EPM enables Finance teams to transform budgeting from a manual, reactive process into an automated and governed workflow. Rather than spending time chasing submissions, fixing formatting issues, and reconciling inconsistent spreadsheets, the system automates these tasks and embeds control directly into the process.  

Ownership sign-off adds accountability at key stages, ensuring decisions are transparent and properly approved. Compared to the old model, which is slow, fragmented, and error-prone, Infor EPM delivers a faster, more accurate, and more controlled approach, allowing finance teams to focus on analysis and strategic decision-making rather than on administrative coordination. This shift from manual chasing to automated, controlled workflows.

![How budgeting is done in Infor EPM](https://wpengine.trginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/infor-epm-budgeting-process-1024x460.png)

_How budgeting is done in Infor EPM_

## How EPM replaces the endless spreadsheet-and-email approval chain

Infor EPM addresses legacy budgeting issues by replacing disconnected tools with a centralized platform that enables real-time collaboration, structured workflows, and integrated decision-making. 

### Centralized data eliminates fragmentation and version confusion

Infor EPM serves as a single source of truth, consolidating all budgeting data into a single central system. Instead of many Excel files being shared across departments, everyone works on the same dataset. This means there is no need to send files back and forth or worry about different versions. 

**Read more:** [What Is Infor EPM? A Complete Guide to Financial Planning, Budgeting, and Forecasting](https://trginternational.com/blog/infor-epm-enterprise-budgeting-forecasting-planning-guide/)

All updates are displayed in real time across dashboards. The solution can also integrate pre-built reporting templates, such as the USALI12 reporting pack, to ensure all key schedules, KPIs, and dashboards are consistently available in a standardized format. This means that any change is instantly visible to all users, helping keep information accurate and up to date. It also reduces the time spent checking, reconciling, and fixing multiple versions of the same file.

### Structured workflows replace email-based coordination

Instead of relying on long, unstructured email chains for budget submissions, feedback, and approvals, Infor EPM enforces a clear, structured workflow within the system. Budget tasks are assigned to the right people, and each step in the process is clearly defined.

Departments submit their budgets in a standard format, and managers or the CFO can review and approve directly in the system. This makes the process easier to follow and removes confusion about who needs to do what and when. It also reduces delays caused by waiting for email replies.

### Real-time integration improves visibility and decision-making speed

Infor EPM also [integrates with third-party solutions](https://trginternational.com/blog/how-does-the-integration-between-erp-and-epm-software-work/), such as ERP, PMS, procurement, and more, to create a single source of truth, enabling better alignment between budgeting and actual business performance. This helps companies make faster, better decisions by using current, accurate information rather than outdated data.

### Predictive analytics and version control improve accuracy and governance

Finally, Infor EPM improves budgeting accuracy by using [predictive analytics](https://trginternational.com/blog/an-overview-of-infor-depm-dynamic-enterprise-performance-management/) to predict and compare planned figures with statistical forecasts, helping finance teams assess whether assumptions are realistic. Forecasting provides an outlook on expected financial performance and is continuously updated as new information becomes available, allowing budgets to be adjusted in line with changing business conditions.

At the same time, the system keeps tight control over versions. There is only one active version of the budget, and all changes are saved automatically. This removes confusion caused by multiple files and makes it easy to track changes and stay in control.

### Real-time operational dashboard

The value of a centralized EPM system is not only in streamlining workflows, but also in how it transforms data into actionable insight. As shown in the dashboard above, Infor EPM consolidates operational and financial metrics, such as energy, water, and waste consumption, into a single, unified view.

Instead of relying on static reports or disconnected spreadsheets, users can monitor both month-to-date and year-to-date performance in real time. Standardized KPIs, such as cost per unit, cost per occupied room, and cost per area, enable management to quickly assess efficiency across different dimensions.

This level of visibility enables faster and more informed decision-making by allowing teams to instantly identify issues, such as spikes in utility consumption, and take corrective action before costs escalate. With integrated filters for business unit, scenario, and time period, performance can be analyzed from multiple perspectives without additional data preparation. Ultimately, dashboards like this move organizations beyond basic reporting, providing continuous insight into both financial and operational performance and enabling a shift from reactive monitoring to proactive control.

![Infor EPM's dashboard, recoding ESG metrics](https://wpengine.trginternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/esg-dashboard-infor-epm.png)

_How ESG metrics and others and recorded and presented on Infor EPM dashboard_

## If you take just one thing from this article, it is this

Budgeting challenges are not only about timing but also about how the process is managed. Late starts, manual work, and uncoordinated data, often driven by spreadsheet and email-based workflows, create delays, increase the risk of errors, and limit visibility. As a result, teams are forced to react rather than plan. 

By starting earlier and replacing traditional methods with a centralized system like Infor EPM, organizations can streamline workflows, improve data accuracy, and gain real-time visibility into performance. This reduces manual effort while enabling faster and more confident decision-making. Ultimately, budgeting evolves from a fragmented, time-consuming task into a controlled, transparent, and strategic tool for better planning and stronger business performance. 

**If you are ready to see Infor EPM in action, request a demo from TRG International today!** 

[![Talk With TRG](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/125873/interactive-187535144970.png)  
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## Frequently Asked Questions 

**When should finance teams start the annual budgeting process?**

Most finance teams start budgeting in Q4, once current-year actuals are finalized, but this pushes budget approval past the start of the new fiscal year. TRG recommends starting in Q3 with a systematic, parallel data-collection approach, so leadership has an approved plan in place before the year begins.

**Why do finance teams still rely on spreadsheets and email for budgeting?**

Spreadsheets and email are familiar and require no new system, but they create version confusion, inconsistent formats across departments, and long approval delays.

**What is Infor EPM?**

Infor Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) is a comprehensive solution dedicated to financial budgeting, forecasting, and planning. It provides a centralized platform as a single source of truth, enabling all departments to work from a single dataset rather than separate Excel files. 

**How does Infor EPM replace spreadsheet-and-email budgeting?** 

Instead of departments emailing separate Excel files back and forth for review, Infor EPM centralizes data entry on a single, controlled platform, replaces email approval chains with a standardized workflow, and keeps a single active version of the budget so nothing is lost across file versions. 

**Does Infor EPM integrate with other business systems?**

Yes. Infor EPM integrates with third-party systems such as ERP, accounting, PMS, and procurement platforms, so budgeting stays aligned with actual business performance rather than relying on outdated exports. 

**Sources:** 

1.  https://www.cfodive.com/news/cfos-cling-to-spreadsheets-despite-their-limits-as-fpa-tool/622140/
2.  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/breaking-down-infinite-workday