Automation
Empirical is focused on developing technology innovations that help our customers improve financial performance, make better decisions, meet compliance, and reduce staff time and costs. We offer Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to automate highly repetitive, rules-based processes that financial and accounting teams would otherwise perform manually. By automating manual processes through tools and bots, our team has been able to help financial, data, IT, program, and other leaders, as well as their teams:
- Enhance data quality and reduce data errors and discrepancies
- Improve staff productivity by reducing staff time on manual data entry, reporting, and other repetitive tasks
- Cut transaction processing time and reduce report production cycle time
- Produce significant cost savings
- Provide actionable and timely intelligence, enabling leaders to make informed decisions
- Meet financial compliance requirements and mandates effectively and quickly
- Elevate employee morale by enabling them to focus on high priority projects that directly impact mission success and the bottom line
From our team’s expansive financial management and accounting experience, Empirical understands the requirements and compliance needs for financial organizations. With our track record of developing successful RPA pilots and enterprise implementations that improve performance, ensure compliance, and reduce costs, Empirical can develop mission-driven RPA programs to achieve significant results for every customer. We have helped federal agencies and organizations to establish objectives and goals for automation efforts, determine the specifications, configure the protocols, security, and privacy approval processes, and develop the proof-of-concepts, pilots, and enterprise implementations of tools or bots.
RPA Program Successes
Our track record includes successfully developing financial, accounting, data analysis, and system-related bots and tools to automate manual and inefficient processes for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the Secret Service, and other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) components, as well as Department of Labor, Bureau of Prisons, and other organizations.
- We have developed tools using existing frameworks and platforms that supported the preparation, review, and submission of monthly, quarterly, and annual financial information, including adjustments that ensured the completeness and accuracy of financial statements compliant with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Department of Treasury, and agency regulations.
- One of the bots developed by our team automated various general ledger account adjustments by validating transaction codes and adjusting lines of accounting to be compliant with Treasury guidance. The bot enabled end-users to generate a report that shows the impact that adjustments had on financial data prior to posting in the accounting system of record.
- Another data warehouse tool developed for an OCFO customer transformed how financial transactions are researched by their team so they could proactively resolve errors and misclassifications. The data tool has become a standard operating procedure to use the solution, improving operations efficiencies across their financial reporting divisions. The tool consolidated millions of transaction records from multiple financial systems with data updates on a near real-time basis. Staff can access complete and accurate financial information by conducting custom queries to proactively identify root causes of misclassifications and other transactional data and make corrections in a timely manner.
By automating manual and inefficient processes, our clients were able to:
- Enhance data quality and reduce data errors and discrepancies
- Cut transaction processing and report production cycle time
- Make informed decisions at all program stages and direct unused funding to mission-aligned programs
- Manage programs effectively to avoid exceeding budget authority
- Link costs to performance metrics to optimize funding and reduce costs
- Identify errors and root causes quickly to resolve
- Elevate employee morale by enabling teams to focus on high priority projects that directly impacted mission success or the bottom line
We operate within the framework and governance structure of our customers’ organizations and use an agile development approach to produce results quickly, incrementally, and on time. Empirical also provides ongoing support to ensure high adoption rates and sustainability of new tools / bots and data processing, including training organization staff on new technologies and process changes, and developing necessary modifications to tools and bots as requirements change.
Empirical strives to complete every RPA project on time and exceed our customers’ expectations. Many of the tools and bots we have developed are now mission-critical for the efficient operations of various departments within the OCFO and other organizations.