Success Story
How Assumption University Cut Budgeting Time from Weeks to Days
Higher Education
What does it look like when an institution builds a modern planning process from the ground up? This case study explores how Assumption University partnered with Tru and Anaplan to go from no dedicated planning system to a fully connected budgeting and forecasting platform — cutting department-level budget cycles from weeks to just one to two days and giving every user real-time visibility into their finances.
Industry
Higher Education
Platform
Anaplan
Use Case
Budget Development
Connect With an Expert
Before Tru
Before partnering with Tru, Assumption University managed budgeting and forecasting without a dedicated planning system.
This made it difficult to support a structured, collaborative process across the institution. There was no centralized environment for data entry and updates, and financial changes were challenging to track in real time.
Like many institutions, Assumption needed a modern planning approach — one that could support core financial processes while enabling more advanced modeling over time.
Why Tru and Anaplan
Assumption University sought a partner with deep higher education expertise, strong planning capabilities, and proven implementation experience.
Tru brought a clear understanding of higher education budgeting and forecasting, helping the university establish a connected planning foundation aligned with its operational and strategic goals.
“Tru had the right experience in higher education Anaplan implementations that we needed.”
Tru Partnered with Assumption University
Tru partnered with Assumption University to implement a connected planning solution on Anaplan, including:
- Enterprise-wide budget development and workflow
- Multi-year financial forecasting
- Integration across ERP, SIS, and HCM systems
- Program contribution margin modeling
- Faculty economics analysis
- Statistical allocation engine
- Scenario and what-if planning
- Academic program pro forma modeling
This phased implementation strengthened Assumption’s financial planning foundation while enabling more advanced, strategic capabilities.
“Having the dedicated core team really made things easy to manage. It was never overwhelming on our side.”
The Results
Faster budget cycles:
Most users now complete annual budget submissions in less than a day.
Significant time savings:
Department-level budgeting has been reduced from weeks to just 1–2 days.
Real-time visibility:
Users have immediate access to updated financial data, improving transparency and responsiveness.
Broader participation:
Departments can directly input and manage data, enabling a more collaborative planning process.
A connected planning environment:
Budgeting, forecasting, and strategic modeling now take place within a centralized platform.
What’s Changed
Today, Assumption University operates with a more connected, transparent, and responsive planning process. Users across the institution have greater visibility into financial data and can participate directly in budgeting in a way that is faster, more intuitive, and easier to manage.
One of the clearest indicators of success came during the annual budgeting cycle:
“When most users completed their annual budget requests in less than a day, we knew this was making a real difference.”
This transformation reflects more than improved speed — it demonstrates stronger adoption, improved usability, and better alignment with how the institution operates.
“Easily the best implementation team I’ve worked with.”
Ready to Do the Same?
Tru Consulting helps institutions replace manual processes with connected, scalable systems. As an Anaplan implementation partner, the team works with higher education institutions to bring structure, accuracy, and visibility to complex operations.