Microsoft, BNY Mellon to help states track stimulus spending

Microsoft and Bank of New York Mellon announced earlier this month that they are working together to help state and local governments meet reporting requirements related to economic stimulus funding.

The agreement brings together BNY Mellon Corporate Trust’s project fund administration capabilities and Microsoft’s Stimulus360 planning, tracking and reporting software to address the transparency and accountability requirements of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Rapidly evolving tracking and reporting requirements are putting increasing pressure on state and local governments to find solutions that make the economic impact of the act visible to the federal government and citizens, company officials said.

BNY Mellon Corporate Trust has a long history of providing public-sector clients with specialized project fund management and investment solutions critical to the development of state and local infrastructure, officials said.

“By making it easier for state and local governments to actively engage in both the capital management and project administration tracking of this new source of funding, we will make the transparency requirements of ARRA more manageable for public entities,” said Troy Kilpatrick, managing director and head of the Corporate and Municipal Finance Group at BNY Mellon Corporate Trust.

BNY Mellon offers a variety of public finance solutions that could help state treasury departments manage their assets, said Carolyn Brubaker, director of strategic policy and programs at Microsoft Federal.

A seamless solution should be available shortly, Brubaker said, adding that nearly 20 state and local entities are using Stimulus360, including Arizona, Iowa, North Carolina and San Francisco.

Stimulus360, which is based on the company’s SharePoint collaboration software, provides transparency and data visualization capabilities. Agencies can use the software to track and manage projects via graphical dashboards, maps and analytics. The software is available as a hosted or on-site offering.

In addition, the software automatically captures all actions and events as workflow history to foster better-informed decisions by officials and establish greater accountability at every point in a program’s life cycle, Microsoft officials said.