Greenwich finance team outlines SSRS reporting upgrade as first step toward AP automation

Carolyn Faye, the town’s accounting supervisor, told the Budget Committee that the finance department plans to add SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) to its Munis enterprise system to give finance staff direct, repeatable access to structured financial data and to prepare for later accounts‑payable automation. “This tool puts a front…on the relational database in a way that the data is very structured and easy to follow so that you can pull out the data points that you want,” she said.

Joan, who led the budget presentation, said the SSRS module is included in the submitted FY27 plan only for reporting, and that the larger purchase‑to‑pay (AP) automation remains a future‑funding request. She told members the department cleaned vendors and reduced vendor records from “fifty‑thousand to 5,000,” a change she said will reduce errors and support automation work. Joan added that the team is not yet requesting funding for full AP automation in this budget cycle and expects the automation procurement to follow after SSRS and process changes are complete.

Committee members pressed on implementation and process change. Doug asked if SSRS is primarily a dashboard, and Carolyn said it is a reporting layer that lets finance build and lock down validated reports for auditors and operations. She and Joan stressed that AP automation requires upstream process work—policies, training and a gap analysis—so controls move earlier in the purchase‑to‑pay cycle rather than being checked only at invoice payment.

Joan said the posted open position is an accounts‑payable coordinator who will be critical to freeing Carolyn from day‑to‑day processing so she can focus on automation and supervision. Committee members also flagged IT and cybersecurity approvals as prerequisites; committee members said Audit and IT will continue reviewing controls and vendor software security before automation goes live.

The department recommended continuing vendor cleanup, completing SSRS permissions and reports, running pilot workflows with purchasing, and returning with a detailed funding request once a gap analysis and cross‑department buy‑in are complete.