Gravity saves weeks of effort helping small team win all three GFOA awards for first time ever.
THE CHALLENGE
The Town of Palm Beachโs finance team was trapped in survival mode. With just one staff member handling budget and payroll, they spent +90 days a year piecing together spreadsheets and Word documentsโleaving no room for the strategic work they wanted to pursue.
โข Version control chaos. Constantly chasing down the right spreadsheet: โnot knowing which one was the right one to be usingโ
โข Manual, error-prone process. Every data change required updating multiple documents (and endless opportunities for inconsistencies)
โข No bandwidth for excellence. The ordeal left no time to publish a PAFR, something theyโd wanted to create for over 20 years
โThe biggest challenge had to be the back and forth โ never knowing whatโs changed or what needs to be updated.โ Melissa Ladd, Controller, Town of Palm Beach
THE SOLUTION
Palm Beach implemented Gravity to transform their fragmented, manual process into an integrated, automated disclosure workflow. The ACFR solution provided:
THE RESULTS
Palm Beach cut production from 90 days to 6 weeks in the first year. And thatโs just the start.
Not only do they expect even faster publication in years to come, but they finally had the capacity to deliver a Popular Annual Financial Reporting (PAFR). Thatโs how they won the GFOA Triple Crown for the first time ever โ a feat accomplished by less than 1% of local US governments.
IMPACT AT A GLANCE
โข 40% faster production:
From 90 days to 6 weeks in first year.
โข PAFR realized:
Finally had time for strategic, citizen-facing work.
โข Version chaos eliminated:
Clear workflows, no more spreadsheet confusion.
โข Seamless adoption:
Council “had no idea we changed software”
โข Talent magnet:
Modern tech helped recruit and changed hiring criteria
