That’s one of the main messages from Gravity’s launch of two related offerings — both centered around government budgeting, financial planning and community engagement.
Gravity, which sells end-to-end financial management software to public agencies, has debuted what it calls its “next-generation platform” that features the Gravity Disclosure Studio and Gravity Engagement Studio.
Both are backed by artificial intelligence.
The company touts the platform as providing governments with the ability to complete financial reports in “hours instead of months,” according to a statement, along with compliance and community engagement features.
Specifically, the Disclosure Studio enables public officials to prepare comprehensive annual financial reports, budget books and similar documents, based on criteria set by the Government Finance Officers Association.
The Engagement Studio — which stems from the acquisition of coUrbanize, announced in September — helps governments publish what the statement called “interactive, web-based versions of their financial reports.”
Residents can view financial documents and engage with them, vital at all times but perhaps especially so in this era of diminishing trust in public agencies, according to Gravity CEO Tyler Davey. Such comments might, for instance, involve plans to build parks or pave roads.
“It can create momentum for [people] who don’t go to town halls,” he told Government Technology, “not just the loudest voices.”
Gravity built its new offering in part from 500 financial disclosure reports used to train the AI, he said. Human auditors also took part in product development.
The new product can reduce the time it takes to produce financial reports down to “hours and days,” he said, instead of three to six months.
As for acquisition, he said Gravity has kept “every [coUrbanize] employee that opted to stay with us,” as well as “almost every single customer.”
