The budget and the forecast use different trees
Cost centers, products, or regions do not match, so a miss cannot be assigned. The first job is one tree for the figures in the cycle, with a named owner for changes to that tree.
Solution
Budgeting & Forecasting Solutions
Budgeting and forecasting solutions that combine reliable data foundations with planning workflows.
Writeback and native planning experiences depend on your chosen planning product. We design the numbers, views, and workflows around that choice.
Contact UsContact us for a Free Assessment. We'll follow up within 2 business days. See a sample Free Assessment.
What we typically cover
- Forecast and budget numbers that refresh reliably
- Shared definitions for plan vs actual
- Workflow support for owners and approvals
- Clear planning approach in the proposal
Problems this addresses
Budgeting and forecasting break when the budget, the latest forecast, and actuals are three workbooks with three owners. Finance spends the cycle collecting files. Revenue leaders spend it explaining why their number is not the one in the pack.
We put plan versus actual on shared definitions and support the workflow of owners and approvals. The planning product you choose determines how a number is written back. We design around that choice and say so before build.
Version names are informal
'Latest' means a different file in every mailbox. Budget, forecast, and actual need version labels and a lock date. Otherwise the board pack cites a number that was still being edited.
Owners have no structured submit
A department head emails a revised forecast. FP&A retypes it. A workflow can require the account, the amount, the version, and the reason, then route approval. The system of record for the plan remains the product you choose.
Actuals arrive too late to reforecast
If the ledger total lands after the forecast meeting, the meeting is guessing. We connect actuals on a calendar finance names, and we show when they last landed.
Hypothetical example. A quarterly forecast asks regional sales leaders for bookings and finance for recognized revenue. In this hypothetical, both submit into the same sheet under the heading revenue, and the rollup adds them. The fix is two measures, two submits, and a view that refuses to add them together. The sheet is retired for that cycle only after one quarter is checked.
What you leave with
You leave with a budget and forecast structure finance can run, a submission path for owners, and a view of plan versus actual that matches the version you locked.
One structure for the cycle
The entities, accounts, and periods the budget and forecast share with actuals. Changes to the structure have an owner.
Version rules
What budget, current forecast, and actual mean, when each locks, and how a restatement is labeled. The view uses those names and no others.
Owner workflow
Submit and approval for the people who own a number, with validation so a blank reason cannot close the task. Writeback into a planning product is included only as the chosen product allows, and the proposal says which path that is.
A plan-versus-actual view
The comparison the forecast meeting opens, refreshed from actuals on the agreed calendar, with the version stamped on the page.
What a Free Assessment covers
A Free Assessment walks the current budget or forecast cycle: who submits, where the file lives, and which comparison leadership asks for. We separate definition problems from workflow problems and from writeback, which depends on your planning product.
Bring the file from the last cycle and the person who consolidates it. We follow up within 2 business days.
FAQs
Do you replace our planning product?
No. We design numbers, views, and workflows around the product you select. If you have not selected one, we can still fix the definitions and the consolidation path. We will not pretend a spreadsheet is a long-term planning system if you need writeback.
Can department owners type straight into Power BI?
Not as a native planning store. Power BI shows the result. Capture may be a Power App, the planning product, or another tool you choose. Power BI planning describes that split.
What if budget and actual use different accounts?
Then variance is not ready. Mapping the trees is part of the work. We do not paper over it with a visual that hides unmapped rows.
Who locks a version?
You name that person. We implement the lock so later edits are a new version, not a silent change to the number already shown to leadership.
Related
- Business Intelligence & AnalyticsTurn scattered reports into dashboards and shared definitions your team can trust. See what changed, and where to focus, without another spreadsheet reconcile.
- Data Applications & AutomationReplace manual handoffs with custom web applications, internal tools, and automated workflows. Connect your data to approvals, updates, and everyday work across your business systems.
- AI & Machine LearningBuild AI assistants, document search, forecasting, and anomaly detection around your business. We connect models to relevant data and evaluate their outputs for practical, dependable use.
- Financial ReportingPlan versus actual only helps if close, variance, and the forecast share one set of figures.
- Financial Planning & AnalyticsVariance, scenarios, and the views around the same definitions.
- Power BI PlanningWhen leadership wants the forecast view in Power BI.
- Power PlatformApps and flows for the submit and approval step.
Tell us which number you don't trust.
Describe the outcome you want. The next step is a Free Assessment.
Contact Us