Rolling Forecast Checklist

A rolling forecast has YTD actuals + forecast for the rest of the year. When an additional month of actuals is available, a new rolling forecast should be created. Complete these 5 steps each month to roll forward your forecast.

1. Create a POR Clone of the Current Plan
2. Update Actuals in the Current Plan
3. Reconcile Staff
4. Update Custom Data
5. Update other Assumptions, Drivers and/or Manual Inputs

1. Go to Plans > Select the ∨ next to the current Active Plan to open the context menu > Select Manage Plans > Select the . . . the left of the current Plan (here: 2024 Rolling Fcst) and select Clone
   1. Cloning the 2024 Rolling Fcst Plan will create an exact copy of that plan in the Archive section named 2024 Rolling Fcst_1 
2. Click on the . . . next to 2024 Rolling Fcst Plan and select Make Active
   
   
3. Rename 2024 Rolling Fcst_1 to something like 2024 Rolling Fcst_Feb Actuals
4. Save
5. Select the . . . to the left of 2024 Rolling Fcst_Feb Actuals Plan and select Make PoR
6. You can keep the 2024 Rolling Fcst_Feb Actuals Plan Active if it is still needed for Reporting purposes or Archive it

 

 

1. 1. From Manage Plans (Plans > Select the ∨ next to the 2024 Rolling Fcst Plan to open the context menu > Select Manage Plans), you can update the name of the current Plan or keep it as it is
   2. Update the Actuals Period for the 2024 Rolling Fcst Plan to include YTD Actuals (here: March 2024)
   3. Save

☑️ Step 3: Reconcile Staff

Since an additional month of GL Actuals is now in the plan, the staffing roster should be updated to include any Actual New Hires & Terms for the same period. Importing a new roster only replaces the Actual Staff (white rows) in plans that are not a plan of record and do not have any impact on Planned Named Hires (blue rows). After uploading the latest roster, it should then be reconciled against the current plan accordingly. 

1. Import the updated roster from the Workforce section of Setup > Actuals
   
2. Reconcile Staff from Plans    > Staffing
   To quickly identify what happened in the most recent month of actuals, click on the Hire Date column to sort by date
   • If a planned hire (blue row) was actually hired (white row with black text), they should be removed from the plan so they are not double-counted
   • If a planned hire was not hired, their planned hire date should be pushed into the future.
   • Add additional planned hires & terms as needed 

☑️ Step 4: Update Custom Data

Custom data is often used to drive the forecast. For example, if you are forecasting Revenue using a MRR Rollforward, the Ending MRR for the new month of Actuals must be imported to properly roll forward the plan. 

1. Import Custom Actuals from Google Sheets or Excel 
   • Update your Google Sheet or Excel import template to include the new month of actuals
   • Go to Setup > Actuals and click on Import next to Google Sheets or Excel

1. Go to Plans  > Custom and review the imported data as well as any assumptions, drivers, and/or manual inputs used in your Custom Tables.

☑️ Step 5: Update other Assumptions, Drivers, and/or Manual Inputs

 The new rolling forecast should be reviewed to see if any additional updates should be made to assumptions, drivers &/or manual inputs. One way to quickly identify & prioritize the areas that should be looked at first is to run a report that compares the previous forecast to the same period of actuals, e.g., January Forecast vs January Actuals. For line items showing larger variances, drill into the drivers and assumptions associated with that line item to see if they should be updated. 

• Go to the Assumptions area and update Assumptions as needed. For example, if a new employee benefit has been added since the previous forecast, you could change the Benefit Rate % assumption in the model. 
  
• Go to the Drivers tab and check to make sure there are no driver errors. 
• If collaborating with other users, invite them into the new Rolling Forecast to make their updates.