Enter forecast and actual values for costs or benefts
Forecasts and actuals are the monthly values you enter on each cost or benefit item to build your financial picture over time. Together with baselines, they power the trend charts, summary tiles, and variance analysis on the Funds tab.
Before you begin
You need an existing cost or benefit item to enter values against. If you haven't created any items yet, see Create and edit cost or benefit items.
Your user group must have the Manage cost/benefit items permission enabled. If you can't edit values, contact your administrator to check your group permissions.
Forecast vs. actual values
Each cost or benefit item has two types of monthly values:
Forecast: your projected costs or benefits for each month. Update forecasts as plans change to keep your financial picture current.
Actual: the real costs incurred or benefits realized. Enter actuals as financial data becomes available, typically after each month closes.
Together with baselines, these values power the summary tiles and charts on the Funds tab. For more detail on how these concepts relate, see Funds in Focus overview.
Enter forecast values
Forecasts are your current projections of expected future costs or benefits, entered month by month. Update forecasts as plans evolve to keep your financial picture current.
Navigate to the focus area and select the Funds tab.
Switch to Costs or Benefits using the toggle in the upper left corner.
In the data table, find the item you want to update.
Select a month cell in the item's row and enter the forecasted value.
Press Tab or select another cell to move to the next month.
Values save automatically. The summary tiles and trend chart above the table update to reflect your changes.
Forecast values apply to the current and future months. To change the visible time period, use the time period picker in the upper right corner.
Enter actual values
Actuals represent real costs incurred or benefits realized. Enter actuals as financial data becomes available, typically after each month closes.
Navigate to the focus area and select the Funds tab.
Switch to Costs or Benefits using the toggle in the upper left corner.
Find the item you want to update.
Select the actuals cell for the relevant month and enter the actual value.
Values save automatically. The summary tiles and trend chart above the table update to reflect your changes.
Update existing values
To change a previously entered forecast or actual value, simply select the cell and type the new value. The old value is replaced immediately. There is no change history for individual cell edits.
To clear a value, select the cell and delete the contents.
Enter values in bulk via CSV
If you need to enter values across many items or many months at once, CSV import is faster than cell-by-cell entry. Prepare a CSV file with your monthly values and upload it to the focus area.
See Import and export funds data with CSV for the full workflow, column schema, and validation rules.
Tips
Start with forecasts, add actuals as months close. This is the most common pattern: forecast the full year, then replace forecasts with actuals as real data comes in.
Use the time period picker to focus your view. If you only need to update Q3 values, switch to the Q3 quarter view to reduce the number of columns on screen.
Enter actuals promptly. The sooner actuals are entered after a month closes, the more accurate your variance analysis and trend charts will be.
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