What Does This Procedure Do?
This procedure is used to register forecasts. A forecast can be seen as an "alternative budget" in order to make simulations and is independent, with no connection to the regular budget. For example, here you can register "rolling" forecasts with a time horizon of for example twelve months.
Forecasts can be registered at any time during the fiscal year and you can register them at all levels: Account, Cost center, Cost unit and Project. The system supports registration of an almost unlimited number of parallel forecasts. Each forecast is therefore given a consecutive number.
Forecast values can be printed in the Print Forecast procedure and reports that has been created can be printed in the Report Generator procedure.
Forecasts can either be created manually account by account under the Modify / Create single tab or generated automatically by the system according to the current settings under the Create new tab. Forecasts can also be created by copying from the result or the budget or be copied onwards in different ways with different percentage changes. This is done in the Copy Budget / Forecast procedure.
Manual Registration
When making a manual registration you enter a yearly amount which is allocated according to a budget chart, or you enter the forecast value directly for each period. Budget charts must be registered in the Register Budget Chart procedure. If a forecast is registered in the middle of an accounting year, you still enter the yearly amount. The system automatically recalculates the forecast values for the remaining periods. The manual registration can also be used to change existing forecasts.
Automatic Generating
When automatically generating forecasts, the system creates forecasts ahead in time according to an, in advance determined, time horizon. No yearly amount is entered but the system considers the result for a specified previous period and distributes the expected result according to a seasonal fluctuation (budget chart) ahead in time. Forecasts can be created for a selection of accounts and cost centers. Forecasts cannot be registered for a longer period of time than to the end of the following accounting year. The forecasts are based on previous results and are therefore depending on the number of years and periods that have been recorded in the system. Read more about generating forecasts and see samples in the section called The created forecasts window.
In the General | Settings procedure in the Global Settings module you can select whether you wish to create forecasts as of the current or the following accounting period. If forecasts are created from the following accounting period, the result taken into consideration, includes the current period.
Window Functions
Read more about the Window functions under Window Functions in the MONITOR Basics guide.