Actuals and forecast periods

Methods and settings

Read A and E as different input contracts

A marks a historical period. Supported actual statement values and line observations are entered directly as amounts. E marks a forecast period whose result may be generated by growth, margins, days, staffing or another supported method. A visible estimate is not necessarily an amount input.

Simple uses one global forecast assumption set across E periods; Advanced supports period-specific methods and named sources. Direct inputs explains when typing over an eligible modeled output switches its owner to Amount rather than changing the original driver.

Keep historical truth separate from scenarios

Actuals, opening history and historical-source settings are shared across scenarios. An Upside or Downside edit should change supported future assumptions, not silently create a different recorded past. Use Base for historical corrections and check how the updated starting point flows into every forecast.

A scenario can retain its own forecast method, value or source difference. That does not make its historical balance a second independent observation. Scenario ownership also distinguishes shared Ownership and 13W plan inputs from scenario-linked results.

Recorded detail is not derived detail

Annual Actuals can be displayed in finer periods through derivation. That display does not mean monthly transactions were recorded. Historical source granularity identifies the actual source and whether an observation was explicitly entered or derived. Changing historical source requires confirmation for the affected scope and leaves the forecast source intact.

An ISO week may cross the Actual/Forecast boundary. Its dated portions are accounted for once, but a mixed period is not an ordinary complete Actual or Forecast input cell. Use an eligible complete period and the controlling source rather than overwriting the mixed total.

Review historical errors and analysis eligibility

Historical AR, Inventory and AP must be consistent with the supported opening balances and flows. The model rejects conflicting recorded stocks rather than hiding the difference in cash. Correct the relevant recorded amounts or opening position.

Historical values can be inspected and compared. They are generally not free forecast drivers for Sensitivity, Stochastic or Reverse. Current variable and constraint pickers apply their eligibility rules; an actual-period figure that is absent from a forecast choice is not necessarily missing data. The Model is not a Budget vs Actual or Rolling Forecast operator simply because it contains both A and E periods.