How to use the Revenue Planner

This forecast model is designed to help you plan and manage your revenues, cost of goods, and the resulting gross margins. Using the zero-based budgeting method, you can create separate budgets for each year, company, and revenue type.

Below is a step-by-step guide on how to use the Revenue Planner.

1. How to Start

You will find the Revenue Planner in Essentials -> Forecast.

Click on the field behind the Run button, and select the year, company, and revenue type from the dropdown menus.

Click on the Run button to retrieve the latest version of your revenue budget.

2. Enter your planned revenue

Enter your customer, price, and units per revenue line. This will give you a clear picture of your estimated revenue for each customer, product, or service.

Use the description field to enter detailed information about each forecast line, such as your assumptions or the type of product or service estimated to be sold.

3. Enter more details on a line

Using the More button, you can enter the estimated discount, cost of sales, and comments for each revenue line.

• Discount %: If you expect to give a discount on the price, add it here. This is immediately calculated in the Net Revenue of the relevant detail line.
• COS %: COS stands for "Cost of Sales". You give a percentage that deducts it from your Gross Revenue (before the discount). The outcome will be your Gross Profit. You can combine this with COS Per Unit.
• COS Per Unit: COS stands for "Cost of Sales". You add an amount per unit and deduct it from your Net Revenue. The outcome will be your Gross Profit. You can combine this with COS %.
• VAT%: Apply tax to the revenue and cost of sales. You can see the effect in Cashflow Forecast.
• Cash delay: Enter your expected cash inflow and cost of sales outflow per detail line. The cash timing can differ from the timing in the Profit & Loss.
• Comment: Add a comment for each budget line.

The VAT% and Cash delay columns are used to forecast your cashflow, based on the expected time of payment. These columns indicate the payment terms that typically are associated with this revenue line. By default, revenues are assumed to convert into cash into the same month as they were forecasted. This information is used by the Cashflow Forecast report to calculate future cash inflows.

You can set the VAT rates via Update --> Settings.

4. Planning month-by-month

The planner column enables you to plan your revenue across all months in the year. This can help you better understand and plan the seasonal patterns in your revenue.

The planner has the following options:

• Per month: With this option, your revenue is distributed evenly across all 12 months of the year
• Per quarter: With this option, your revenue is distributed quarterly. The months are March, June, September, and December
• Per year: With this option, your revenue is distributed once for the entire year. This would be in December
• Edit: This option allows you to enter how the revenue will be distributed over the year. This can be useful for seasonal patterns or historical patterns

5. Inserting and deleting rows

You can add a new revenue line via the hamburger ☰ icon in the left column. Using that dropdown menu you can also copy, move and delete rows.

6. Check the outcome

Once you have entered all the necessary information, you can view the results in the columns Net Revenue and Gross Profit, and in the charts. This will give you a clear picture of your estimated revenues and margins for each revenue line.

Below is an overview of the information provided:

• Net Revenue: the total amount of income generated from the sale of your products or services, minus any discounts. It will provide you with an accurate depiction of your revenue.
• Gross Profit: the Net Revenue minus Cost of Sales (COS), helping you understand the level of profit you are making from your products or services.
• Total lines: the Total sections enable you to compare net revenue, and gross profit against the preceding year. This provides an expedient means of keeping track of your progress over time.
• Line chart: show information on revenue throughout the budget year.
• Pie chart: shows a breakdown of revenue, cost of sales, and discounts.

7. Save your budget

Once you are finished entering all details, click the Save button. Your budget will be saved right away. Your forecast is immediately included in all reports.

We hope that this helps you to understand how to use the Revenue Planner. Keeping track of your revenues, gross profit, and assumptions has never been simpler. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to our support team.