Edition: Business + Insights Pro Add-on, Enterprise + Insights Pro Add-on
User-level: Permissions are set at an Organisation level by System Administrators
Who this is for: Finance team, principals, directors
Dashboard Explained
How the revenue forecast for each month has changed over time as PMs update their estimates. Forecast Evolution shows the journey of a forecast — it reveals whether PMs are setting optimistic forecasts and then downgrading them as the month approaches, or whether their initial estimates hold.
New in Insights Pro: This dashboard did not exist in Analytics Plus.
How to use it
Use Forecast Evolution when investigating why a month's revenue came in below forecast. If the initial forecast was accurate but PMs cut it at the last minute, the billing decision was made late — not a forecasting problem. If the initial forecast was always too high and the final forecast was still above actual, both the initial estimate and the PM's judgement about what would bill were off. Use this data to calibrate how much to trust initial forecasts in financial modelling versus waiting for the final pre-month figure.
Understanding your data
Key Fields | How it's Calculated |
Forecast as Set (Initial) | The revenue forecast value for a given month as it was first recorded, captured at the time of initial entry in Total Synergy |
Forecast Revisions (Over Time) | Each subsequent update to the forecast for the same month, timestamped by when the change was made. Shows how the forecast evolved as the billing month approached |
Final Forecast (Month-End) | The forecast value as at the last update before the month ended — the forecast the firm was using for final planning purposes |
Actual vs Final Forecast | Actual invoiced revenue compared to the final forecast for each month. Measures the accuracy of the last-set forecast, not the initial one |
Forecast Drift | Difference between initial forecast and final forecast for the same month. A consistently negative drift (forecasts being cut as the month approaches) indicates habitual over-optimism in initial forecasting |
Filters
Period: Month being forecasted (select a specific billing month to see its evolution)
Office: Filter to one or more offices
Project Manager: Filter to a specific PM's forecast history