Scenario Types Overview

Scenarios are placeholders for a group of data such as budget, plan, or forecast that cover a specific, predetermined period. Scenarios will determine the columns (time horizon) in templates and house the data in the cube for reporting.

Four main types of scenarios can be created in Planful: 

• Budget - This scenario is designed for budgeting purposes and cannot incorporate actual data. The Budget Scenario can be seeded from a previous scenario or created as a Zero-based scenario. This scenario offers the option to show historical data to guide through budget inputs.
• Forecast - The Forecast Scenario is used for creating forecasts, where the projection start date can be set, and actuals are incorporated. The Projection start date period requires an entry in the Projection Start Date when the forecast begins. Months from the start of the fiscal year up to the selected Projection Start Date are considered closed periods, and data for these periods can be populated from the Actual scenario or a previous scenario. 
• Plan - The Plan Scenario serves both budget and forecast purposes. This scenario allows Data Seeding and can incorporate Actuals. Similar to a forecast scenario, the Plan Scenario also has a Projection Start Date. The periods of the fiscal year before the Projection Start Date are considered closed periods, and data can be populated from the Actual scenario or a previous scenario.
  
  
  What is a Plan Scenario?

  The Plan Scenario type provides an enhanced method to seed data.

  Intelligent Seeding

  The primary objective of Seeding is to allow you to get data and/or formulas from a source scenario. You may require different ways to seed data/formulas depending on the specific business case. The main categories of seeding that you can use are as follows:

  • Cell to Cell Seeding (Overlapping periods seeding type)

  • Period to Period Seeding (Plan Scenario- new scenario type)

  Cell to Cell Seeding

  Cell to Cell seeding refers to the seeding methodology where you can use the same template structure as the source scenario. This type of seeding is illustrated in the following image.

  

  Here, the formulas defined in period 1 of 2018 in the source scenario are seeded to period 1 of 2019 in the target scenario.

  Period to Period Seeding

  Period to period seeding provides a setup where data and formulas are seeded based on the matching periods. In this case, formulas defined in Period 1 of 2019 in the source scenario are seeded to Period 1 of 2019 in the target Scenario. This functionality is part of the new seeding feature, which can be enabled via Plan Scenario .
  

  Seeding Logic

  When you create a new scenario with Scenario Type as Plan Scenario, the following Seeding logic occurs in the application:

  • In the Seeding section, the application automatically maps the overlapping periods based on the selected source scenario.

  • For periods that do not overlap, the application maps the last period as the source. You can change this to any of the open periods in the source scenario.

  • The application automatically adjusts the formulas, seed formulas, and structure for overlapping periods and out periods.

  • If there is any error related to the Seeding process in adjusting the formulas, the application fills the cell with data from the source. In addition, the application records a log entry for the formula that could not be adjusted. This log is provided in the form of an exception report.

    Note:

    The Seeding process does not automatically correct Excel errors caused by circular or misplaced references.

  • In case of any exceptions, you can choose to correct the errors manually by replacing the formulas or you can continue with the existing values.

  
  
• Preloaded Budget - The Preloaded Budget scenario is used for historic budget data generated outside of Planful that needs to be imported for reporting purposes. Data loaded into this scenario cannot be modified with a template and remains in a read-only state.

In addition to the above types, Planful also offers two system-defined scenarios

• Actual - A system-defined scenario that holds the actual data of the legal entities organized by fiscal years.
• Default - The common scenario used to add all templates to, which can then be mapped to other scenarios.