Forecasting in Allocadia

In Allocadia, Forecasting is the latest expected cost of marketing activities as the marketer executes on the activities. The Forecast column differs from the Plan columns, as the Plan columns are recommended to only be used at the beginning of the budgeting and planning phase for your organization to record their original bottom up plan. This serves as a baseline your team can compare your Forecast against throughout and at the end of the fiscal year.

It is crucial that your team records their up-to-date estimates on their spend as they carry out their day to day operations in the Forecast columns. The Forecast column in Allocadia will allow marketers to estimate whether they will be spending more or less than their original plan before the expenditures are recorded and imported into Allocadia. The Forecast is then used to better gauge how much in actuals are roughly still expected.

If your Forecast is $1200, and to date, your Actuals/PO amounts that have come through are $600, you would still expect to see another $600. Throughout the year, you typically want to compare Plan vs Actual, Forecast vs Actual and Plan vs Forecast. You would stop updating the Forecast when you have no more estimate changes for that period.