Setting up the Dashboard after you've created a forecast

In this article:

• Step 1: Connect to your accounting solution or directly enter your results
• Step 2: Map your accounts
• Step 3: Use the overview and trend views to track your progress

To get the most benefit from the Dashboard, you'll need to enter two sets of financial information into LivePlan:

• Your future forecast, from the Forecast section
• Your past actuals from your accounting solution

Once these two sets of values are in LivePlan, the Dashboard can accurately show you how your business is doing compared to your forecast.

Note: This article assumes you have already created a company with a forecast. If you haven't, you can follow the process in Starting LivePlan through the Dashboard, or see Preparing a forecast. 

Step 1: Connect to your accounting solution or directly enter your results

Click the Connect Accounting button located near in the lower-left of your LivePlan window:

Then, connect to your accounting solution:

• Connecting LivePlan to Xero
• Connecting LivePlan to QuickBooks Online

If you aren't using one of the integrated accounting solutions, you can use the direct entry interface to enter your actual results or import your financials from a CSV file.

Step 2: Map your accounts

Once you've connected to an accounting solution, you'll need to map its chart of accounts to the appropriate forecast categories in LivePlan:

• Mapping Xero accounts to LivePlan data
• Mapping QuickBooks accounts to LivePlan data

Note: If you entered your actuals directly, you'll skip this step.

Step 3: Use the overview and trend views to track your progress

Once you have both sets of values in LivePlan, these articles will help you interpret your data: 

• Using the Dashboard overview
• Dashboard Trends: Comparing actuals to your forecast
• Metrics available on the LivePlan Dashboard