1. Palo Alto Software
  2. LivePlan
  3. Tracking actuals on the Dashboard

Using the LivePlan Dashboard Follow

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Diane G.

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The LivePlan Dashboard is an easy-to-use graphical display that combines two important sources of data:

  • Your financial forecast data (your plan)
  • Your company's actual accounting data (your actual results)

Dashboard_view.pngYour Dashboard tells you exactly how your business is performing against the goals you'd set out in your forecast. Armed with that information, you can catch problems early and make smart decisions for growth.

This feature is available to LivePlan Premium users. To learn more about LivePlan Premium, please click here. 

 

Who can use the Dashboard?

The Dashboard needs actual accounting data, so it's designed for businesses that are up and running. If you have a start-up company and you've used LivePlan Standard to build your forecast, you'll be ready to use the Dashboard in LivePlan Premium once your company starts operating. (Scroll down for some helpful tips for start-ups.)

 

Importing data from your accounting solution

LivePlan connects with either QuickBooks Online or Xero. The whole process takes about 90 seconds, as LivePlan pulls in your current year’s actual accounting data and up to two years prior. (If your business doesn’t yet have several years of actuals, don’t worry. LivePlan will import the data you have.)

To get started, please see these pages:

Note: If you don't use any of these accounting tools, you can always enter your actuals manually.

 

Using your actuals to create a starting forecast

Existing businesses that have six months of actuals or more may want to use LivePlan's automated forecasting feature. When you connect LivePlan with QuickBooks or Xero, it can use your current year's actuals to build a starting forecast

 For details, please see these pages:

Note: If you've already built your forecast, you can always create a fresh scenario in order to use the use automated forecast feature.

 

How can a start-up business use the Dashboard?

If your company is just getting started, you can start using the Dashboard once you have a month or two of actual accounting data available. The more months of data you have, the more useful the Dashboard becomes.

We're assuming that you've already built a forecast in LivePlan - that's an important step to completing your business plan. Once you have at least a month's worth of actual data in your accounting system, you can either connect it to LivePlan, or enter your data manually.

At that point, you'll need to map your chart of accounts to your LivePlan forecast, so you're comparing the categories you want to compare.

For details, please see these pages:

 

Interpreting the Dashboard display

These pages will help you read the Dashboard charts and understand what they mean:

 

 

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