To help you understand what you're seeing in Futrli and what to do first, we run through the five first steps we advise you to take when starting with Futrli.
📌 TIP: To follow along with the steps below, you can use any organisation you've integrated with Futrli. Alternatively, you can use one of the available demo organisations.
📎 NOTE: If you've been invited into a Futrli workspace, our alternative introductory guide may be more relevant to you - I've been invited to join Futrli - what are my first steps?
Step 1 - Connect an organisation
Step 1 - Connect an organisation
When you create a Futrli workspace, you'll have been prompted to connect an organisation, so you may already have an organisation ready to use.
If you started with a demo organisation so haven't connected to an organisation yet, or you have additional organisations to integrate, follow this step to connect to a new organisation.
Click on the organisation name on the top right, then click Manage Organisations.
Click to Add new organisation then follow the on-screen instructions to choose with accounting software you want to integrate with.
Futrli currently integrates with Sage Accounting, Xero and QuickBooks Online. You can also use one of the demo organisations if you don't want to integrate with your accounting software yet.
Step 2 - Housekeeping
Step 2 - Housekeeping
There is one task you need to consider before using Futrli, and that is ensuring the data being fed into Futrli is tidy.
Futrli can only work with the data it is given by the data source (Sage Accounting, Xero or QuickBooks Online). If that data isn't up to date, Futrli won't be up to date either.
Unreconciled transactions
Futrli will highlight for you the number of unreconciled transactions being pulled through.
On the Futrli homepage you will see a section on the right titled Data connection.
Here you will see the last completed sync of the organisation, as well as the information on any unreconciled transactions. If you need to do anything, there is a link to log into your data source.
Make the changes required in your Sage Accounting, Xero, or QuickBooks Online account, then head back into Futrli and sync the organisation again.
Step 3 - Forecasting setup
Step 3 - Forecasting setup
This is where you start getting into the main features in Futrli, starting with forecasting. Let's cover the basics before looking closer at each type of forecast you can build.
Any forecast created will start as a 'draft'. That means the creator, and only the creator, will be able to see it. To make the forecast available to other Futrli users, it will need to be published. Once published, it will then be available to be referenced in a report.
Forecasts can be created in different ways:
From scratch - meaning there will be no predictions set up against any account
With auto-predictions - every account will have a prediction created for it, automatically
From last year's actuals - pre-built predictions will reference the account 12 months prior
From an existing Futrli forecast - predictions will be copied over from a forecast already built in Futrli
In any forecast, you can create as many different manual predictions as you'd like. These could be repeating, or built a formula, or added freestyle, or even unit based with a selling price and quantity to be sold.
You can also bulk import predictions via the Import feature.
When building your own forecast, there are three types of forecast to choose from. Below is a summary of each one.
1 year P&L
1 year P&L
The 1 year P&L forecast will start from a month of your choice, then look at the following 11 months.
The information in this forecast type is P&L, so if you were looking for a balance sheet or cash flow view, you'd need to use either the 3 year cash flow forecast option, or the 3 year cash flow with due invoices option.
Once a 1 year P&L forecast has been built, there is the option to lock it, meaning no further changes can be made by any Futrli user.
3 year cash flow
3 year cash flow
The second option when creating your own forecast is a 3 year cash flow.
A 3 year cash flow will always start in the current month and run through the next 3 full financial years, plus the remainder of the current financial year.
Historically, the last full 2 financial years will be available, plus the first part of the current financial year.
You then have the option to set where the actual data stops, and the forecasted data takes over.
3 year cash flow with due invoices
3 year cash flow with due invoices
The 3 year cash flow with due invoices is slightly different to the other two forecasting options.
As well as the options available in the first two forecast types, the 3 year cash flow with due invoices has an Invoices tab. Within that tab will be listed all due invoices from the data source (Sage Accounting, Xero or QuickBooks Online).
You then have the option to override the expected payment behaviour for each invoice, giving you the power to produce accurate short-term cash flow forecasts.
Once you have a better understanding of the different types of forecasts listed above, you're ready to build a new forecast. (If you want a click-through of how to create a report, click here.)
In your Futrli account, click Forecasting.
You'll see the option to Create a budget, forecast or scenario, with the three options shown below.
In this example, we're going to create a new 1 year P&L using last year's actuals. Click the 1 year P&L option, then select the Create from last year's actuals method.
Give it a name, then set the start date to be from the start of next month.
The forecast has now been created with no further action required, we can now use it within a report.
📌 TIP: You can add new predictions.
What can I do with this forecast?
Export to Google Sheets
Export to Google Sheets
You can export your forecast via the controls dropdown. You can find this in the top left corner of the window.
Publish
Publish
Any new forecast or report you create starts life as a draft. The creator of the draft is the only person with access to it. Nobody else can see it until it is published.
To publish, head back to the main forecasting homepage where you'll see the forecast sat in the drafts on the left-hand side. Click the dropdown and you see the option to publish.
Once published, you can 'close' the forecast - this locks the forecast and prevents others from making changes.
After you publish a forecast you can reference it in a report, which we cover in the next step.
Step 4 - Create a report
Step 4 - Create a report
You have full control with reporting in Futrli. For example, what do you want to report on? What date range you want to report on? Do you want to compare multiple forecasts with your actual data, etc.
With the drag and drop functionality, the design of the report you create is completely up to you.
📌 TIP: If you don't want to start from scratch, there are plenty of templates options to choose from, including the option to create your own templates.
Below we run through how to create a new report and use the newly created budget to reference data from (you'll need to make sure the forecast you created in step 3 has been published).
Click Reporting, then locate the Create from section.
In this example we going to use the Portrait option in the Scratch tab.
In your new report, you'll see a menu bar on the right-hand side. In the Builder section of that menu is various display options. For example, do you want a pie chart? A Line graph? Just a table? In our example, we'll use a bar chart.
Drag and drop the icon onto your report, you can then reposition and resize.
You then have four tasks to complete:
1 - Set a title/sub-title
1 - Set a title/sub-title
Give it whatever name you want. If you don't want a title or sub-title, just leave it blank, it exports with a blank space.
2 - Select the dataset(s)
2 - Select the dataset(s)
Let's select the newly created 1 year P&L forecast you just created.
You can add datasets can either by dragging and dropping into the Datasets box, or by double clicking them.
3 - What do you want to report on?
3 - What do you want to report on?
You'll see two Y-axis boxes. This is for if the data type is different (one might be a percentage, one financial). Drag and drop whatever you want to report on into a box.
For this example, let's use both Y-axis options. Add Gross Profit into Y-Axis 1 and Gross Profit % into Y-Axis 2.
4 - Date range
4 - Date range
The final job is to set the date range you'd like to look at.
Drag and drop the options you'd like. For this example let's look at the current month and the next 3 months.
As this is the last step, once that last box has data you'll see the widget update in the report.
Step 5 - Invite others
Step 5 - Invite others
The final step in our five first steps is to invite others to join your Futrli workspace.
Head into the users section. Click the dropdown adjacent to the organisation name.
Click Add user.
You now need to know:
The invitee's full name
The invitee's email address
Which organisations they'll have access to
Finally - select the role you want them to have in Futrli. This decides their permissions.
Those are the five first steps completed!
📌 TIP: If you ever have any questions and can't find the answer in our knowledgebase, our Support Team are always happy to help! You can reach them at any time in-app by clicking on the bubble in the bottom corner of the screen, or by emailing futrli-help@sage.com.