We guide you through the first five recommended steps to take when starting with Futrli.
📌TIP: To follow 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 to someone else's Futrli workspace, use our alternative introductory guide, First steps when invited to use Futrli.
Step 1 - Connect an organisation
Step 1 - Connect an organisation
When you create a Futrli workspace, you're prompted to either connect an organisation to accounting software or create a demo organisation.
If you've started with a demo organisation and haven't connected to an organisation yet, or you have other organisations to integrate, follow this step to connect to a new organisation.
📎NOTE: If you've already connected your organisation you can continue to Step 2 - Housekeeping.
Click the organisation name in the top right, then click Manage Organisations.
Click Add new organisation, then follow the on-screen instructions to choose which accounting software you want to integrate with.
Step 2 - Housekeeping
Step 2 - Housekeeping
Before you use Futrli, we recommend you check your accounting software data is up to date. If that data isn't up to date, the data in Futrli won't be either.
Unreconciled transactions
Futrli will highlight the number of unreconciled transactions coming through from your accounting software.
On the Futrli homepage, you'll see a section on the right titled Data connection.
Here you see the last completed sync of the organisation, and information on any unreconciled transactions. If you need to do anything, there's a link to log into your data source.
Make the required changes in your Sage Accounting, Xero, or QuickBooks Online company.
Head back into Futrli and manually sync the organisation again. You can do this from the Data connection section on the Home page.
Step 3 - Create your first forecast
Step 3 - Create your first forecast
This is where you start getting into the main features of Futrli, starting with forecasting. There are three different types of forecasts that you can create.
1 year P&L
3 year cash flow
3 year cash flow with due invoices
For more information to help you get familiar with forecasting and creating forecasts, use our guides below.
Example of creating a forecast
Example of creating a forecast
In this example, we're going to create a new 1 year P&L using last year's actuals.
In your Futrli account, click the Forecasting tab.
Under Create a budget, forecast or scenario, you see the three forecast types to create.
Click the 1 year P&L option.
Select Create from last year's actuals.
Give it a name, then set the start date to be from the start of next month.
The forecast has now been created. No further action is required. We can now use it within a report.
📌 TIP: In a forecast, you can add new predictions against any account in your organisation, predicting future incomings and outgoings.
What can I do with this forecast?
Add predictions
Add predictions
In a forecast, can add new predictions against any account in your organisation, predicting future incomings and outgoings.
Publish
Publish
Any new forecast 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 the creator publishes the forecast.
After you publish a forecast you can reference it in a report, which we cover in the next step.
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.
Reference in a report
Reference in a report
After you publish a forecast, you can create a report that references data from that forecast.
Step 4 - Create your first report
Step 4 - Create your first report
You have full control of the reporting functionality 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, how you design the report you create is 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.
For more information to help you get familiar with reporting and creating reports, use our guides below.
Example of creating a report
Example of creating a report
Below we'll go over how to create a new report and reference data from the forecast you created and published in the previous section.
Click the Reporting tab, then locate the Create from section.
As an example, 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 are 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 it.
You can then reference the forecast as you build the widget.
For more details on building widgets and referencing forecasts, view the following guides:
📌TIP: You can delete any of the test forecasts or reports that you created.
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.
Before you invite them, make sure you know the following:
The invitee's full name
The invitee's email address
Which organisations you want them to have access to
What user role you want them to have