After you define a forecast, actuals may fall below the forecasted value. The shortfall between the forecasted and actual values is called the deficit.
If the forecast represents a committed target (quarter/year), a shortfall in early periods needs to be recovered later to still meet the target total.
In this article, you learn how to
January actuals are less than the forecasted value of 2.49m. Use the Distribute Deficit option to allocate the shortfall across open forecasts.
Distribute a deficit to the total cell to adjust the overall total, or distribute it to child cells to spread the adjustment across lower-level forecasts.
Select the measures to compare - in this example, Forecast and GL Amount Actual. Fabric Planning calculates the deficit.
If you have other forecast measures in your report, you can distribute the deficit to those forecasts as well. Use the Distribute to dropdown to select the forecast.
Select the calendar icon, then select the periods to distribute the deficit across. In this example, you distribute the deficit in the January forecast across the forecasts for February and March.
To distribute the deficit equally between configured periods, set the Distribution Method to Distribute Equally.
In this case, since the total deficit is distributed equally across two periods (February and March), divide the deficit amount by 2:
Adjustment per month = 470,363.4057/2 = 235,181.70285
February forecast adjustment
March forecast adjustment
When you distribute deficits to a total value in a hierarchy, the child values are automatically updated based on the selected distribution method.
You can also distribute deficits based on the weights of the forecast values. Set the Distribution Method to Distribute By Weights.
The following steps demonstrate how weighted allocation works internally.
Step 1: Calculate the total weight base.
Combine the original forecasts for February and March to determine the total baseline:
Total Base = 2.46m + 2.57m = 5.03m
Step 2: Determine each month's proportion (weight).
February weight:
2.46m / 5.03m = approx 48.9%
March weight:
2.57m / 5.03m = approx 51.09%
Step 3: Allocate the deficit proportional to the weight.
Multiply the total deficit by each month's respective weight:
February deficit share:
470,363.40 * 48.90% = 230,038.5 (230k)
March deficit share:
470,363.40 * 51.09% = 240,324.85 (240k)
Step 4: Calculate updated forecasts
Add the allocated deficit share to each original forecast value:
February updated forecast:
2.4m + 230k = 2.69m
March updated forecast:
2.57m + 240k = 2.81m
