Forecasting capabilities in the Planning sheet enable organizations to move beyond static annual plans and adopt agile planning methods, such as rolling forecasts and periodic re-forecasting. Use forecasting to project revenue, expenses, and other metrics for upcoming periods based on historical data.
Create dynamic forecasts directly on semantic models and update them as new actuals become available. Forecasts can be generated using multiple approaches, such as copying historical values, applying averages, or manually adjusting projections.
The column dimension is a standard date hierarchy (for example, year > quarter > month).
The first step in configuring a forecast is to set the time frame for which the forecast is generated. Then configure how to populate static values in the forecast measure for past or closed periods. For instance, if you have actuals for 2025 and are generating a forecast for 2026, a static forecast measure will be created for 2025.
The forecast measure for previous periods cannot be edited. Static values for closed forecasts can be sourced from a measure in your planning sheet by setting Closed Period to Measure. Set Closed Period to Formula to define a formula to populate closed periods.
Static closed forecasts are populated using the specified formula.
Generate open forecasts using one of these methods:
When open forecast measures are configured as Data Input, you can initialize the forecast using historical or current data. If the source data contains blank values, configure a default value using one of the options shown.
When a measure or formula is selected as the default value, ensure that data is available for the forecast period.
If forecast values are already available for future periods in the data source, you can populate open periods using the native forecast measure or a formula that references it.
To initialize the open forecast from a measure in the planning sheet, set Open Period to Measure, then select the measure from Linked Measure.
To set forecast values based on a formula, set Open Period to Formula and enter the formula.
Consider a business case where the revenue projections are available for the forecast period, in this case, 2026.
To create a forecast based on a formula, set Open Period to Formula and enter the formula.
Create and save the forecast.
Prepopulate future forecast periods using existing historical or current data. These initial values can then be manually adjusted by selecting and editing the cell.
If the measure used to initialize the forecast contains null values, you can replace them with a default value. The default value can be a static value, another measure, or a formula.
The period range duration should match the target period duration. E.g., if the target period is 6 months, then you must select a period range spanning 6 months.
The forecast is initialized using revenue from the corresponding month in the previous year.
The average revenue from Q4 2025 is used to initialize each month in the 2026 forecast.
The revenue from December 2025 is used to initialize each month in the 2026 forecast.
Split a forecast period into multiple ranges and initialize each range using a different method, such as average values or data from a prior period.
This option is available only when Open Period is set to Data Input.
The 2026 forecast is split into multiple ranges based on the period setup configurations:
After a forecast is created, its initial values can be modified at any time. If the open forecast has been split into multiple periods, you can update the values for a specific period without affecting the configured values for the other periods.
The new configuration is applied to the July forecast.
