Microsoft Forecaster product overview
Updated: March 15, 2007
Microsoft Forecaster is the fast and affordable budgeting and planning application that can help organizations take control of their finances, contain costs, and prevent fiscal surprises. Equipped with Microsoft Forecaster, companies can budget and plan for the future more efficiently and accurately.
Setting realistic financial expectations requires valid data and current assumptions that are closely aligned with a sound business plan. However, organizations often base their new business plan on the budget from the previous year. They then make incremental changes to the budget to align with alterations to their business strategy. This method can often introduce error and cause the budget and business plan to conflict. A more solid approach is to link strategic business objectives to data tied to the strategy.
With Microsoft Forecaster, front-line managers can build budgets that are based on their specific objectives and first-hand knowledge of market conditions. The result is improved accuracy and a higher level of commitment to the budget. And as the business climate changes, managers can respond more effectively by adjusting forecasts and budgets.
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Increase collaboration
New users can start working quickly with an application that works like one they use every day—Microsoft Office Excel. And the collaborative capabilities help save time and improve the quality and accuracy of the final budget. Features such as automatic e-mail notification can help your people work together more effectively. And because your entire organization can access notification guidelines from a centralized location, there's little training involved.
Additional customizable Workflow features help the Budget Administrator keep budget contributors on track. So business managers can gain quick access to how their teams are progressing with budget goals. Predefined security assignments and routings safeguard your data. This helps to ensure that sensitive information is provided only to those authorized to view it.
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Through the use of supplemental memos and line item detail, managers can understand the rationale behind important numbers and assumptions made by other department managers. Such understanding helps reduce time spent in meetings. And department managers can interact with each other to help ensure their budgets complement one another.
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Automate data summary
The Rollups feature helps you reorganize your company's chart of accounts more efficiently. View the parent-child relationships within your data that control how your posting data is summarized. And create Rollups for accounts, cost centers, or whatever accounting entities you choose. Just define your Rollups by using the intuitive drag-and-drop interface, and then run a simple Restate function to consolidate your data.
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Increase confidence in your data
Help reduce duplicate entries and the potential for error. Microsoft Forecaster helps managers readily make changes to their cost centers. They can enter data directly into accounts, or use copy/grow functions, calculated accounts, or spreadback methods. Microsoft Forecaster helps improve numeric accuracy and provide immediate access to reports based on those numbers. If any problems arise or adjustments are required, changes can be made immediately. By entering a change based on numbers or percentages, budget administrators can make an adjustment that ripples through the entire plan. As a result, budgets can be completed quickly, which allows you to create more versions, if necessary.
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Budget and control expenses more effectively
By accessing up-to-date and historical information from your organization's general ledger and financial reports, you can budget and plan with accuracy. This helps managers and budget analysts save valuable time. Your organization can shorten its budget time cycle, reduce printing and mailing costs, and create valid, accurate budgets that tie directly to your strategic plans–helping you reach business goals.
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Keep business performance on target
Microsoft Forecaster helps organizations meet their goals by streamlining many of the tasks that comprise the budgeting process. Create individual budgets. Change the budget model. Consolidate budgets. And collaborate with interrelated departments. This streamlining of tasks helps give you more time to construct a thoughtful budget that is based on valid data and assumptions. So your budget is more predictive of the future. As a result, you can provide a higher quality budget with goals that are realistic and more achievable.
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Fast facts about Microsoft Forecaster
Availability | Available in the United States, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Australia. |
System requirements | Review the hardware and software requirements necessary to implement Microsoft Forecaster. |
Support | Support professionals and self-support options offer around-the-clock access to information. Evaluate support programs. |
Integration | Microsoft Forecaster integrates with general ledger data in Microsoft Dynamics as well as many other general ledgers on the market. ExpressLink, a component of Microsoft Forecaster software, enables this integration with the general ledger. Microsoft FRx is included with or available as an add-on to all general ledger functionality in Microsoft Dynamics software. Microsoft Forecaster is included with or available as an add-on to all general ledger functionality in Microsoft Dynamics software as a part of Business Ready Licensing. Learn more about Microsoft Forecaster integration. |
Customization | Microsoft Forecaster comes equipped with out-of-the-box features that enable you to develop budgets customized for the unique needs of your organization. Learn more about the customizable features of Microsoft Forecaster. |
Training | Choose from a wealth of training opportunities designed to increase your knowledge and productivity. Review training options. |
How to buy | Get an overview of the buying process, financing options, and pricing information. |
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