Forecasts

Forecasts helps teams analyze forecasted spend against actual spend in Analytics.

Use this Analytics cube to review forecast accuracy, variance, deviation, team ranking, provider-level spend movement, and forecast performance over time.

For shared Analytics workspace behavior, report building, visualizations, filters, saved reports, and pre-aggregations, refer to Getting Started with Analytics.

What Forecasts helps you answer

Forecasts helps teams answer questions such as:

• How does actual spend compare with forecasted spend?

• Which teams have the largest forecast variance?

• Which providers are driving forecast movement?

• Which months show the highest deviation?

• Which teams are improving or falling behind on forecast accuracy?

• Where does spend exceed forecast thresholds?

• Which forecast periods need review before finance or leadership reporting?

• Which teams need follow-up based on rank, variance, or deviation?

Access Forecasts

To open Forecasts analytics:

1. Navigate to Analytics

2. Select Forecasts

The page opens the Forecasts analytics cube.

Forecasts data

Forecasts combines forecast values with actual spend so teams can measure forecast performance.

Forecast reporting may include:

• Forecasted spend

• Actual spend

• Variance between actual and forecast

• Deviation percentage

• Forecast accuracy

• Team ranking

• Provider context

• Monthly and quarterly trends

Forecast fields

The Forecasts group contains the core measures used for forecast performance analysis.

Use these fields together to compare forecasted values with actual spend and identify areas that need review.

Variance and deviation

Forecast variance measures the difference between actual spend and forecasted spend.

The standard interpretation is:

• Variance = Actual spend minus forecasted spend

• Deviation % = Variance divided by forecasted spend, multiplied by 100

Use variance to understand the financial value of the gap.

Use deviation percentage to compare forecast performance across teams or providers with different spend levels.

Forecast accuracy and thresholds

Forecast accuracy helps teams understand how closely forecasted spend aligns with actual spend.

Threshold fields help classify forecast performance into review bands. These bands support RAG-style analysis and help teams quickly identify where forecast results require attention.

Use threshold and accuracy fields to:

• Review forecast performance across teams

• Identify high-deviation months

• Support finance review cycles

• Improve forecasting discipline over time

• Focus follow-up on teams with material forecast gaps

Providers

The Providers group supports provider-level forecast analysis.

Common fields include:

• Provider Code

• Provider Name

Use provider fields to compare forecast performance across cloud providers, service providers, or other provider structures configured in Yarken.

Provider-level reporting helps teams identify whether forecast variance is concentrated with a specific provider or spread across the operating environment.

Teams

The Teams group supports team-level forecast analysis.

Common fields include:

• Team

Use team fields to compare forecast accuracy, spend, variance, and rank across accountable teams.

Team-level reporting is useful for review meetings, forecast improvement programs, and accountability workflows.

Timeline fields

The Timeline group supports period-based forecast analysis.

Common fields include:

• Calendar Date

• Calendar Year

• Year

• Quarter

• Month

Use timeline fields to compare forecast performance across months, quarters, years, or rolling review periods.

Recommended report structures

Start with a clear forecast question, then select the fields that explain accuracy, variance, ownership, and time period.

Save recurring views for forecast reviews, monthly variance analysis, team performance reviews, and finance governance meetings.

Relationship with Forecasting

Forecasts in Analytics is the reporting layer for forecast performance.

Use Forecasting to manage and review forecasted spend.

Use Forecasts in Analytics to:

• Build custom forecast reports

• Compare actual spend with forecast values

• Review variance and deviation by team or provider

• Analyze forecast accuracy over time

• Create saved views for recurring finance reviews

This separation keeps forecast management and forecast analysis aligned without duplicating workflows.

Relationship with Forecasting Overview and Team Forecast

Forecasting dashboards provide curated views of forecast performance.

Use Forecasting Overview to review summarized forecast metrics, team performance, forecast accuracy, team spend, and recent forecast updates.

Use Team Forecast to review forecast and actual spend trends for a specific team across a financial year or rolling 12-month view.

Use Forecasts in Analytics when you need custom fields, saved report structures, or provider and timeline combinations that go beyond the standard dashboards.

Relationship with Budget Planning

Forecasts and Budget Planning serve different reporting needs.

Use Budget Planning when analyzing budgets, baselines, previous forecasts, planning amounts, and remaining forecast positions.

Use Forecasts when analyzing forecast accuracy, team ranking, spend-to-forecast variance, provider performance, and forecast deviation.

Together, these views help finance and technology teams understand both planning position and forecast performance.

Relationship with FinOps and cloud forecasting

Forecasts supports FinOps workflows by helping teams compare cloud forecast assumptions with actual cloud spend.

Use it to:

• Review provider-level forecast performance

• Identify teams with recurring cloud forecast gaps

• Compare actual cloud spend against forecasted values

• Improve forecast discipline across accountable teams

• Support monthly cloud cost review cycles

Forecast accuracy improves when teams review variance regularly and update assumptions based on actual consumption patterns.

Common use cases

Forecasts is commonly used for:

• Monthly forecast accuracy review

• Spend versus forecast reporting

• Team forecast performance analysis

• Provider-level forecast variance review

• Forecast threshold monitoring

• Finance governance reporting

• FinOps cloud forecasting review

• Forecast improvement programs

• Executive reporting on forecast discipline

Recommended practices

Use these practices when working with Forecasts:

• Review Spend and Forecast together

• Use Variance to understand financial impact

• Use Deviation % to compare performance across teams or providers

• Filter by month or quarter before reviewing large reports

• Include team and provider context when reviewing forecast gaps

• Save recurring reports for forecast review cycles

• Review threshold results before escalating forecast accuracy issues

• Compare Analytics results with Forecasting dashboards when investigating differences

Consistent forecast reporting improves accountability and planning confidence.

Troubleshooting Forecasts results

If Forecasts does not show expected values, check:

• The active Month, Quarter, Year, Provider, or Team filters

• Whether forecast values exist for the selected period

• Whether actual spend has been loaded for the selected period

• Whether provider and team values are mapped consistently

• Whether threshold settings align with the expected accuracy bands

• Whether the selected fields belong to the Forecasts cube

• Whether the reporting period matches the forecast period being reviewed

If totals still do not match expectations, compare the Analytics view against the source Forecasting dashboards and underlying spend data.

Next step

• Chargeback

Related content

• Getting Started with Analytics

• Forecast

• Forecasting Overview

• Team Forecast

• Accuracy Trend

• Budget Planning

• Budgets and Forecasts

• Spend