The Forecaster gives you a monthly view of projected and actual revenue, costs, and profitability. This article explains what each column and metric in the Forecaster represents and how the values are derived.
Revenue
Revenue — Pulled directly from the Bottleneck Report. This reflects the dollar value of work orders with stage dates falling within each given month. It represents confirmed, scheduled revenue based on your current production plan.
Adjustment — A manually entered field that allows you to account for anticipated changes not yet reflected in work orders. Enter a negative value when revenue is moving out of a month (e.g., a job slipping to the next month) and a corresponding positive value in the destination month. Both sides of every adjustment should balance.
Proj Rev (Projected Revenue from Opportunities) — Revenue pushed manually from Opportunities. Based on the Projected Revenue field on the Opportunity — not the Takeoff number. Place this revenue in the month(s) you expect to build the job. Update it as the bid evolves to maintain accuracy.
Costs and Margin
Estimated Costs — Pulled from work orders. Used to calculate the contribution margin for each month.
Contribution Margin — The difference between Revenue and Estimated Costs, expressed as both a dollar amount and a percentage. Reflects how much revenue is left to cover fixed costs and profit after variable costs.
Weighted Margin — When a single project's revenue is distributed across multiple months, the system calculates a weighted margin based on the revenue split and the individual projected margin for each portion. This gives a more accurate picture of profitability per month.
Fixed Costs and Profitability
Fixed Costs — Manually entered. Represents recurring overhead costs that do not vary with production volume (e.g., rent, salaries, insurance). Can be entered as a monthly average — for example, if your annual fixed costs are $12M, enter $1M per month.
Net Profit — Revenue minus all costs (Estimated Costs + Fixed Costs). Reflects the projected bottom-line profit for the month.
EBIT$ / EBIT% — Earnings Before Interest and Taxes. Measures how well your company generates profit from its core business operations. EBIT$ is the dollar amount; EBIT% is that amount expressed as a percentage of revenue. Use these to evaluate operational performance independent of financing and tax structures.
Opportunities and Change Orders
Opportunity Revenue — Revenue from Opportunities that have been manually pushed to the Forecaster. This reflects your sales pipeline — potential revenue that has not yet been converted to work orders. Once an Opportunity is converted to a Project, it should be removed from the Forecaster; its revenue will then appear in the Revenue row via the Bottleneck Report.
Change Order Revenue — Revenue from Change Orders pushed to the Forecaster. Particularly useful for 'price and proceed' change orders that are in progress but not yet signed off. Remove them from the Forecaster once the change order is approved and work orders are created.
Keeping the Forecaster Accurate
Update the Projected Revenue field on Opportunities as bids evolve.
Use the Adjustment field to reflect known schedule changes promptly.
Remove Opportunities and Change Orders from the Forecaster as soon as they are converted or signed off.
Enter fixed costs monthly (or as a consistent average) so net profit calculations are meaningful.
Troubleshooting: Cost Row Doesn't Match Expected Value
The Forecaster's Cost row is derived from two sources only: estimated costs pulled from work orders, and your Fixed Costs Per Month setting. If the displayed cost doesn't equal the sum of those two values, check the following before contacting support:
Work order cost fields: Estimated Materials, Estimated Labor, Distributed Costs, and Overheads — all found under each work order's Budget tab. A work order can show $0 in materials but still carry estimated labor or overhead costs.
Fixed Costs Per Month: Confirm the value entered in your Forecaster configuration.
Opportunities and Change Orders pushed to the Forecaster: These appear on the revenue side but affect margin calculations, which can make the implied cost figure look higher than expected.
Adjustment field: Check that no non-zero adjustment has been entered for the month.
If all inputs are confirmed and the cost figure still can't be accounted for, the issue is outside the scope of the Forecaster's standard calculation. Contact INNERGY Support for a direct review of your account data.
Related Articles
Forecaster Overview
How do I use the Forecaster
How to Configure the Forecaster
Forecasting Opportunities: Push and Remove
Export Data from the Forecaster to Excel