Professional Services – Consulting Forecast by Project

What is a Forecast by Client and Consultant? Consultant Forecasting and Budgeting Models are considered revenue estimate- and resource planning tools and are used by Budgeting Managers and project leaders to enter forecasted hours by client and consultant for the remainder of the year. Some of the main functionality in this type of input form is that it gives consulting managers a online, database-driven template to input hourly estimates. Information seen in the example below includes: Client, Project Manager (PM) and Employee (consultant), Actual data year-to-date figures (this is read only and comes from the ERP system), data entry cells for the remaining months of the year with a grant total on the far right. At the bottom of the form (not visible in the screenshot) hours are aggregated to totals by employee and then multiplied with average hourly rates to show the grant total estimated service revenues for the year. You find an example of this type of input form below.

Purpose of a Forecast by Client and Consultant Input Forms Professional Services organizations use Forecast by Client and Consultant Input Forms to create detailed forecasts or annual budgets using bottom-up input of hour estimates. The captured estimates can of course also be reused in actual vs estimate status reports and in higher level summary reports and dashboards. When used as part of good business practices in PMO and Consulting departments, a company can improve its internal forecasting and can maximize revenues with improved resource planning. It will also reduce the chances that inaccurate- or lack of hourly estimates leads to under- or overstaffing with resulting negative impact on the bottom line.

Who Uses This Type of Input form? The typical users of this type of input form are: Service Leaders, Project Managers, Budget Managers. Other Reports Often Used in Conjunction with Forecast by Client and Consultant Input Forms Progressive PMO and Consulting departments sometimes use several different Forecast by Client and Consultant Input Forms, along with KPI dashboards, consultant billing reports, client dashboards, project detailed and summary reports, project forecast models, annual budget models and other management and control tools.

Where Does the Data for Analysis Originate From? The Actual (historical transactions) data typically comes from enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems like: Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365) Finance, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (D365 BC), Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics SL, Sage Intacct, Sage 100, Sage 300, Sage 500, Sage X3, SAP Business One, SAP ByDesign, Acumatica, Netsuite and others. In analyses where budgets or forecasts are used, the planning data most often originates from in-house Excel spreadsheet models or from professional xFP&A solutions.

Built for professional services finance teams and aligned with Solver's xFP&A platform, this Solver planning template connects directly to your ERP data via the Solver Data Warehouse, enabling near real-time analysis with minimal setup. Designed for QuickStart deployment, it can be activated rapidly so your team can focus on analysis and decisions — not data preparation.

What is the Professional Services – Consulting Forecast by Project in Solver? The Professional Services – Consulting Forecast by Project is a pre-built xFP&A planning template in Solver designed for professional services organizations. It delivers key financial and operational metrics in a single, easy-to-use interface — purpose-built for professional services finance workflows.

Who uses this Solver planning template? Cfos, project managers, and professional services finance teams in professional services organizations rely on this Solver planning template to replace manual spreadsheet-based processes with automated, near real-time analysis. It is especially useful during month-end close, budget cycles, and board reporting.

Where does the data come from? Data is sourced automatically from your ERP system through the Solver Data Warehouse, which integrates with platforms such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Dynamics 365 Finance, Acumatica, Sage Intacct, and other leading ERP solutions. Once connected, the template updates in near real-time with no manual data entry required.

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