The Forecast Chart is a visualization tool that helps you see your full-year forecast. It combines your historical actuals with a specific forecast cycle, giving you a clear picture of how you expect to end the year. Learn more about Forecast in Datarails. 

Use Case

The Forecast Chart is ideal for:

• Presenting a full-year forecast that includes both actuals and projected data.
• Visualizing different forecast scenarios, such as a "3+9" version where you have three months of actuals and nine months of forecast.
• Communicating your financial projections to stakeholders.

How it Works

1. From your dashboard, click Add Widget.
2. Select the Forecast Line chart type.
   
3. Choose the relevant data table. "Financials" is a common choice, but any table that includes the fields “Reporting Month”, and "Scenario Cycle” can be used.
4. Once you select the table, a few fields will be added to the widget settings automatically:
   • Reporting Months In the X-axis: This field will be added with the timeframe set to "Full Year".
     
   • Scenario Cycle in the Data Series: This field allows you to select specific forecast cycle.
   • Scenario in the Filter section: This field will be added with the value “Forecast” selected. You can add either Budget or Actuals in addition to the forecast.
5. The chart will render, displaying your actuals as a solid line and your forecast as a dashed line through the end of the year.
   
   

Key Features 

• Customizable Display: You have options to select how the actuals and the forecast data are presented in the chart. In order to do that, nevigate to Options > charts  > Forecast Chart 

  

• Mandatory Settings: For the chart to function correctly, the following prerequisites must be met:
  • The forecast module must be enabled.
  • The Scenario Cycle field must be used in the data series to select the correct forecast cycle.
  • The Reporting Months field must be used in the X-axis with its timeframe set to "Full Year".
• Flexible Values: By default, the chart will use "Amount" for the value field, but this can be replaced with any other relevant numeric field.

Pro Tips

• If you don’t want to use the Scenario Cycle field, you can use the field “System_forecast”, or “System_Date_Tag_Label”.
• You can also leverage "system names" for your custom fields. For example, if "Period" is your reporting date field, you can assign it the system name "reporting_month" within the relevant table screen. This allows the system to recognize "Period" as your "Reporting Month" field. Please ensure that the "Reporting Month" accurately reflects only the end of the month. 

Troubleshooting Chart Display Issues

• Nothing Presented on the Chart:
  • Verify your selected Planning Scenario includes the correct dataset. Learn more about Planning Scenarios.
  • Ensure "Reporting Month" is on the x-axis and filtered by time-frame.
  • Confirm the x-axis includes "Scenario Cycle" with at least one forecast cycle (e.g., 1+11, 3+9).
  • Make sure that the selected Scenario cycle include the Default Planning Scenario. Learn more about the defaults here.
• No Actuals Presented on the Chart:
  • Verify "Reporting Month" on the x-axis is filtered by time-frame.
• Chart Displays for Incorrect Year:
  • Check that the reference-date in the top right corner is set to the relevant year. Learn more about Reference Date.
  • Ensure "Reporting Month" is filtered for "full-year".

Updated December 02, 2025 10:51