After your team has gone through the honest work of classifying all of their accounts, you want to make sure it’s being taken seriously and that you’re getting the most out of the experience and not simply running through the motions. The Planned vs Actual Report allows you to find where a plan went astray or a plan might not have even existed at all and to have those discussions during your one on one’s or, if you catch them early enough, can correct them before the quarter is up.
So how do I find the Planned vs Actual Report?
Navigate to the Reports page from the left nav menu and select the Forecast & Deals tab. The report is officially called, “Account Growth – Planned vs Actual” and will only be visible if you have the Account Growth functionality enabled.
Let’s Configure the Report
Grouping
The Planned vs Actual Report does not need a hierarchy for optimal viewing, but Grouping Options still exist to group by Media Type, Outlet, or Salesperson. You can alternatively choose No Grouping for a flattened view of the report.
Time Controls
- Calendar – Select from your available calendar types.
- Select Quarter – Choose the quarter that you wish to analyze.
- Select Quarter to Compare – Choose a quarter to compare to. It’s highly recommended that you understand what comparison quarter was being used while classifying Accounts as that should provide the most accurate view as to why a particular classification was chosen vs another. Various time frames are available to fit your specific need.
Other Options
Scenarios – This allows you to run the report and answer one of 3 questions commonly asked at some point during the Account Growth process and is a required part of running this report.
- Show Accounts that grew that I was not expecting to Grow – This will show you any accounts where the Account Growth row was NOT set to GROW and the amount in Select Quarter is greater than the amount in Select Quarter to Compare.
- Show Accounts that Churned that I was not expecting to Churn – This will show you any accounts where the Account Growth row was NOT set to CHURN and the amount in Select Quarter is less than the amount in the Select Quarter to Compare
- Show Accounts that are not flat that I expected to stay flat – This will show you any accounts where the Account Growth rows was set to KEEP and the amount in the Select Quarter is not the same as the amount in the Select Quarter to Compare. It could be higher or lower.
Filters
A subset of standard report filters exists as not all fields are part of the Account Growth experience. Today you have Salespeople, Accounts, Markets, Media Types, and Outlet filters
How do I read this report?
Once you have chosen your specific scenario, you’re going to want to run the report and view the results. Reading it is fairly simple.
A combination of Media Type, Account, Salesperson, Outlet and Classification will display as the first set of columns. Depending on if you chose to Group the report will determine if you have an expandable hierarchy or a flattened view of the report.
- $ Booked – The Amount booked in the Select Quarter time frame
- Comparison $ Booked – The Amount Booked in the Select Quarter to Compare time frame
- $ Comparison – difference between $ Booked and Comparison $ Booked as a dollar amount
- % Comparison - difference between $ Booked and Comparison $ Booked as a percentage
Miscellaneous Report Functionality
- Export Report to Excel or CSV
- Save Report as Favorite and place in desire folder
- Email Favorite Report on a regular basis
- Automatically roll the time frames ahead at beginning of each quarter
- Display as a Data Card on Home Page
- Share Report