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Archiving Your Budget

How to lock down your Budget for the year, while allowing changes in the Forecast

 

 

The Archive Budget feature allows you to lock down your original budget while continuing to update forecasts with actual results. 

This makes it possible to:

  • Maintain a static annual operating budget for reporting and comparison.

  • Run a rolling forecast that incorporates monthly actuals.

  • Perform Budget vs. Actual variance reviews from a single scenario.

1️⃣ Why Archive Your Budget?

  • Your annual operating budget represents the targets set at the start of the year.

  • As months progress, you’ll want to update projections with realized actual results.

  • Archiving ensures your original budget remains intact, while forecasts evolve.

Without archiving → your budget and forecast are one and the same.
With archiving → they diverge into separate, referenceable datasets.

2️⃣ How to Archive Your Budget

  1. Go to the Utilities menu.

  2. Select Archive Budget.

  3. PlanGuru will create a locked copy of your original budget.

    Archive Budget

After archiving, your scenario will now display three tabs instead of two:

  • Actuals → Realized monthly results.

  • Budget → Original static projections (locked and uneditable).

  • Forecast → Editable projection grid with all PlanGuru methods and tools.

Budget-Forecast tab

Forecast tab

3️⃣ Updating Your Forecast After Archiving

Once archived, you can begin rolling forecasts:

  1. Import your actual results (QuickBooks, Xero, or Excel).

  2. Go to Utilities → Monthly Roll Forward.

  3. Choose the new Forecast Month.

Example:

  • Archive your budget before importing January actuals.

  • Roll forward → Forecast now shows 1 month actuals + 11 months projections.

  • Budget tab remains locked with original full-year targets.

4️⃣ Re-Archiving Your Budget

If needed, you can re-archive:

  • This process overwrites the Budget tab with a new snapshot from your Forecast tab.

  • Useful if you want to update your “locked” baseline after making significant revisions.

Re-archive Budget

5️⃣ Making Tactical Decisions

With archived budgets and updated forecasts, you can:

  • Compare Budget vs. Actuals across months and year-to-date.

  • Use PlanGuru reporting tools for variance analysis.

  • Share clear, digestible reports with stakeholders to support informed decision-making.