A forecast is the named planning file. A version is a full working copy inside that forecast.
Use a new forecast when you are starting a separate planning effort. Use a new version when you want another branch of the same forecast without losing the current one.
Actuals Through lives at the version level. It decides the last month that should use imported actuals or the selected base source before the forecast takes over.
Create the first forecast
From Forecasts, use + New Forecast. Set a name and period range, optionally choose a Base Source if this forecast should build from another version's output, and choose whether to start blank or generate with AI. ClearBox FPA creates the forecast and its first version automatically.
Set Actuals Through the right way
Open Forecast settings from the workspace header kebab menu. In Version Settings, set the correct Base Source if you are chaining from another version, then set Actuals Through to the last fully closed month.
Set this to the last closed month. If actuals are loaded through March, set Actuals Through to March so April becomes the first forecasted month.
Create another version
Use a new version when you want a second branch of the same forecast. Create new version (from the workspace kebab menu) clones the latest version inside the same forecast, giving you a clean branch to change assumptions, schedules, and overrides without overwriting the current one.
For lighter experimentation inside a version, use scenarios later. Versions are the heavier-weight branch.
Duplicate the whole forecast
Use Duplicate (from the row menu in the Forecasts list) when you want a separate forecast record rather than another version inside the current forecast. ClearBox FPA creates a new forecast from the latest version and names it Original Name (Copy).
Learn the workspace shell
Once a version is open, most work happens in the forecast workspace:
- Overview is for quick review
- Income Statement, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow are the main financial grids
- Schedules holds detailed operating models like employees, products and services, contracts, fixed assets, loans, leases, and AR/AP timing
- Drivers holds reusable numeric inputs that formulas can reference
The toolbar controls your current workspace view: Period, Range, Period Columns, Hide Zeros, Assumptions, and Override. The version's saved setup lives under Forecast settings.
Roll a version forward as months close
When a new month closes, Roll forward version (workspace kebab menu) advances the forecast: it creates a new version with Actuals Through moved to the month you pick, so the newly closed month switches from forecast to actual. The new version is a full clone — assumptions, schedules, splits, and dimension allocations carry forward — and becomes your active editing surface.
Two things to know before you use it:
- It locks the version you rolled from, preserving it as a frozen record. The dialog warns you.
- It is available only on the latest version of an operating forecast. A version already actualized through the forecast end, and any consolidation forecast, can't be rolled forward.
Lock a version
Lock version (workspace kebab menu) freezes a version so its assumptions, schedules, drivers, and outputs stay fixed — useful once a version is the agreed plan or a board-approved baseline. A locked version shows a padlock and its settings are read-only until you unlock it, and AI edits are blocked on it.
Unlocking reopens the version, but it recomputes from current upstream data first. If actuals or base data changed while the version was locked, the reopened version reflects those changes — unlocking refreshes the version rather than restoring its pre-lock snapshot.
Set a version as the budget
Set as budget (version row menu) snapshots a version's computed results for one fiscal year into the active Budget that reports and variance columns read from. Two consequences are worth knowing:
- It is a point-in-time snapshot. Later edits to the forecast don't flow into the budget — re-run Set as budget to refresh it.
- It replaces the current active budget for that entity and fiscal year. A previously active budget, including one synced from QuickBooks or built by hand, is deactivated in its place.
The snapshot covers the selected fiscal year's months on the base case; scenarios are excluded.
Consolidation and eliminations
Once an organization has two or more operating entities, ClearBox FPA automatically adds a Consolidated entity (and a hidden Elimination entity) — you don't create these yourself. The consolidated entity rolls its operating entities up so you can forecast and report the group as a whole.
A consolidation forecast behaves differently from an operating one:
- It has no Actuals Through or Base Source of its own. In Version Settings you instead choose one source forecast per operating entity, or leave each on Latest to follow that entity's newest version.
- Intercompany activity is removed on the Eliminations tab, where you add manual elimination rules so the consolidated statements net out intercompany balances.
- Consolidation forecasts are excluded from version locking and roll-forward; manage their inputs through the source forecasts.