Compare versions or plans
You can compare the financial data of one version of a budget or forecast plan to another version of the same plan, or compare one plan to another plan. On the Summary page, you can also compare a plan against target if targets have been set. See Set financial targets for more information. If your organization practices Labor Planning, Service Demand Planning, or Project Financial Planning, you can also compare data between plans or versions.
Comparison Alignment Method
Comparing plans supports two alignment methods mentioned below. Users need to select one of the alignment methods when comparing plans using Add Comparison from the Expenses table or Comparison Shortcuts.
- Plan Start Year - two plans are compared by aligning the starting year of both plans.
For example, if Plan A is a two-year plan with fiscal years 2019 and 2020, and Plan B is a two-year plan with fiscal years 2020 and 2021, then this comparison method will compare fiscal year 2019 of Plan A to fiscal year 2020 of Plan B.
- Matching Fiscal Year - two plans are compared by aligning matching fiscal years between two
plans.
For example, if Plan A is a two-year plan with fiscal years 2019 and 2020, and Plan B is a two-year plan with fiscal years 2020 and 2021, then this comparison method will compare fiscal year 2020 of Plan A to fiscal year 2020 of Plan B.
Set up comparison shortcuts
Comparison shortcuts can set a compare shortcut from their current plan to up to four other plans. In addition, the admin can also choose to show the comparison plan by default. The comparison plan the admin chooses is the default for all users of the application. All users can toggle the comparisons on or off in the COMPARE TO menu.
- From the
options, select
Compare Shortcuts.
- In the Manage Compare Shortcuts window, set up your comparison options.
- Select OK.
Comparisons shortcuts are applied only to quarters and years.
Comparison shortcuts for Multi-year plans greater than 4+ years are not supported.
Compare versions or plans in a table
Once you set up your comparison shortcuts, then from the left navigation, select Planning, and then select Expenses. The Compare to option appears with the new shortcuts you created:
The YTD FY column comparisons will now be available in the comparisons saved in the Comparison Shortcut.
- Variance (Var): This is the time-scaled financial value from the active plan (or version) minus the same time-scaled financial value from the comparison plan (or version). The chronological order of the compared plans is not a factor in the delta calculation.
- Variance percentage (Var %): This is the time-scaled financial value from the active plan (or version) divided by the same time-scaled financial value from the comparison plan (or version) presented as a percentage.
- When working with a plan spanning multiple years, version headings are displayed with a green background, and plans with a purple background (see Plan for multiple years).
- Comparisons are not supported on the Contracts or Assets line item tables.
- If a plan comparison is present, a layout must contain at least one grouped column. If none is specified, the default grouping is Cost Object and Account.
If your organization does labor planning in Apptio planning applications, click Headcount to see labor comparisons. See Labor planning. The Headcount tab is available for Departments only.
Compare versions or plans on the Summary page
- From the left navigation menu, select Planning, and then select a Expenses.
- From the Summary tab, select Compare to.
- Select the plan you want to compare to.
Expand or collapse quarter or year columns
To simplify plan comparisons, you can expand data or collapse the data to show quarterly and annual totals only.
View the Year-to-date comparison
View the year-to-date (YTD) column that represents the year-to-date sum of the actuals in your forecast by adding the YTD column to the table. See Customize, save, and share table layouts for more information. The YTD FY column comparisons are also available in the plan comparisons created using the Comparison Shortcut. So the users no more need to manually click the Add Comparison option from the YTD column, the comparison will be available in the comparisons saved in the Comparison Shortcut.
Plan comparison limits
You can do comparisons on a per period, per quarter, or per annum basis. There is a limit to the number of comparisons you can do in a single plan.
For example:
- A 1-year plan with 12 periods, 4 quarters, and 1 annual comparison is a total of 17 comparisons.
- A 5-year plan with 4 quarters and 5 annuals comparisons is a total of 9 comparisons.
The following table shows the maximum number of comparisons supported for each plan length:
| Plan Length | Maximum Comparisons |
|---|---|
| 1 | 22 |
| 2 | 19 |
| 3 | 15 |
| 4 | 11 |
| 5 | 9 |
| 6 | 7 |