How sherloc organises your data
1. My Data
Your business data, connected to sherloc and organised under two tabs: Financial Data (from your accounts) and Business Data (your staff, revenue, costs and funding).
2. Baseline forecast
A working copy of your data that acts as your starting point, which is the version everything else is built from or compared against.
3. Assumptions
A safe place to experiment with "what if" ideas. Each named forecast scenario has its own copy of your data plus the assumptions that make it different.
4. Forecast sheets
The spreadsheet-style sheets that turn your data into numbers you can plan with.
- Sheet: a tab within a forecast
- Row / line item: an account, or a person on the Staff sheet
- Column: usually a month
- Cell: the value where a row meets a column
5. Drivers
The assumptions and formulas underneath your workbook that actually move the numbers.
- Assumption: an input behind a value, e.g. a growth rate
- Formula: the calculation behind a cell's value
6. Insight, visualisation & report
What your numbers produce, surfaced back to you.
- Insight: an observation sherloc flags automatically
- Visualisation: a KPI charted against a target
- Report: your latest actuals, with insights and visualisations
All the terms, in one place
My Data
Where all your business data lives once it's connected to sherloc, organised under two tabs, Financial Data and Business Data.
Where to find it: My Data in the left-hand menu.
Baseline forecast
A working copy of your financial data and operational metrics that acts as your starting point.
Forecast scenario & assumptions
A forecast scenario is a named “what if”: a safe place to experiment, with its own copy of your data plus the assumptions that make it different from your baseline. An assumption is an input behind a value. Most are ones you set, though sherloc sets some of its own.
Where to find it: Forecasts in the left-hand menu.
Forecast sheets, sheet, row / line item, column, cell
A forecast is made up of sheets, such as Profit And Loss, Balance Sheet and Staff. Each sheet has rows (line items, like accounts) crossing columns (usually months), and the value where they meet is a cell.
Where to find it: Forecasts, then open a forecast.
Formula
The calculation that turns assumptions and data into a cell's value.
Where to find it: The Formula column on each forecast sheet.
Drivers
The assumptions and formulas that actually move your numbers, which is the reason a result looks the way it does.
Insight
An observation sherloc surfaces from your model automatically, flagging what's worth your attention.
Visualisation, KPI & target
A visualisation charts a KPI (a key number you're tracking) over time, usually against a target so you can see at a glance whether you're ahead or behind.
Where to find it: Performance in the left-hand menu.
Report
Your latest actuals brought together in one place, with insights and visualisations. To share a report, take screenshots of the page, or print it and save it as a PDF if your computer offers Save as PDF.
Where to find it: Performance, then View report.