To get the most out of Castaway, we highly recommend spending a little time upfront across two simple planning stages before you start building. These key areas of consideration are:
- Purpose
- Plan
Purpose
When using Castaway most users will have a goal in mind. Purpose is about understanding who will be using this forecast and what it needs to achieve.
Key questions to ask:
- Who is the forecast for, and what conversations will it drive?
- Is this a one-off model, or does it need to be adaptive and respond to change over time?
- What is the timeline the model needs to cover?
- Should the forecast reflect a business-as-usual, conservative, or aggressive outlook?
- What assumptions will underpin the model?
Plan
With a clear purpose in place, the Plan stage is about figuring out how the build will actually work. The answers from your Purpose stage will directly inform the decisions made here.
Key questions to ask:
- Where are actuals coming from? (Direct integration / Excel template)
- Is there existing projected data to bring into Castaway, or does this need to be built from scratch?
- Should the chart of accounts mirror your accounting system, or be consolidated / expanded for this model?
- The build order - where do you start?
- Given the purpose of the model, do the methods used in the build need to support responsiveness to change?
Overall, the best plans are done in consultation with the key stakeholders, understanding what conversations will be had ahead of time can guide key decisions during the building of this model in Castaway. See further articles for getting started with building in Castaway.
Next Steps
For the full build process, linked to all the relevant supporting articles, see: Process: Build your Forecast