Creating a new project
A "Project" is a file containing a single Castaway forecast model. When you create a new Project in Castaway, this will be considered a new file in your Castaway subscription package.
To create a new Project, navigate to Castaway's Home Screen and click on the New Project tab.
Deciding the setup of your project
To start your project, you can create a Chart of Accounts in Castaway two ways: "Build Manually" or choose one of our Integration imports to bring in your general ledger Trial Balance.
Experience with our Desktop product, tells us very few people choose the manual entry method. After all, if time-saving processes are available, there are very few reasons why you would want to enter your Chart of Accounts manually.
When you click on "New Project" the following screen will popup and you can choose how you want to commence your model build.
Castaway currently integrates with Xero, Quickbooks, MYOB and Excel. As we complete more accounting software integrations, we will update the resources for you. All Castaway users have access to all of our Integrations.
Integrating with one of these accounting software programs allows you to quickly build your Chart of Accounts. Similarly, when you are ready, Integrations enables you to efficiently import your actual data ("Actuals") for a number of periods in minutes.
Not using any of the listed accounting system Integrations? No problem. For this situation, we have created our Excel Integration, which enables you to import to Castaway from ANY accounting system or general ledger. Integrate with Castaway via Excel requires one or two more steps, but the end result and the efficiency is the same.
Once you've decided on your Integration Source, your next step is to follow the prompts to login to your accounting system, connect the source to Castaway and complete the setup.
If you have no pre-existing data or you do choose to "Build Manually", you can skip live Integrations and Build your project Manually instead.