You can use Centage to plan for different scenarios for your company.

Example: You could create scenarios in which you hire 10 more employees, gain 2% revenue and eliminate 3% of expenses, or add a new office.

To run different scenarios in Centage, use your Dimensions (the building blocks of your budget, such as departments and account numbers) and Versions (scenarios of data).

This document shows you, a Centage Administrator, how to run different scenarios in Centage.

Creating Scenarios

When you scenario-plan with Centage, first determine how the various scenarios you want to test work with your Dimensions.

Your Centage Dimensions are the building blocks of your company: your account numbers, departments, offices, cost centers, etc.

When you map out your scenarios, determine which Dimensions you want to use when you run scenarios.

Creating Versions

After determining what scenarios you want to run and which Dimensions involve those scenarios, create Versions to represent those scenarios.

Please Note: You cannot delete or rename a Version from a Plan after creating it.

Step 1: To create new Versions, choose a Plan.

Step 2: Open the Modeler menu and select Profile(s).

Select a Profile and click Connect:

Step 3: A confirmation message appears. Open the Modeler menu again and select Dimensions.

Step 4: The Dimensions page opens. Select the Version Dimension.

Step 5: Your Version Dimension opens in a panel on the right with the Members tab open. Select New Member.

Step 6: A new row appears in the table. Give the new Version a clear name that will help you remember which scenario it represents.

Repeat steps 5 and 6 to add all necessary Versions.

Step 7: Click Save & Exit.

Step 8: To add these new Versions to your Plan, redeploy your Plan. Open the Modeler menu and select Deploy Plan.

Step 9: On the Deploy Data page, click Deploy to redeploy the Plan with the new Version(s).

Step 10: A confirmation message appears. Click Confirm.

A confirmation message appears. The new Version(s) are now a part of your Plan.

Now, use the Copy Data/What If? tool to add data to these Versions.

Adding Data to Versions

To compare scenarios, add data to your newly-created Versions. Use the Copy Data/What If? tool to take a standard set of data and manipulate it.

Step 1: On the tools module, select Copy Data/What If

Step 2: On the Copy Data/What If? page, select the master Version you want to use data from (usually your Actuals or Plan Basis, your original budget for the year). This should be the Version that is your baseline, the data you want to manipulate to create other scenarios.

Please Note: You can copy data from your Actuals for this year to your current budget to make a Version that includes Actual and budgetary data. For example, you can create a Version that uses Actual data for Periods 1-3 and budgetary data for Periods 4-12.

Step 3: In the Account Number Dimension, select the first set of account numbers involved in this scenario.

Please Note: A best practice is to collapse account groups (such as Assets or Liabilities) you do not want to choose from to make the list shorter and easier to scroll.

Step 4: Select other Dimension Members linked to line items you want to copy (for example, if you want to copy line items linked to one of the offices in your Office Dimension, select it here).

 Then, click Add to Preview.

Step 5: Click on the dropdown menu next to Destination Version and select the first scenario you want to plan for.

Step 6: To copy data only from certain periods, click Select Periods.

Example: It is Period 6 of your fiscal year. You want to replace your budgeted data for Periods 1-5 with Actual data. You can copy Periods 1-5 from your Actuals Version to your working budget Version.

A Select Data popup appears.

• Under Source, enter the starting and ending periods from the Version you are copying from (Actuals or another Version).
• Under Destination, enter the date range you want this data to have in your Destination Version.
• Click Apply.

Example: In these screenshots, data from Periods 1-3 of the Actuals Version is copied to the Plan Basis Version.

Confirmation messages appear.

To make a global change to all these records as you copy them (for example, add $10,000 or 5% to each record), select all records in this Preview and click Change Values.

Please Note: Changing values is most useful when you are creating new scenarios based on your original budget. If you are copying data from your Actuals, you most likely do not have to change any values within that data.

Please Note: The Change Values tool is useful for global changes to multiple records, but not as useful for smaller, specific changes. If your scenario requires many detailed changes to your records, copy your data without using Change Values and use the Centage applications to make the changes.

Step 7: In the Change Values pane, decide how you want to shape the data for this Version:

• Inc/Dec (% or Value) – To increase or decrease these records, enter a number or a number with a percent sign. Add a negative sign (-) before numbers or percentages that should decrease these records.
• Start (optional) – Enter a start date for the increase or decrease. Leave this field blank to simply use the record’s original start date.
• End (optional) – Enter an end date for the increase or decrease. Leave this field blank to simply use the record’s original end date.
• Input Type – Click on this dropdown menu and select which information within the records you want to change (usually just the Amount). For example, you could change the Headcount of a Personnel record.

Step 8: Then, click Apply.

Step 9: On the preview pane, scroll right to see the original and changed values for every record in the copy.

Step 10: Click Copy Data/What If?.

A confirmation message appears. Click Confirm.

Your data is copied.

To view the copied records for this Version, open one of the Centage applications and filter for this scenario’s Version.

Repeat steps 1-10 to copy data to the other scenarios you have planned.

After copying the data to your scenarios, you can compare your scenarios with each other in the Centage applications and in reports. To run reports that compare your scenarios, use the Reports modules.

Reporting with Different Versions

In Centage, you can run Ad Hoc and Income Statement reports to compare your scenarios.

Step 1: To run a report, click on the icon on the left hand side and select Reports.

Step 2: On the Reports page, click on the dropdown menu and select Ad Hoc or Income Statement (this document uses an Income Statement report as an example).

Step 3: Drag the Version Dimension to the column section, to the right of the Time Dimension.

Step 4: Click on the filter for the Version Dimension to select the Versions you want to compare.

Step 5: On the Select Subsets popup, click Manage Subsets.

Step 6: A list of available Versions appears. Select the Versions you want to compare and click Save As.

Step 7: A Save Subset As popup appears. Name this view and click Save Subset.

Step 9: On the report page, click the Rerun Report button ( ).

The Versions you want to compare appear below under the Calendar view.

The Versions you selected appear side by side in the table, allowing you to compare the numbers for the year, quarters, and periods (however you set up your Calendar view).