Scenario Planner

Use Clockwork's Scenario Planner to Compare 'What Ifs' to Your Baseline Forecast

Fady Hawatmeh avatar
Written by Fady Hawatmeh
Updated over a week ago

Available during your Free Trial, and on Clockwork Pro subscriptions, the Scenario Writer allows you model different events or situations by adjusting assumptions and comparing the results to your main financial model. In a nutshell, Scenarios let you see how different assumptions, decisions, or best/worst case situations will impact your finances from top-to-bottom.

Starting Your New Scenario

To create a new scenario, click into the "Scenario Planner" navigation menu on the left, then click "+ Add a new scenario".

First, you'll need to give your scenario a name and an end date. You can also select whether or not you will use assumptions from your financial model. While you can name it whatever you'd like, we recommend choosing a descriptive name (e.g. Downside Case, Hire 5 New Salespeople, New Product Line, etc.) to distinguish one scenario from another later on.

After entering a name and clicking "Start writing your scenario" you'll be ready to add accounts and assumptions to your scenario.

Building Out Your Scenario

Similar to building out your Baseline Forecast, your Scenarios are built with Assumptions.

First, you'll be asked to choose the Revenue accounts that you'd like to drive your new Scenario, then COGS, then Expenses.

You can select accounts individually, or use the "Select All" option to include them all in your Scenario and take a more top-down approach. If you wish to exclude any accounts from your analysis, simply leave them unchecked, and they will not factor into the scenario comparison.

Adding Assumptions

Find an account you'd like to adjust in your Scenario, and click "add assumption" on the card. Similar to the Financial Model, you'll have the ability to build custom assumptions on each account for different time frames.

You'll want to label your Assumption and then apply "Forecasting Rules" and the "Timing Profile"

Once you've configured the Assumptions for your new Scenario, click "Next step" in the bottom-right of your screen to move on to your next Assumption or click "Go to summary".

Scenario Summary

On the Summary page, you can review how income, expenses, and cash flows differ between your Scenario and your Baseline Forecast to see the full impact that your Scenario represents.

Your financial model will compare your Scenario's income and expenses vs. your Baseline forecast. You can interact with the graph to see the comparisons further into the future.


โ€‹Your cash flow will allow you to compare your Scenario's cash flow forecast and your Cash Flow Model to see the impact your Scenario would have on future cash flows.

If you need to revise any of your assumptions before finalizing the Scenario, click the 'edit' button on any of the assumptions cards to the left, or navigate back to a previous step, and simply edit the assumption cards as needed:

View Scenario

Once you're satisfied with your Scenario, click "View Scenario" in the upper-right of the Summary page to view the Scenario vs. your financial model in a spreadsheet-style viewer that gives a side-by-side, account-level breakdown.

NOTE: You can always edit or remove an existing Scenario, or create new Scenarios, by clicking the "Scenario Planner" option in the navigation menu in Clockwork.


โ€‹Need help? Reach out to our support chat in the bottom right of your screen any time you have questions!

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