The Dashboard that was discussed in the past two weeks, had the highest response rate of any article yet!  The requests included Venture Capitalists, presidents of pre-IPO companies and senior management from FORTUNE 500 companies.  More than one reader wrote that they did not know how to create the forecast portion of the graph.  So this week, we'll explain how you can create a similar forecast.

Assume management has said the company will grow at an 8% rate this year.  Last year your quota was $5M dollars, so you can calculate that this year it will be $5.4M.  But how do you calculate the individual months so that they add up to $5.4M, and have a growth rate of 8%?  An arithmetic progression provides the answer.

The equation for an arithmetic progression is, S_n=n/2[2a₁+(n-1)d].  Where: S_n is the sum of n terms, n is the number of terms, a₁ is the first term, a_n is the nth term, d is the common difference and y is the growth rate.

This is an excerpt from an article we published several years ago.  You can read the complete article and see the data table for the example by going to CA Articles on our website, and select the article, Forecast With Ease and Confidence: Use A Straight Line.

The forecast is an obvious and essential element of any dashboard.  And, even if you don't have a dashboard, you probably still have to work with a forecast. 

If you are too busy, or don't want to tackle the math and create your own forecast, we can Do It For You.  We will send you a completed table of your forecast for $125.  We also offer a Excel template that solves three possible scenarios and includes the table and graph.  The easy fill-in the blank approach lets you plug-in your what-if's, and the answers fall out, updating the table and graph automatically.  Use it as often as you want, it can be yours for $1,000. Send me an email to get started for either solution, john@corbittassociates.com.