dr-forecast-variance

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Analyze budget vs forecast vs actual variances. Compares multi-scenario financial data for planning and performance review.

Datarails By Datarails schedule Updated 6/7/2026
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name: dr-forecast-variance description: Analyze budget vs forecast vs actual variances. Compares multi-scenario financial data for planning and performance review. user-invocable: true allowed-tools: - mcp__datarails-finance-os__aggregate_table_data - Write - Read - Bash argument-hint: "--year [--scenarios ] [--period ] [--output-xlsx ] [--output-pptx ]"

Forecast Variance Analysis

Analyze variances between Actuals, Budget, and Forecast scenarios.

Essential for FP&A reviews, planning adjustments, and performance tracking.

Arguments

Argument Description Default
--year <YYYY> REQUIRED Calendar year to analyze —
--scenarios <list> Comma-separated scenarios Actuals,Budget,Forecast
--period <YYYY-MM> Specific period to focus on All year
--output-xlsx <file> Excel output path tmp/Forecast_Variance_YYYY_TIMESTAMP.xlsx
--output-pptx <file> PowerPoint output path tmp/Forecast_Summary_YYYY_TIMESTAMP.pptx

Variance Analysis

Budget Variance

  • Actual vs Budget amounts
  • Percentage difference
  • Favorable/unfavorable identification
  • Trend analysis

Forecast Variance

  • Actual vs Forecast amounts
  • Track forecast accuracy
  • Identify forecast bias
  • Forecast adjustment recommendations

Multi-Account Analysis

  • Revenue variance by product/segment
  • Expense variance by department
  • Account-level drill-down
  • Root cause identification

Datarails Brand Styling

When generating Excel or PowerPoint files, apply Datarails brand styling:

Font: Poppins (fall back to Calibri if unavailable). Weights: 400 regular, 600 semibold, 700 bold.

Colors:

Role Hex Use
Navy 0C142B Header/banner background
Main text 333333 Primary text
Secondary 6D6E6F Muted/subtitle text
Border 9EA1AA Cell borders
Section bg F2F2FB Section header / row header background (lavender)
Input bg EAEAFF Editable/input cell background
Input text 4646CE Editable cell text (indigo)
Favorable 2ECC71 Positive variance / good KPI delta
Unfavorable E74C3C Negative variance / bad KPI delta
Chart 1 0C142B Actuals (navy)
Chart 2 F93576 Budget (hot pink)
Chart 3 00B4D8 Teal
Chart 4 FFA30F Amber

Excel layout:

  • Content starts at column B (column A is a narrow gutter)
  • Rows 1-6: header banner with navy background, white title text, white subtitle
  • Gridlines OFF. Freeze panes at B7.
  • Footer as last row with generation date
  • Every cell must have font, fill, alignment, and number format set

Number formats: _(* #,##0_);_(* (#,##0);_(* "-"_);_(@_) (default), $#,##0 (dollars), $#,##0.0,,"M" (millions), 0.0% (percent)

Variance coloring: Any cell showing a delta/change: green (2ECC71) if favorable, red (E74C3C) if unfavorable. Apply automatically based on value sign and metric context.

PowerPoint: Navy (0C142B) background, 16:9 widescreen, Poppins font, white text, amber (FFA30F) accent lines, card backgrounds 001F37.

DR.GET Formulas — Authoring Contract

If asked to add live / refreshable Datarails formulas (DR.GET) to a generated workbook, the only valid form is:

=DR.GET(Value, "[DimensionName]", CellRef, "[DimensionName]", CellRef, ...)
  • Never transliterate an MCP/API call into a formula. DR.GET takes no table, field, or aggregation arguments — =DR.GET(Value,"financials","Amount","SUM",...) is invented syntax that the Datarails Add-in cannot parse or refresh.
  • Dimension names go in square brackets inside quotes ("[Scenario]"). Dimension values are always cell references, never hardcoded strings.
  • Date cells referenced by formulas hold end-of-month date serials computed from the calendar — never raw epoch timestamps from API responses (epochs land a day early with a time component and never match).
  • Before writing any formula, create the workbook-scoped defined name Value referring to the string constant "Value" (wb.defined_names.add(DefinedName("Value", attr_text='"Value"'))) — otherwise Excel autocorrects the bare token to its built-in VALUE() and the formula breaks.
  • Bare =DR.GET(...) only — never wrapped in IFERROR/IF/ROUND.

The get-formula skill (/dr-get-formula) is the full reference — parameter cells, validated dimension values, report layouts. Prefer it for whole formula workbooks; apply this contract when adding DR.GET formulas to a workbook here.

Output

Excel Report

  • Summary: Total variances by scenario
  • Variance Analysis: Account-by-account comparison
  • Scenario Totals: Total by scenario
  • Exception Report: Large variances highlighted

PowerPoint Summary

  • Overview slide: Scenario totals
  • Variance slide: Top variances
  • Executive summary
  • Key findings

Examples

Annual variance analysis

/dr-forecast-variance --year 2025

With custom scenarios

/dr-forecast-variance --year 2025 --scenarios Actuals,Budget

Specific period focus

/dr-forecast-variance --year 2025 --period 2025-Q4

Custom output

/dr-forecast-variance --year 2025 \
  --output-xlsx reports/variance_2025.xlsx \
  --output-pptx reports/variance_summary.pptx

Use Cases

Monthly FP&A Review

# Compare latest actuals vs budget
/dr-forecast-variance --year 2025 --scenarios Actuals,Budget

Forecast Accuracy Tracking

# Compare forecast prediction accuracy
/dr-forecast-variance --year 2025 --scenarios Actuals,Forecast

Full Scenario Planning

# Complete comparison for board review
/dr-forecast-variance --year 2025 --scenarios Actuals,Budget,Forecast

Department Review

# Analyze departmental performance vs budget
/dr-forecast-variance --year 2025

Investor Update

# Professional variance analysis for stakeholders
/dr-forecast-variance --year 2025

Performance

  • Analysis: ~1-3 minutes
  • Scales to multiple years
  • Handles 100+ accounts
  • Efficient aggregation

Interpretation

Favorable Variance

  • Actual > Budget (Revenue) ✅
  • Actual < Budget (Expense) ✅

Unfavorable Variance

  • Actual < Budget (Revenue) ❌
  • Actual > Budget (Expense) ❌

% Variance

  • <5%: Excellent forecast/budget accuracy
  • 5-10%: Good, within normal range
  • 10%+: Needs investigation

Workflow

FP&A Process:

1. /dr-extract --year 2025       (Get actuals)
2. /dr-reconcile --year 2025     (Validate data)
3. /dr-forecast-variance --year 2025  (Analyze variances)
4. Present findings to leadership (Board meeting)

Advanced Usage

Track forecast improvement

# Monthly variance tracking
/dr-forecast-variance --year 2025 --scenarios Actuals,Forecast --period 2025-01
/dr-forecast-variance --year 2025 --scenarios Actuals,Forecast --period 2025-02
# Compare forecast accuracy trend

Multi-year comparison

/dr-forecast-variance --year 2024 --scenarios Actuals,Budget
/dr-forecast-variance --year 2025 --scenarios Actuals,Budget
# Compare year-over-year performance

Scenario sensitivity

# Three different budget scenarios
/dr-forecast-variance --year 2025 --scenarios Actuals,Budget_Conservative,Budget_Aggressive

Error Handling

"Scenario not found" - Verify scenario exists in data

"No variance data" - Confirm Budget/Forecast scenarios available

"Large variance" - Review detailed Excel report for root causes

Integration

Works with:

  • /dr-extract - Source of scenario data
  • /dr-insights - Contextual trend analysis
  • /dr-reconcile - Validate scenario consistency
  • /dr-dashboard - Current performance view

Related Skills

  • /dr-extract - Extract scenario data
  • /dr-insights - Understand drivers of variances
  • /dr-reconcile - Validate data consistency
  • /dr-dashboard - Real-time performance
Install via CLI
npx skills add https://github.com/Datarails/dr-claude-code-plugins-re --skill dr-forecast-variance
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