FAQ - Novaplan

What is the difference between Budget, Forecast, and Actuals?

Budget is the plan you committed to at the start of the period. Actuals are what really happened, pulled from your GL and HRIS. Forecast is your current best estimate, normally actuals for the months that have closed plus a projection for the rest of the year. Each lives in its own budget version, so you can compare any two of them in the Comparison Center.

What is a budget version, and when should I create a new one?

A budget version is a named container for one set of plan numbers. Create a new version when you want a stable reference you will not overwrite, for example an approved annual budget or a board-approved target. Keep editing your live Rolling Forecast in place rather than spawning a version per change. See Core concepts for the full model.

How do I create my first open position?

Open Planning, then Headcount, then Open Positions, and add a role. Give it a department, a start month, and a salary, and the forecast picks up its fully loaded cost in the months it is active. There is a step-by-step in the headcount tutorial.

How do I load my data?

Connect a source from the Admin area (HiBob, NetSuite, Salesforce, Snowflake), or upload a CSV. The first sync lands automatically and Novaplan curates the raw rows into canonical records. See Connect your data and the per-connector guides under Admin.

Why does my number look different from my GL?

The headcount model and the GL measure overlapping but not identical things. The GL P&L includes accruals, contractor spend, and recruiting fees posted to people accounts, while the per-employee headcount model is built from salary components. A gap between the two is usually this difference in scope, not an error. The troubleshooting guide walks through how to reconcile them.

Why can't I edit this cell?

The most common reasons are that the budget version is locked, the month has been closed, or your role does not have write access to that field. A locked version is a deliberate freeze; switch to your live version to keep planning.

What does fully loaded cost include?

Base salary plus fringe (benefits and payroll taxes), merit (planned raises), bonus, commission, and recruiting fees. Each component is configured in the Headcount assumptions and rate models. See the headcount page.

What is the difference between ARR, CARR, and recognized revenue?

CARR is the annualized value of signed contracts at their booking date. Live ARR is the part of that CARR which has activated after any go-live delay. Recognized revenue is what actually posts to the P&L in a period, derived from the active ARR balance. See recognized revenue.

Can Novaplan handle multiple currencies?

Yes. Spending and revenue can be entered in native currency and are translated to your base currency using FX rates, so every total is summable. See Currency.

Who can see salary and other sensitive numbers?

Access is role based, and sensitive fields such as salary are masked from roles that should not see them, even in exports. Admins manage this from Permissions.

How do I compare two plans?

Open the Comparison Center, pick any two versions, and read the variance on every line. You can drill the biggest driver down to the underlying transactions.

What can Nova actually do?

Nova is your in-app analyst. It can explain any number on screen, build a chart, table, or finished brief on your real data, walk you through a workflow, point you to the right demo, and jump you to the right page. See Ask Nova and example prompts.