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How to work with non-rooms Budget and forecast

June 5, 2022
UpdatedNovember 1, 2024
ByEric Cevey
Views2818
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Summary

This article explains how to work with and maintain your budgets and monthly forecasts for departments other than Rooms. Please see this article for how to work with Rooms.

Intended Users

PMI profit and cockpit owners

Instructions

Depending on what department you are looking at, there are different views and options. Both the tools menu and the view options menu will vary. Please see under Tools and View Options below.

  1. The view is divided into different columns. All departments have Month, Cost driver, Productivity, Hours and Rates. There may be a Revenue column, however this is not for all departments. Last year’s hours are calculated using the SMART calculation.
  2. Under each column, you can view what you have selected. You can select this in the View Options menu. Please see instructions below under View Options.
  3. You can adjust the budget and forecast directly in this module. It is recommended that you use the Live forecast module when calculating and submitting the Forecast.
  4. You can choose what period to view by using the date selecter and you can choose to see months or years.

Food & Beverage Outlets

There is a possibility to activate Food Revenue in the outlets. Food Revenue has always been calculated in the respective kitchen, however now the calculation can be done per outlet. Especially if you have segments in the outlet you will now see the calculation of food revenue per segment.

By setting the cost driver in kitchen with the correct outlet you are able to connect several kitchens to the correct food revenue. Please see Cost Driver Tab in Cockpit.

Depending on the setting in Live Forecast for the specific outlet, the food revenue is calculated out of the total revenue. There are 3 ways to calculate this, based on last year info, percentage or number of days back in the past. Please see Live Forecast.

The calculation (A) is done as soon as the revenues are updated in the revenue column (B). You may click on the calculator to enter an amount manually and the symbol will then change to a hand.

Tools

Submit Several

This is one way to submit your Live forecast to Forecast. You can also do it from the Live forecast module.

Cost Driver 

This is where you set the cost driver, i.e. what drives your labor hours, for a specific department. This may vary from department to department. Housekeeping has Room Nights (previous day) as the cost driver, while Kitchen would have Food Revenue as the cost driver. One department may have several cost drivers. The Cost Driver is usually set in the start up phase and not changed.

Revenue Driver

A factor that causes a change in the forecast revenue for the department; i.e. what drives the revenue. For example, Breakfast – Guest Nights (previous day). More staying guests typically increase breakfast revenue. Or Minibar – Room Nights. An empty room does not generate any minibar revenue.

Export

You can export to Excel or PDF.

Settings

Here you have different choices depending on what department you are dealing with. Basically, it depends on whether the department has revenue or not. Please read more about these settings under Room Budget and Forecast.

View Options

You may choose to see Budget, Forecast, Actual and Last Year in the View Options. Under Kitchen Cockpit you may also change how to view the Food Cost column.

Recommendations

It is highly recommended that you work with Live Forecast module and do all calculations and forecasting there. Then submit it to Forecast at the end of every month.

Troubleshooting tips

This section provides additional troubleshooting advice for readers experiencing specific issues. While it’s packed with useful insights, you may skip it if you’re not facing any related problems.

Why does the column in the P&L module not say “Budget” even though I’m working with the Budget version?

You’re using the Budget version in the P&L module, but the staff-related column shows a different label—perhaps “Scheduled” or something entirely custom. Here’s why that happens and how to fix it.

The Real Reason: This setting isn’t controlled in the P&L module—it’s actually configured in the Cockpit. To make the column reflect Budget hours rather than another value (like Scheduled), follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Cockpit.
  2. Find the setting that defines whether the P&L module uses Scheduled hours or Budget hours.
  3. Switch the setting to use Budget hours.
  4. Save your changes and return to the P&L module.

Once done, the column will update to reflect the correct data type—Budget—instead of the previously displayed label.

Need help finding the setting? This article has the details: Use Forecast/Budget Hours from Cockpit in P&L Staff Module

Forecast discrepancies in cockpits

If the forecast data in the cockpit does not match the actuals, showing discrepancies in the Monthly To Date (MTD) usage, a potential cause is that a cost driver was not forecasted, leading the system to calculate zero forecast and only display actuals.

Steps to Resolve:

1. Verify Cost Drivers: Ensure all relevant cost drivers have been forecasted for the period in question.
2. Update Forecasts:
• Navigate to the forecast module.
• Ensure all cost drivers are included.
• Resubmit the forecast for the affected month(s).
3. Verify Correction: Check that the cockpit now displays the correct forecast and actual hours.

Changing revenue for today & tomorrow in PMI

Key Points to Remember:

  • Budget & Forecast Module changes totals on a monthly basis only.
  • Flash Report allows you to edit historical values.
  • Live Forecast allows you to edit future values (including today and tomorrow) by switching to “manual.”

Steps to edit revenue for historical dates (Past)

  1. Open the Flash Report.
  2. Expand or select the past date you want to edit; click the plus icon.
  3. Click the pencil icon (if available) to override the revenue value.

Steps to edit revenue for future dates (Today & Tomorrow)

  1. Go to the Live Forecast.
  2. Expand or select the specific date (e.g., today, tomorrow).
  3. Switch the date to “manual” if required.
  4. Enter the new revenue value in the editable field.
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