![FP&A software for [the business model finance actually plans.]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.raftlabs.com%2Fservice-assets%2Ffpa-software%2Ffeatured.png&w=3840&q=75)
"All of the sprints were completed on schedule and on budget. We highly recommend RaftLabs!"
Charles E.
Entrepreneur at Aggie Technologies
FP&A Software Development Services
FP&A software for the business model finance actually plans.
We build driver-based budgets, forecasts, scenarios, actuals, variance, and management reporting when a standard planning platform cannot represent the organisation's revenue, cost, entity, or review model. The first release focuses on one planning cycle, transparent calculations, owned inputs, and reconciled outputs.
Bring the problem, the current workflow, or the existing code. We reply with a practical next step within one business day.
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The brief
Start with what is not working.
Good software decisions begin with the constraint, not a list of features or a preferred technology.
01
Does the planning platform publish a forecast while finance keeps the real driver logic in a parallel workbook?
02
Do business owners submit numbers without a common definition, version, assumption, or route back to actuals?
Plain answer
FP&A software supports budgets, rolling forecasts, driver-based scenarios, actuals, variance analysis, and management reporting. RaftLabs builds it when a standard platform cannot fit a material revenue, cost, entity, or review model. Every RaftLabs project starts at $10000, with scope, acceptance criteria, and price agreed before paid work begins.
What to remember
- Build when a standard platform cannot fit a material revenue, cost, entity, or review model.
- The first release should measure manual model repair, input delay, definition disputes, and the time to explain material variance.
- Budgets, rolling forecasts, driver-based scenarios, actuals, and variance analysis stay in one model, not two plans.
- A custom build replaces the shadow model finance rebuilt beside the standard platform.
- Every RaftLabs project starts at $10000, with a focused first release covering one planning cycle, a bounded driver model, and one actuals source.
The planning platform held the totals. The workbook held the business.
Revenue depended on project stages, cost depended on utilisation, and hiring changed delivery capacity. The standard model flattened those relationships into input rows, so finance rebuilt the real forecast beside it. The team had two plans and one board deadline.
Focused delivery baseline
- starting first phase
- $10000
- One planning cycle and bounded driver model
- initial operating boundary
- One cycle
- Expand after drivers and variance are accepted
- shipping production software
- Since 2015
- RaftLabs delivery record
RaftLabs does not currently publish a named FP&A outcome case. These figures describe delivery scope, not promised forecast accuracy or faster close. The first release should measure manual model repair, input delay, definition disputes, version conflicts, reconciliation differences, forecast error by horizon, and the time required to explain material variance.
Custom FP&A software fits when a material driver or review model cannot fit a standard planning platform.
Start with one planning cycle and the decisions it must support, not a copy of every workbook tab.
A fit
Revenue, cost, capacity, entity, currency, or scenario logic needs repeated work outside the current tool.
Business inputs, assumptions, approvals, actuals, variance, or management outputs require a specific controlled flow.
Finance and business owners can approve definitions, calculations, versions, sources, access, and acceptance.
Not a fit
A standard FP&A platform can meet the model, connector, collaboration, reporting, and support needs.
The immediate need is a near-term cash forecast, treasury operation, or accounting-system replacement.
No owner can approve drivers, definitions, actuals, scenarios, or a prior period for comparison.
The first decision is not what to build.
It is whether software is the right answer at all. We use four possible recommendations before discussing a development scope.
- 01
Buy
Use a planning platform when its driver models and entity support fit your business.
- 02
Repair
Keep the spreadsheet model when the business is simple enough that finance holds it together. Start with evidence: how much time goes to manual model repair.
- 03
Build
Own the model when a material revenue, cost, entity, or review rule does not fit any platform. Start with the driver that breaks the standard model.
- 04
Wait
Do not build around a planning cadence that is still changing. Settle the cycle, then encode it.
Not sure which path is yours? Bring it to a 30-minute call. Leave with the answer in writing.
Choose the right finance planning route
| Need | Best fit | Boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Plan revenue, cost, headcount, capital, and management outcomes | FP&A software | Drivers, budgets, scenarios, actuals, variance, and reporting |
| Forecast near-term receipts, payments, and liquidity | Cash flow forecasting | Cash events, timing, assumptions, and forecast variance |
| Control bank positions, payments, debt, and FX | Treasury management | Connectivity, liquidity, authority, exposure, and settlement |
| Record transactions, journals, balances, and close | ERP or accounting system | Authoritative financial records and posting |
Scope
What belongs in a focused FP&A release
Driver and dimensional model
Define entities, products, customers, projects, departments, accounts, time, currencies, operational drivers, calculations, and ownership at the grain each decision needs.
Inputs, assumptions, and workflow
Collect business submissions through approved templates or forms, apply versions and effective dates, route review, explain overrides, and lock accepted stages.
Forecasts and scenarios
Run a base plan and named alternatives without overwriting assumptions, show the drivers behind a change, and preserve the comparison used for a decision.
Actuals and variance
Load approved accounting results, map them to the planning model, reconcile totals, separate timing and operational differences, and route material variance to an owner.
Management reporting and audit
Publish approved statements, bridge views, commentary, and exports with role access, source drill-through, versions, change history, and repeatable board-pack outputs.
How it works
From planning drivers to accepted forecast
- Phase 101
Define decisions, drivers, and owners
Choose planning horizon, cadence, entities, dimensions, revenue and cost drivers, inputs, scenarios, approvals, outputs, owners, and acceptance examples.
- Phase 202
Reconcile definitions and actuals
Verify ERP and accounting sources, mappings, timing, currencies, eliminations, calculation rules, access, versions, history, and accepted prior periods.
- Phase 303
Build the bounded planning cycle
Create input workflows, driver logic, assumptions, scenarios, approvals, actuals, variance, reporting, exports, audit, and exception handling.
- Phase 404
Parallel-run and release
Compare with the approved plan and actuals, explain differences, test scenarios and access, train owners, and govern the next cycle.
Risk
What the FP&A specification must settle
- Definition ownership
- Name who approves every driver, dimension, calculation, mapping, actual, scenario, output, and future change.
- Versions and scenarios
- Separate working, submitted, approved, forecast, budget, and scenario states so one update cannot rewrite a prior decision.
- Actuals and consolidation
- Approve source periods, mappings, currency, eliminations, late adjustments, reconciliations, and the point a result becomes final.
- Model confidence
- Back-test where possible, show assumptions and sensitivity, explain uncertainty, and keep forecasts labeled as forecasts, not certainties.
Scope and price
Every project starts at $10000.
Begin with one planning cycle, a bounded driver model, inputs, scenarios, one actuals source, variance, reporting, and audit.
A wider planning and finance platform can grow from the first cycle. Prove the model before expansion.
Starting investment
Starts at $10000
Minimum project scope. The planning cycle, drivers, entities, inputs, actuals, approvals, outputs, acceptance criteria, exclusions, price, and timing are written down before the phase starts. After a 30-minute call, you get a written build, buy, repair, or wait recommendation plus first-phase direction. Free, whether or not you build with us.
Drivers stay inspectable
Every material calculation, source, assumption, version, and override remains visible to the finance owner.
Actuals still reconcile
The planning layer maps back to approved accounting results and documents every accepted difference.
Related finance software services
- 01
Cash Flow Forecasting
Forecast near-term receipts, payments, balances, scenarios, and variance.
- 02
Treasury Management
Control banks, cash positions, payments, debt, investments, and FX exposure.
- 03
Financial Software
Build a broader internal finance workflow across planning, close, or treasury.
- 04
ERP Development
Build authoritative finance, procurement, inventory, and operating transactions.
Proof
What clients say about working with RaftLabs
Three-year average engagement. Founders and operators describing the work in their own words. No marketing varnish.
I genuinely feel they care about where we're trying to take it.
Aaron McGoona
Founder, TicketStop
Work with us
Bring the planning model finance still runs beside the platform.
Share the decisions, horizon, drivers, entities, inputs, actuals, scenarios, approvals, outputs, and accepted prior cycle. We will define a focused first release.
- Scope and cost agreed before work starts. No surprises. No obligation.
- Working prototype within 3 weeks of kickoff.
- Pay by milestone. You see progress before each invoice.
- 60-day post-launch warranty. Bug fixes, UI tweaks, and deployment support. No retainer.
- All conversations are NDA-protected.
Common questions
FP&A software supports financial planning and analysis through budgets, forecasts, driver models, scenarios, business input, actuals, variance, and management reporting. It connects the plan to source definitions and approved accounting results while keeping assumptions, versions, and ownership visible.
FP&A plans revenue, cost, headcount, capital, profit, balance-sheet effects, and management outcomes across a business horizon. Cash flow forecasting focuses on when receipts and payments affect liquidity, often over a shorter daily or weekly horizon. They may share assumptions but answer different decisions.
ERP and accounting systems record authoritative transactions, journals, balances, and close results. FP&A uses those actuals alongside operational drivers and assumptions to plan future outcomes and explain variance. The planning layer reconciles to approved actuals without becoming a second general ledger.
Buy a standard platform when its driver model, spreadsheet interface, ERP connector, consolidation, scenario, collaboration, reporting, security, and support fit the organisation. Custom software is justified when a material business model, calculation, workflow, integration, or audience cannot be configured safely.
Headline pricing rarely reflects TCO. Count implementation services, add-on modules priced separately from the base tier, and subscription growth separately from the license. Confirm exactly what is included in the base tier before committing, and model the three-year total, not the first-year quote.
The pain is keeping models up to date, testing multiple scenarios, and sharing with stakeholders without them going stale. Integrations must reconcile actuals without manual data entry. Does the platform need dedicated model admins, a compounding recurring cost, or can finance own it? Run the trial on a real model with real data, not a sandbox demo.
Spreadsheet continuity is a critical buying criterion. Excel-native, spreadsheet-first tools minimize change management. The central usability fork: a platform requiring specialists versus finance-owned no-code. Driver-based budgeting ties the plan to operational metrics, revenue per salesperson, cost per hire, rather than line-item rows. Define the top three strategic needs before issuing an RFP: SKU-level profitability needs allocation depth; capex planning needs long-range forecasting.
Four checks. One: the TCO question, a worked multi-year TCO, not the headline license. Two: the freshness test, who keeps the model current, and what breaks when nobody does? Three: the Excel question, does finance own it, or does it need dedicated model admins? Four: the trial test, a real model with real data, not a sandbox demo. Start with one planning cycle and the decisions it must support; copying every workbook tab into a new interface repeats the spreadsheet inside a new tool.
Every RaftLabs project starts at $10000. A focused first release covers one planning cycle, a bounded driver model, inputs, scenarios, approvals, one actuals source, variance, reporting, access, parallel run, and handover. More entities, models, currencies, history, or consolidation rules increase scope.