This will be the last Beta update before we go GA.  We will of course continue to evolve the service with more features and capabilities after GA, but this release completes the Beta period.  

Dimension Admin

We've added the ability to globally manage dimensions for all plans.  The new Plan Dimensions page (under the Organize folder in the left nav) provides a single place for Administrators to set up and configure dimensions that support the organization's planning process needs.  These dimensions can be configured with values that are a mix of past values (imported from actuals) plus new values for next year's planning needs.   

When creating a Plan, the user can pick from the list of recommended dimensions that have been set up by the Plan Administrator, or they can choose from any existing Cloudability dimension (as before).

Enhanced Forecast Options

We've added greater control over the baseline forecast.  You can now choose the range of actuals you wish to use for forecast generation and specify whether to exclude credits and 1-time charges.  

Of course, these options are also available when updating the baseline forecast after plan creation.  But now, you can also change the Cost Metric when updating the baseline forecast.  However, use caution when doing so.  We don't recommend changing the plan cost metric once you have started entering adjustments as that may invalidate assumptions folks have made when entering percentage based amounts.

Budget Permissions (in Plan Sharing)

You can now control which users are able to edit budget amounts.  We have added separate permissions (accessible via the Sharing menu) for Forecast and Budget editing.  This means that you can share a plan with users that are only able to set Budget amounts for a given set of cost objects (values of your Cost Ownership dimension) within the Plan.

Plan Performance Tracking and Variance Analysis

We have finally completed the full set of spend-to-plan performance tracking analytics.   You are now able to view spending performance relative to Budget and Forecast at both the summary and detailed (period by period) level.

Budget Variance Reporting

The Budget Variance summary page shows you actual spending to date plus remaining forecasted spend compared to Budget.  You can also see the top 5 drivers (by cost object) behind the end of period variance (current year, quarter or month depending upon your selection).

The Budget Variance Details page provides a breakdown of Actuals (or Forecast) vs. Budget at the per-period level.  For periods that have already completed, we show Actuals vs. Budget; for periods in the future or still in progress, we show Forecast vs. Budget.  

Forecast Variance Reporting

And you can now also view period by period spending performance relative to plan (Forecast).  For periods that have already completed, we show you the actual amounts; for those that are in the future (or still in progress), we show you an estimated amount (using your baseline forecast parameters).  We compare actuals/estimates to your forecast amounts to show the variance at a monthly, quarterly and annual level.