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The Cash Flow Forecast dashboard lets a finance manager forecast a company’s future cash on hand based on transaction documents, projected postings, journal vouchers, and recurring postings. This dashboard presents cash account details that let you arrange payments in advance. It shows large incoming and outgoing transactions of a period according to your definition and helps you to identify key payments and business partners.

The Cash Flow Forecast dashboard has the following two tabs:

  • Cash Flow Forecast Overview

    Use this tab to monitor the general incoming/outgoing amount and the opening balance for the selected period.

  • Cash Flow Details

    Use this tab to view large incoming and outgoing transactions as well as related business partners.

    To view this tab, on the Cash Flow Forecast Overview tab, click the chart section of the specific time period you want to view. The Cash Flow Details window appears, displaying detailed information of the selected time period. To return to the Cash Flow Forecast Overview tab, on the Cash Flow Details tab, choose the Overview link.

Cash Flow Forecast Overview

The Cash Flow Forecast Overview tab presents a bar-line combination chart showing the same data as in the Cash Flow Report. Working with this chart typically involves the following operations:

  • Observe cash flow trends:

    • Incoming amount: shown as the deep blue bars, representing the incoming payments amount received from a customer or an account.

    • Outgoing amount: shown as the light blue bars, representing the outgoing payments amount issued to a vendor or an account.

    • Opening balance: shown as a dotted line. Each dot represents the opening balance of the corresponding time point. The opening balance of a day equals the closing balance of the previous day, as shown in the Cash Flow Report (the Balance column).

    • Numbers: Below the chart, three numbers display the real-time data of incoming amount, outgoing amount, and opening balance. The numbers are refreshed when you move your mouse over different time periods.

    • Traffic Light Indicators: There are indicators (different color dots) displayed before the time points on the horizontal axis of the charts. The colors indicate the following situations:

      • Green: optimistic situation, when you have sufficient cash flow on hand.

      • Yellow: poor situation, when you do not have enough cash flow on hand and you need to be cautious in balancing your accounts.

      • Red: dangerous situation, when you have inadequate cash flow on hand and urgently need to balance your accounts.

      Note Note

      SAP predefined the indicator thresholds in the Dashboard Parameters window. To change the thresholds, see Configuring Dashboard Parameters, below.

      End of the note.

  • Add data sources:

    To add additional data sources for the cash flow forecast, select or deselect the Journal Vouchers and the Recurring Postings checkboxes above the chart, as necessary.

  • Switch time intervals:

    In the View by dropdown list, choose to view by Day, Week, or Month.

    Note Note

    The week and month do not refer to calendar weeks and months. The definitions for week and month are in accordance with the logic of the Cash Flow Report.

    SAP predefined the number of days/weeks/months displayed in the chart. To change the settings, see Configuring Dashboard Parameters, below.

    End of the note.

  • View today’s account details:

    To do so, choose the Account Details link below the chart. All the Cash, Credit Card, and Checks accounts are displayed with the balance data of the current system time.

    Note Note

    In the following localizations, Bill of Exchange (BOE) is also displayed: Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, France, Italy, Japan, Korea, Portugal, and Spain.

    End of the note.

  • Drill down to view period details:

    To view detailed information for a certain time period, click the chart section of that time period. The Cash Flow Details tab appears, displaying the account details for the specified period of time.

Cash Flow Details

The Cash Flow Details tab contains a table showing large transaction details and a pie chart presenting the major business partner or employee involved in the transactions; this helps you identify key payments and partners.

  • Large Transactions Table:

    The table displays all transactions with an amount that is larger than the defined threshold. By default, any transaction larger than 5000 (in local currency) is displayed. You can change this definition in the Dashboard Parameters window. For more information, see Configuring Dashboard Parameters, below.

  • Pie Chart:

    You can view the pie chart either by Incoming Amount or Outgoing Amount. After you select the data source, you can choose to view the chart either by business partner or by sales employee, so as to observe the involvement of key business partners and sales employees.

    By default, the chart displays 5 business partners/employees, and the data of all the other business partners or employees are grouped and displayed as Others. You can change the settings in the Dashboard Parameters window. For more information, see Configuring Dashboard Parameters, below.

Configuring Dashboard Parameters

The Cash Flow Forecast dashboard uses the dashboard parameters to enable user customization of the dashboard configuration.

To change the default settings, proceed as follows:

  1. To open the Dashboard Parameters window, from the SAP Business One Main Menu, choose   Administration   Setup   General   Dashboard Parameters  .

  2. In the Dashboard Parameters – Setup window, press Ctrl + F to switch to Find mode.

  3. In the Code field, enter CFC and choose Find. The Cash Flow Config parameter set appears.

  4. In the Value column, change the parameter values if necessary.

    The following table explains the parameters for this dashboard.

    Parameter Name

    Function

    Definition

    No. of Days/Weeks/Months

    Defines the number of time points (days/weeks/months) displayed on the horizontal axis of the Cash Flow Forecast Overview chart.

    Enter an integer from 3 to 14. If you define a value larger than 14, the dashboard displays only 14 time periods and the following message appears: Dashboard displays no more than 14 days/weeks/months from today on.

    If you enter a number with decimals, the decimals are rounded off automatically in counting the days/weeks/months.

    No. of BPs/Employees

    Defines the number of BPs/employees displayed in the pie chart in the Cash Flow Details window.

    Enter an integer value no larger than 5. If you define a value larger than 5, the dashboard displays only 5 BPs/employees and the following message appears: Dashboard displays no more than 5 BPs/employees.

    If you enter a number with decimals, the decimals are rounded off automatically in counting BPs/employees.

    Red/Yellow

    Defines the threshold for the traffic light indicators. The value here stands for the ratio of opening balance to outgoing amount. In the Cash Flow Forecast Overview chart, if the ratio of a certain time period is:

    • No greater than the value defined for red, the traffic light indicator is red.

    • Greater than the value defined for red, but smaller than the value defined for Yellow, the traffic light indicator is yellow.

    • No smaller than the value defined for yellow, the traffic light indicator is green.

    By default, the threshold for the red indicator is 1 and that for the yellow indicator is 1.2.

    Change the ratio threshold if necessary.

    Large Transaction Amount

    Defines the large transaction threshold.

    All transactions no smaller than the threshold value are displayed in the large transactions table of the Cash Flow Details window.

    Enter a positive number. If you enter a number with decimals, the decimals is rounded off automatically in calculation.

More Information

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