Use case · Revenue planning & forecasting
A revenue plan the whole company can stand behind.
Cube runs revenue planning and forecasting in one governed model, so pipeline, billing, and GL actuals feed the same numbers the board sees.
The problem
Everyone forecasts revenue. Nobody agrees on it.
The pipeline export is from Tuesday, the GL closed last Thursday, and the CFO is presenting a number built from both.
Two systems, two truths
Salesforce says bookings beat plan while NetSuite says revenue missed, and reconciling them eats the first two days of every month.
Snapshots go stale
The forecast rests on a pipeline export that was already out of date before the model finished loading.
Version chaos
Five copies of the revenue model circulate, and the one in the board deck is never the newest.
CRM + billing + GL
Revenue planning and forecasting in one connected model.
Cube connects your CRM, billing, and GL, three of the hundreds of source systems it speaks to, so the numbers agree before anyone has to argue about them.
Cube
One governed revenue model. Bookings, billing, and actuals reconciled and traced to the transaction.
Live actuals
The ARR bridge, on numbers that update themselves.
Fetch bookings, expansion, and churn straight from the model, plan the next quarter around them, and publish it back.
| $K | Jan · Actuals | Feb · Actuals | Mar · Actuals | Apr · Plan | May · Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beginning ARR | 50,400 | 50,750 | 51,120 | 51,510 | 51,910 |
| New bookings | 420 | 440 | 455 | 465 | 480 |
| Expansion | 180 | 185 | 190 | 195 | 200 |
| Churn | (250) | (255) | (255) | (260) | (260) |
| Ending ARR | 50,750 | 51,120 | 51,510 | 51,910 | 52,330 |
The walk
One month of ARR, bridged.
Bookings and expansion in, churn out. The walk ties to the plan grid line for line.
Why Cube
One model from pipeline to board deck.
Bookings and revenue finally tie
CRM, billing, and GL land in one governed model, so the forecast and the actuals share a definition of every number.
Drivers you can defend
Built for driver-based planning: change ramped reps, win rate, or pricing and the whole revenue line recalculates.
Every figure traces
Any number in the forecast opens to the bookings and invoices behind it, from the board deck down to the transaction.
Adoption
Runs alongside the stack you already own.
Finance-led setup with guided onboarding. Your CRM, billing, and GL stay exactly where they are.
Finance-led setup
Configured by your team, guided by ours.
of sources
Hundreds of source systems, with pre-built connectors for major platforms.
Rip-and-replace
Cube deploys alongside your current stack.
Onboarding
Hands-on setup and a named contact.
FP&Agents
Ask the model. It answers with receipts.
Cube's FP&Agents work inside the revenue model, on governed data, and every answer they give traces to the source.
Data Manager
Keeps Salesforce, Stripe, and NetSuite tied out, and flags mapping breaks before they reach the forecast.
Analyst
Explains variance between forecast and actuals: which segment slipped, which deals pushed, what changed.
Planner
Reforecasts with you: change a driver and downside, base, and upside rebuild from the same model.
New bookings growth: +12%
New bookings growth: +20%
New bookings growth: +28%
one driver changed · every downstream number recalculated
Where you work
One model, on every surface.
Cube delivers the same governed numbers wherever the work happens. Explore the full story on Where You Work.
Cube Workspace
The browser app where finance builds the model, sets permissions, and publishes.
Excel & Google Sheets
Bi-directional sync: fetch live actuals into the sheet, publish plans back.
AI assistants via MCP
Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini answer from your governed numbers.
Slack & Teams
Ask a question in chat and get the governed figure back, with the trace.
PowerPoint & Google Slides
Decks with figures bound to Cube that refresh to the current numbers.
BI tools
Tableau, Looker, and Power BI read from the same model as the plan.
Workflows
Where revenue teams put Cube to work.
Six jobs, one governed model behind all of them. The product overview shows the full picture.
Rolling revenue forecast
Reforecast every month from live actuals instead of rebuilding the model each quarter.
Bookings & ARR bridge
Beginning ARR to ending ARR, with new, expansion, and churn reconciled to billing.
Sales capacity planning
Turn ramped reps, quota, and attainment into the bookings plan they imply.
Pipeline-to-plan handoff
Weighted pipeline flows into the plan with stage and segment intact.
Forecast vs. actuals variance
See which segments, products, and deals drove the miss, and drill to the source.
Board-ready revenue reporting
One governed set of revenue numbers behind the deck, the model, and the CFO's answer.
See it on your own revenue motion.
Bring one segment and one quarter. We will build the bridge live.
Security & governance
Controls built for the numbers the board reads.
Revenue data is the most argued-over data in the company, so Cube locks down who sees it and logs who changed it. Details live on the security page.
Read-only by default
Cube reads from your source systems and writes plans back only where you allow it.
Role-based permissions
Sales leaders see their segment; finance sees the whole model.
Full audit trail
Every change to a driver, mapping, or plan is logged with who and when.
Encryption throughout
Data is encrypted in transit and at rest.
Trace to the transaction
Every number in the forecast opens.
Everyone has presented a revenue figure they could defend right up until the second question. The March bookings below are the same $455K the grid above fetched; drill from the rolled-up line to the contracts behind it.
| Mar 04 | Northwind Group | annual platform contract | Salesforce | $62K |
| Mar 12 | Alpine Labs | new logo, 24-month term | Salesforce | $48K |
| Mar 21 | Harbor & Finch | platform + analytics add-on | Salesforce | $20K |
| + 2 more deals · $15K | ||||
First principles
What is revenue planning?
Revenue planning & revenue forecasting
Revenue planning is the process of setting a company's revenue target and deciding the resources that will deliver it, including sales capacity, pricing, and segment mix. Revenue forecasting predicts the revenue the company will actually achieve, based on live pipeline, bookings, and billing actuals.
Together they form a continuous loop: the plan sets the target, the forecast measures progress against it, and the variance between them drives the next decision. Cube runs both halves of that loop in one governed model.
Plan · where you decide
Forecast · where you measure
The honest part
Why is revenue planning so difficult?
Six reasons the revenue model breaks, and how each one resolves in Cube.
CRM and GL disagree
Bookings live in Salesforce, revenue lives in the GL, and definitions drift. Cube maps both to one governed model.
Targets get gamed
Sales sandbags and boards pad, so the plan splits the difference. Driver-based targets in Cube are visible math anyone can check.
Spreadsheet version chaos
The model forks with every reforecast. Cube keeps one model behind every workbook, so edits land in the same place.
Pipeline snapshots go stale
A forecast built on last Tuesday's export ages fast. Cube fetches live pipeline every time the model opens.
Segments multiply
Channel, geography, product, and plan type each want a cut of the forecast. Cube's dimensions roll them up without new tabs.
Reforecasting costs too much
When rebuilding the forecast is painful, teams do it less. Cube makes the reforecast a refresh instead of a rebuild.
Side by side
Manual spreadsheets vs. a connected revenue model
| Workflow | Manual spreadsheets | With Cube |
|---|---|---|
| Pipeline data | ✗Exported by hand and stale on arrival | ✓Fetched live from the CRM |
| Bookings vs. revenue | ✗Reconciled by hand at month end | ✓Mapped once, tied out automatically |
| Reforecasting | ✗A rebuild of the whole workbook | ✓A refresh of the same governed model |
| Variance | ✗Explained from memory and hunches | ✓Drilled to the deals and invoices behind it |
| Board reporting | ✗Copied into the deck, then re-checked | ✓Published from the model the CFO already trusts |
Four approaches
How does revenue forecasting work?
Most teams blend four methods, and the right software runs them side by side in one model.
Pipeline-based forecasting
Weights open deals by stage and close date. It is sharp near term and blind beyond the pipeline's horizon.
Driver-based forecasting
Models revenue from inputs you control, like ramped reps, win rate, and pricing. See our guide to driver-based planning.
Run-rate and trend
Projects forward from historical actuals. Useful as a sanity check and as a baseline for mature revenue lines.
Consumption and usage
Forecasts from usage signals under consumption pricing, where revenue follows behavior rather than contracts.
Field notes
Revenue planning best practices
Five habits that hold up regardless of the software you choose.
Separate the target from the forecast
The plan is a commitment and the forecast is a prediction. Blending them hides both.
Agree on definitions once
Bookings, ARR, and recognized revenue each need one written definition, owned by finance.
Reforecast on a rolling cadence
A monthly rolling forecast beats an annual plan that ages for twelve months.
Measure your own forecast accuracy
Track forecast against actuals every month and make the misses a standing agenda item.
The shortlist test
What to look for in revenue planning software
CRM, billing, and GL connections
Look for pre-built connectors plus flexible methods for the long tail; Cube covers hundreds of source systems.
Driver-based modeling
Revenue should recalculate from drivers like capacity and win rate rather than hardcoded cells.
A spreadsheet-native workflow
Your team lives in spreadsheets; the software should work where they already do.
Scenario modeling built in
Downside, base, and upside should come from one model with one driver changed.
Traceability and audit trail
Every figure should drill to its source transactions. Review the vendor's security posture too.
AI with governance
Agents should work on governed data and show their sources, the way FP&Agents do.
See the plan and the forecast finally agree.
Bring your CRM, billing, and GL questions. We will show one governed model answering all three, traced to the transaction.
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