🎉  Pigment raises $250M Series E funding round to accelerate its move toward autonomous planning. Learn more →

Use Case

Budget Planning & Forecasting in Pigment

Automate manual tasks and work better as a team to create budgets and financial forecasts faster.

Budget planning and financial forecasting could be so much easier

Year-end budget planning and forecasting can be a daunting task for FP&A teams. The story is the same every year:
Manual data collection and consolidation
Lack of cross-functional alignment
Complex models that make re-forecasting difficult
Lengthy and time-consuming budget planning and forecasting cycles

A more coherent way to plan and forecast

Watch the 2 minute demo below to see budgeting and forecasting in Pigment.
Join next live tour
Play video
AI

Surface actionable insights

Run variance analysis on the same platform you build your budget. Understand and flag the reasons behind identified gaps (budget overspend or budget pulled in, exceptional events, etc).
speed

Act and react at speed

Increase your forecasting frequency and shorten your planning cycle. Effortlessly update rolling forecasts with a single click to accelerate your organization’s response time to both internal and external events.
collaborate

Working together made better

Make budget planning and forecasting a truly collaborative process by connecting teams and their data sets in a central location.

Key features for effective budget planning & financial forecasting

scenarios

Scenario planning on the fly

Run what-if scenarios in minutes to assess the key drivers that affect your business.

Scenarios UI
Woman working on a laptop
access

Granular access rights

Pigment offers fine-grained security controls to let you configure what an individual or a group of users can do, see, or modify on any board, metric, dimension or cell.

forecast

Actuals and forecast

Instantly add a new actual and forecast period everywhere in your model.

Sales Forecasting UI

Discover more use cases

Frequently Asked Questions

What features should I look for in a budgeting and forecasting tool?

Look for seamless data integrations, real-time visibility, scenario planning, customizable dashboards and easy collaboration. Also check how AI is governed: does it work on your live models, ask for your approval before changing them, respect access rights and leave a traceable record? Pigment provides these, with the Analyst Agent, Modeler Agent and Predictions built into the planning platform.

What KPIs best summarize the health of our forecasting process?

Strong forecasting is both visible and measurable. Core KPIs include how quickly forecasts are produced and refreshed (for example, days from period close to updated outlook), how reliably stakeholders contribute (on-time submission rates), and how accurate projections are at different horizons (such as 1-, 3-, or 6-month revenue MAPE). It is also useful to track agility, such as how long it takes to run a what-if scenario, and the frequency of unexpected outcomes like unplanned cash shortfalls or mid-cycle reforecasts. Together, these indicators give teams a clear view of forecasting quality and where to improve.

For more on different forecasting methods and best practices, see our guide: Comprehensive Guide to Financial Forecasting Methods

How does AI help in financial forecasting?

AI strengthens forecasting by analyzing large volumes of data quickly, surfacing trends and highlighting risks, such as early signs of a collections slowdown. In Pigment, Predictions builds machine learning into your models and generates continuously updated forecasts for revenue, expenses, headcount and other metrics. The Analyst Agent explains variances and sends recurring reports, and the Modeler Agent adjusts the model from a plain-language request. Human judgment stays essential for market shifts and strategic changes. Learn more about Pigment AI.

How do Pigment’s integrations support more accurate and timely financial forecasting?

Pigment connects directly to the core systems that finance teams rely on, so forecasts are always built on the latest data. Actuals flow in from ERP and accounting tools such as NetSuite, SAP, or Sage Intacct, while pipeline and bookings data can sync from Salesforce. HR platforms like Workday or HiBob keep headcount and compensation assumptions current, and data warehouses including Snowflake or BigQuery help centralize and enrich operational data. This connected approach removes manual data collection, reduces errors, and gives teams a single source of truth for fast, reliable forecasting.

Explore our full integration ecosystem here: Pigment Integrations.

Additionally, Pigment MCP Server lets AI tools securely access Pigment’s data and logic with the right permissions. This infrastructure enables trusted, seamless interoperability between Pigment and external AI systems such as ChatGPT and Claude.

What is the difference between budgeting and forecasting?

A budget sets targets and spending limits for a period, usually the coming year. A forecast estimates where performance will land based on current data and is updated regularly. Pigment runs both on one model, so budget-versus-actual and forecast-versus-actual comparisons stay consistent and variances can be explained in the same place.

Can budget owners explore the budget interactively in Pigment?

Yes. Frames lets you describe a custom dashboard, scenario simulator or executive deck, and builds it on your live planning model. Budget owners can change assumptions, such as hiring or spend, and see the forecast move immediately. The model's access rights and auditability still apply. Glean's finance team uses Frames to change hiring, ramp and quota assumptions and see the forecast update.

What results have Pigment customers achieved in budgeting and forecasting?

Customers report time savings across the planning cycle. Supercell went from 8 days to 4 minutes to update P&L actuals and financial forecasting, Carta cut data aggregation time by 80%, Fivetran saves 12 hours a month on executive reporting, and Evenflo creates and analyzes scenarios 6 days faster. Results depend on your data and processes.

Can I build a budget and forecast in the Pigment free trial?

Yes. Budgeting and forecasting are among the common use cases teams build in the 14-day free trial. Describe your budget structure and the AI agent generates a model and board you can refine, load your own data into and use to compare scenarios. No credit card or prior Pigment experience is required, and usage limits apply.

See Pigment in action

Pigment is built to be flexible, with more use cases than we can list here. Sign up for a demo with our team to explore what you could achieve.

Three colleagues focused on an iMac screen in a bright office with plants and modern artwork.

From 8 days to 4 min

Update P&L actuals & financial forecasting

80%

Time cut on data aggregation

12 hours

Saved per month on executive reporting

6 days faster

For scenarios creation and analysis