A training sandbox for FP&A talent
Learn adaptive planning by building it.
A playground with real-world companies, real planning sheets and a coach that checks your work. Build budgets, forecasts, workforce plans and group consolidations. Break things, reset, and try again until the numbers tie.
Professionals and academics request access. Teams and institutions talk to sales.
- 4companies to plan, from nonprofit to multi-currency group
- 8guided journeys, as a planner or a builder
- 106lessons graded against your model
- 50Concept Cards with the reasons behind each choice
The playground
Practice on a live model, not a slideshow.
Most planning courses show you screens. Here you work in them. Every trainee gets their own copy of a company to plan, rebuild and break, with guidance at every step.
Your own instance
Open a company in seconds and it is yours alone. Type figures, rebuild the chart of accounts, move a department, change a formula. Save a snapshot before you experiment and reset whenever you like.
A coach that checks the model
Lessons pass when the model shows the work: the right account, a formula that ties, a version locked, a report built. No multiple-choice quizzes and no ticking a box to say you read something.
Concept Cards with the reasons
When a cube sheet beats a standard sheet, why a rate is averaged up a hierarchy, when a split is better than a new dimension. Short cards with the common mistakes, and a quick check to test yourself.
What you practise
The whole planning cycle, hands on.
From a first departmental budget to a consolidated group that balances every month, the sandbox covers what an FP&A team does in an enterprise planning tool.
Sheets, versions and workflow
Standard sheets by level and period, Actuals against budget and forecast versions, submit, approve and reject by level with comments.
Formulas and driver models
Calculated accounts, time and level modifiers, volume x price x cost drivers, a formula assistant, and Explore Cell to trace any figure to its source.
Cube sheets and dimensions
Plan by product, segment and region, pivot the view without changing the sheet, and split one cell into labelled lines.
Workforce and capital plans
Modeled sheets for people and assets: hires, start and end months, capex and straight-line depreciation linked into the P&L.
Integration and actuals
Load a trial balance, correct the account mapping, connect simulated ledger, CRM and HR systems, schedule loads and reconcile to the cent.
Reports and dashboards
Budget against actuals with variance and favourability, reports by level, attribute or dimension, KPIs and charts for leadership.
Security and access
Permission sets, level assignments and access rules, so each planner sees and edits exactly their part of the plan.
Consolidation
Currency translation and CTA, intercompany eliminations, ownership with non-controlling interest and the equity method.
Use cases
Four companies, from first budget to group consolidation.
Each company comes with a brief, its stakeholders and their requirements, the history in Actuals and simulated source systems to load from. Start where you are and climb.
- Tier 1 · FoundationsHealthcare · Nonprofit
Northfield Community Health
A community health center with three clinics, two outreach programs and a grant-funded budget. Plan the FY27 budget, keep restricted grant money separate, and report on a July–June fiscal year.
- Levels vs dimensions vs attributes
- Account hierarchies, rollups and calculated accounts
- Restricted funds as a dimension
- Standard sheets, versions, budget vs actuals
Planner and Builder journeys · about 3 hours each
- Tier 2 · IntermediateSaaS · Subscription
Cloudward
A B2B software company with a core platform and two add-ons, sold to small, mid-market and enterprise customers in three regions. Track ARR from bookings to churn, plan the workforce, and reforecast the year once H1 has closed.
- ARR bridge and SaaS metrics as metric accounts
- Cumulative accounts: deferred revenue, customers
- Formula modifiers: time ranges, level, dimension, attribute
- Workforce plan with a hiring plan
Planner and Builder journeys · about 5 hours each
- Tier 3 · AdvancedManufacturing
Ardent Components
An automotive supplier making brake assemblies, sensors and wiring harnesses in three plants. Plan volume at price and standard cost, plan capital spend asset by asset, and carry the plan through to a balance sheet and cash flow that balance every month.
- Volume x price x standard cost as dimensional calculated accounts
- Capital modeled sheet: capex and depreciation
- Balance sheet and indirect cash flow
- Capacity and utilization
- Access rules
Planner and Builder journeys · about 7 hours each
- Tier 4 · ExpertRetail · Multi-entity
Meridian Athletic
An athletic-goods group: five stores in four currencies, a technology company and a brand company that charge the stores, a partly owned subsidiary and a joint venture. Translate, eliminate and consolidate into one set of group accounts that balances.
- Currency translation and CTA
- Intercompany and eliminations
- Ownership, NCI and the equity method
- Consolidation
Planner and Builder journeys · about 8 hours each
Or start from a blank instance
An empty instance: a top level, the Actuals version, a calendar and a currency. Implement a model from scratch.
Planner journey
Run the plan.
Work inside a model someone else built, the way most FP&A analysts start. Enter the budget by department, load the month's actuals, reforecast once the half has closed, report against budget and take a level through submit and approval.
Builder journey
Design the model.
Implement the company from its brief: levels, accounts and dimensions, formulas and cube sheets, modeled sheets, integrations and access rules. Lessons grade the structure you build, so there is more than one right answer.
How you learn
From a first sheet to a model that ties.
- 01
Pick a company
Start with a community health center or go straight to a multi-currency group. Each comes with a brief, its stakeholders and its history in Actuals.
- 02
Follow a journey
Choose Planner or Builder. Lessons run in order, from discovering the model to planning, reporting and closing the loop.
- 03
Do the work, get checked
The coach reads your model as you work and says what is still missing, so you know when a lesson is really done.
- 04
Reset and go further
Save a snapshot, try another approach, or reset and climb to the next company when you are ready.
Plans
Access for professionals, academics and teams.
Professionals and academics request an account. Organisations training many people talk to our team first.
Professional
For analysts, finance managers and career switchers building planning skills.
- Every company and both journeys
- Your own instances, snapshots and resets
- Graded lessons and Concept Cards
Academic
For finance and accounting students, MBA and CA, CPA or CMA candidates, and their teachers.
- Start with the foundations company
- Build a portfolio of models you implemented
- The same sandbox the professionals use
Enterprise
For finance teams, universities and training partners onboarding many people.
- Cohorts with the use cases you choose
- Your administrators issue and manage accounts
- An audit of every administrative act
FAQ
Questions people ask first.
Is this the real planning software?
No. It is an independent sandbox built to work the way enterprise driver-based planning tools do, so the concepts and habits carry over to the job. The companies are fictional and the sandbox has no connection to any software vendor.
Do I need planning experience?
No. The first company, a community health center, starts with levels, accounts and a first budget. Each later company adds one layer: subscriptions and workforce, then manufacturing and three statements, then a multi-currency group.
What is the difference between the Planner and Builder journeys?
A Planner uses a model someone else built: enter the budget, reforecast, load actuals, report and approve. A Builder implements the model from the company's brief: levels, accounts, formulas, sheets, integrations and access. Builder lessons are graded on the structure you create.
Can I break something?
Please do. Each instance is yours alone. Save up to three snapshots per instance and restore one, or reset the instance to the company's starting position.
What happens to my data?
The sandbox holds fictional companies only, so never enter real company figures. Passwords are stored as one-way hashes and sign-in is handled by the sandbox itself, with no third-party login.
Can I use it for a team, a class or a certification programme?
Yes. Enterprise access gives you cohorts with the use cases you choose, accounts issued and managed by your own administrators, and an audit of every administrative act. Talk to sales and we will set it up with you.
What do I need to run it?
A modern browser on a laptop or desktop. Planning grids are wide, so a larger screen is more comfortable than a phone.
Your first budget is one request away.
Request Professional or Academic access, or talk to us about training your team.