Fourth Analytics: Reconciling WFM Sales Data

Overview

This article explains how to reconcile sales data from Fourth Analytics with its core application - Workforce Management (WFM).

For successful reconciling of data, Fourth recommends that the financial calendar weeks in Fourth Analytics align with the rota start date in WFM - see Fourth Analytics: Understanding the Financial Calendar.

Sales data feeds into Fourth Analytics at least once a day from WFM. Data can come from the Rota, Scheduling - or both.

Reconciling Rota Sales

As shown in Fig. 1, Analytics displays Actual, Forecast, and Budget values that have been entered in the Rota.

Fig.1 - Actual, Forecast, and Budget Rota Data in Analytics

If Forecast sales data is not entered in the Rota, the Forecast field will use the same value as the Budget.

The same data can be viewed in the Rota module.

• Go to Rotas > Reports > Weekly Overview Report V3 (Fig. 2).

Fig.2 - Sales Data in the Rota Module

If there is no Actual sales data for a date, Analytics will display a value of '0', whereas the Rota module will display the date's Forecast figure in its place. 

If you have any concerns with the data displayed in Analytics, you should:

• Cross-reference the data back to the Rota module:
  • If the rota is correct, and Analytics is different - you will require a manual refresh of the data. Raise a ticket to Fourth Support
  • If the rota is incorrect, speak with your EPOS provider for actual sales concerns, or internally for forecast/budget concerns
    
    

Reconciling Scheduling Sales

Analytics also displays sales data from the Scheduling module - if your business utilises this BI feed. Most likely, Scheduling sales data will be visible in the '03. Productivity' dashboards, see - Fourth Analytics: Understanding the labour Dashboard.

As shown in Fig. 3 - Analytics displays Actual and Forecast sales data from Scheduling.

Fig.3 - Actual and Forecast Scheduling Data in Analytics

Sales data from Scheduling can also be split by further transaction types, such as the below. Additional transaction types are available. 

• Actual Food, Forecast Food.
• Actual Drink, Forecast Drink.
• Actual Other, Forecast Other.

The same data can be viewed in the Scheduling module.

• Go to Scheduling > Sales Forecast > Set: Location (Fig. 4).

Fig.4 - Sales Data Summary in Scheduling

If you have any concerns with the data displayed in Analytics, you should:

• Cross-reference the data back to the Scheduling module:
  • If Scheduling is correct, and Analytics is different - you will require a manual refresh of the data. Raise a ticket to Fourth Support
  • If Scheduling is incorrect, speak with your EPOS provider for actual sales concerns, or internally for forecast/budget concerns