Model the whole budget swiftly yourself, in Excel.
Plan and submit straight from Excel using the FastClose Excel Add-In — full formulae and modelling power, including driving submissions from detail models in other worksheets. No workflow to configure, no separate planning system. When the budget needs more than one contributor, you can add additional cost centre managers who submit the same way, straight into the same plan next to live ERP actuals.
Excel-native · Unlimited scenarios · Live against actuals
For many businesses, one person builds the whole budget in Excel.
Typically it's the financial controller, modelling revenue, cost and cash the way they always have — full formulae, driver tabs, whatever the model needs. FastPlan doesn't get in the way of that: no workflow to configure, no new tool to learn, and no approval chain between the model and a submitted plan.
No new tool to learn. Holders submit using every formula and driver models driven from detail worksheets elsewhere in the workbook.
You hang onto the submission workbook, including any sub-models — so you can go back later and see exactly how a number was reached.
Pre-configured templates for both data entry and reporting available out of the box.
Report planned scenarios in FastClose alongside the latest ERP actuals in real time — no need to replicate balances or transactions out to a separate planning system.
The same submission extends to a full team.
Add cost centre managers when the budget needs more than one contributor. Each one gets their own slice of the same template and submits from Excel independently — their numbers land directly in the same central plan, so there's one version of the truth without an email trail to coordinate or a consolidation step to run.
No collection round and no consolidation step — each cost centre manager uploads straight into the shared plan as they finish.
Control data entry by person or group, and lock down by period, year or division.
Status by cost centre at a glance — what's submitted - nothing to chase.
One submitter or fifty, it's the same template and the same central plan.
The whole cycle, in one place.
From template design to in-month variance reporting — without the plan ever leaving the system.
Build the template
Choose the accounts, cost centres, periods and any driver rows. Set what a holder may change and what stays locked.
Send it out — or keep it
Each holder gets their own slice, with entry locked to their cost centre — or, if you're the only contributor, just carry on in the same workbook.
Model and submit in Excel
Work in Excel and submit from Excel. Validation runs are run at submission, so any issues can be quickly rsolved.
See every submission land
Because holders upload directly, submissions consolidate themselves as they land. See which cost centres have submitted — there's nothing to chase and no approval chain to move through.
Plan vs live actuals, all month
The approved plan becomes a version in FastClose. Put it beside live ERP actuals in any report and see the variance.
More than an annual budget.
The same mechanism handles reforecasts, scenarios and rolling plans, because a plan is just another version of the numbers.
?Common questions about FastPlan
Does FastPlan include an approval workflow?
No — deliberately. If you're building the whole budget yourself, there's no imposed process standing between you and getting it submitted. When the plan needs multiple cost centre managers, the same simple submission extends to a team: each person uploads directly into the shared plan, so there's one central version of the truth without a consolidation step or workflow layer in between.
Do budget holders need a FastClose licence?
Yes — a FastClose Excel Add-In licence, which is what they submit through.
Does the budget get written back into the ERP?
The plan is held as a FastClose version, which means you can report it without touching ERP budget tables. Where a customer wants the approved plan loaded into the ERP as well, that can be arranged as part of implementation.
Can we hold more than one scenario?
Yes. Budget, reforecast, best case and worst case are all versions, and any report or dashboard can show a chosen version next to actuals.
Which ERPs support FastPlan?
All of them. FastPlan runs wherever FastClose Core does, because it plans against Core's view of your chart of accounts and dimensions.
How long does a first budget round take to set up?
Days rather than weeks. Pre-configured templates come out of the box as a starting point, and the account structure, dimensions and prior-year actuals already come from Core — there's no workflow to design first.
Run your next budget round without the chase.
We'll walk through a real template and submission on the call.