Dashboard Overview
| Description | This article walks you through the various elements of the Forwardly dashboard. |
| Objective | At the end of this article, you should have a fairly good idea of the various KPIs available within the Forwardly dashboard. |
| Estimated reading time | 8-9 minutes |
Introduction to the Forwardly Dashboard
In information systems, a dashboard is a screen that provides a summarized and objective view of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) relevant to that system. Practically all enterprise software systems have dashboards and Forwardly is no different. What's more in Forwardly, however, is that you have a unique dashboard for every single business that you connect with your Forwardly account.
In this article, we will be doing a quick walk-through of the various elements that you can expect to find in the dashboard.
Accessing the Dashboard
When you log in to the Forwardly app, you will be presented with a list of all the businesses that your Forwardly account is connected with on your homescreen. There is an associated dashboard button for every business on the list.
Once you click on the dashboard button of a connected business, you will be taken to the dashboard screen for that business; in our case, it is Apple Pie Venture.
Dashboard Elements
For easier understanding, we have broken down the dashboard screen into multiple macro areas. To this end, we have the following three areas:
- The header area (highlighted in red below).
- The navigation menu area (highlighted in green below).
- The KPI area (highlighted in blue below).
The header area
Sync
The header area is where the business information is located, as well as the Sync button.
Last Synced
Right next to the Sync button is a widget that displays the elapsed time span since data from the connected accounting software was successfully synchronized with your Forwardly account, as depicted in the image below.
Sync reminder notification
In addition, this is also the area where you can expect to find system notifications (if any) for important or critical operational aspects that you need to act upon. For instance, in the image below, an orange color notification reminds the user to sync their Forwardly account to the connected accounting platform.
The system will notify you once every 24 hours in case you haven't synced your account within that duration.
| Tip: Curious about how syncing works? Learn more here. |
View more
| Other than the aforementioned elements, the header area also displays your login information, like your name and your account's admin menu. You can access the account's admin menu by clicking on the Option button located at the right of the header area. |
The navigation menu area
The navigation menu area houses links to various top-level pages available within your account. This can be thought of as the gateway to every single functionality accessible for your account. Currently, accessible modules include the dashboard (this screen); cash flow; advisory reports; and business settings.
The KPI area
The KPI area provides an at-a-glance overview of the most significant parameters of your financial and accounting data. At the top, you will find two critical figures that every business needs to keep a sharp eye on: outstanding invoices and bills (incoming and outgoing, in that order) and profit and loss overview.
The Outstanding Invoices & Bills section is where the total balance of all the unpaid invoices and bills as of the current date will be displayed. These numbers should be similar to that in the Aging Report in your accounting software. Please go through the Outstanding Invoices & Bills subsection below for more details.
The Profit & Loss Overview section outlines how much your business has earned and lost in the last 12 consecutive months. Please go through the Profit & Loss Overview subsection below for more details.
| Tip: All graphs in the Forwardly dashboard use color codes. All incoming values are depicted in blue, while all outgoing values are shown in orange. This is a cue to know if one outweighs another significantly and may create a cash flow problem for the business. |
Outstanding Invoices & Bills
When you hover your cursor over the invoice and bill amounts, it will display the actual due & overdue amounts.
For instance, our illustrative image above shows that the outstanding invoice value immediately due is USD 30,588.50, while the overdue invoice value is 55,566.85, which is significant, and something a business should keep a close eye on. The same on-hover due/overdue amounts are displayed for bills.
Profit & Loss Overview
In the aggregated P&L values, however, the figures displayed on hover are different.
In the income amount in the P&L overview section, we see a segregation of the income.
And on the loss side of the P&L overview section, we see how the expenses have been separated.
The Cash Flow Section
Another important aspect of your financial accounting system is the cash flow, which is the net amount of cash being transferred in and out of a business in a given month. On the other hand, net cash indicates the amount remaining in your bank account at the end of a business month. These figures are important for any business since they indicate the overall operational profitability of a company; they are critical for running a company smoothly.
In the Forwardly dashboard, the Cash Flow section is directly below the outstanding invoices and bills and the profit and loss overview sections.
The cash flows are depicted graphically using both positive (Cash In) and negative (Cash Out) flows, as shown in the image.
| Tip: Check/uncheck the Cash In, Cash Out, and Net Cash buttons towards the top right of the bar chart to see their impact. |
Last/Next 30 Days
Below the cash flow graph, you will find a 60-day window that displays the total amount of cash moved (actuals), and system projected to be moving (forecasted) in and out of your business in the past and next 30 days, respectively.
Miscellaneous Parameters
- Growth/Fall in Inflow shows the cash in performance during the current and upcoming 30 days. These calculations are based on the previous month's performance.
- Growth/Fall in Outflow shows the cash-out performance during the current and upcoming 30 days. These calculations are based on the current month's performance.
- Average Balance is the average amount of money you held or are going to hold in your business account in the past or next 30 days. It is evaluated based on the last 30 days' closing balance.
- NSF Days are the total number of days your business didn’t have or is not going to have enough money in its account to cover expenses in the past or the upcoming 30 days.
- Cash In/Cash Out shows the exact cash as of the current date in actuals and based on evaluated forecasts.
Conclusion
The Forwardly dashboard is a convenient tool that provides a summarized view of some of the most important aspects of your financial accounting data. By leveraging the dashboard, you can quickly gain an overview of a business's cash financial health and make informed decisions.