This page explains a few key terms you will see in the app and in the docs.
Plan item
A plan item is something you expect to happen in the future.
Examples:
- salary (incoming)
- rent (outgoing)
- VAT payment (outgoing)
Plan items are used for forecasting.
Payment (actual)
A payment is what really happened (ground truth).
Important rule (no double counting):
- if a payment exists for a planned instance, the payment wins
Instance
If a plan item is recurring, it happens multiple times.
One single time within that series is an instance.
Example:
- Plan item: “Rent, monthly”
- Instances: “January rent”, “February rent”, “March rent”, …
Forecast
A forecast is the app’s calculation of your future balances over time based on:
- starting balances
- plan items
- payments (which override planned instances)