Overview
Francis is the ultimate FP&A platform for established finance teams that have outgrown Excel and are looking for a better solution to automate and streamline their FP&A processes. Purpose-built for budgeting and FP&A, Francis combines the flexibility from Excel with FP&A-specific features that seamlessly integrate with Xero, to provide an efficient solution for all your financial management needs.
Key features:
- Native connections to Xero and other ERP tools
- Multi-entity consolidation
- Budgets and rolling forecasts
- Compare actuals and budget numbers
- Automated reporting features
- Collaboration and restricted editing
- Purpose-built for FP&A teams
Francis + Xero
Sign up (1 minute) To start using Francis, you’ll need to first create an account at https://launch.francis.app/signup. Once you’ve created your account, you’ll be taking through the sign up flow, which will prompt you to connect your preferred ERP.
Authorize connection (2 minutes) When asked to connect your ERP, simply choose Xero (and other additional ERPs used by your organization) and follow the prompt to authorize the connection. When authorized, all you transactional data will be available in Francis.
Start modeling Once you’ve connected your Xero account, you are ready to start modeling. To get started see the section below, or consider reading our documentation at [https://docs.francis.app/guides/]. When you have successfully build your budget in Francis, you can start doing rolling forecasts that automatically update once transactions are captured in Xero. Comparing forecasts and actuals has never been easier.
Getting started
If you haven’t already, create a Francis account here: https://launch.francis.app/signup
Connect Francis to Xero (2 minutes) After signing up, you’ll have the option to add Xero as a data source in Francis. Once you’ve selected Xero, follow the prompt to authorize the connection. When authorized, your financial data will be available in Francis.
Choose a budget template (1 minute) Once you’ve connected your Xero account, you’re ready to start using Francis. To get started, you can choose to 1) use the Francis standard template, 2) use an industry template, 3) automatically generate a budget based on your chart of accounts, or 4) create a fully custom budget from scratch. Most users begin with the standard template to follow the basic structure of the three financial statements.
Customize your budget (5-10 minutes) Once you’ve chosen a template, tailor it to your business by adding rows and groups, adjusting forecasts, and incorporating any additional financial data or metrics relevant to your organization.
Match Xero accounts (10 minutes) In Francis, you’ll match your Xero accounts to the corresponding budget rows you’ve defined. This ensures accurate tracking of your actuals vs. budgets numbers. The time required to match accounts is entirely dependent on the size of your chart of accounts.
Monitor and update your budget (ongoing) Once you’ve matched your Xero accounts to your budget, you’ll be able to track your actuals against your budget numbers. Update your budget with rolling forecasts implementing updated actuals for more accurate forecasting and financial planning
For more information about available features, consider reading our documentation linked below.