SWITCH-IO

Budget planning with every number traced, explained, and ready to defend.

Connect planning, spreadsheet-like modeling, department inputs, scenarios, approvals, actuals, explanations, and board reporting while keeping the story behind the number.

Get the Budget Process Health Checklist
30-minute consultative review Bring a real workflow No cleaned-up model required
FY27 Operating Plan · Board scenario
Account / driver
Plan
Actual
Variance
Revenue
$12.84M
$13.10M
+2.0%
People cost
$6.28M
$6.51M
+3.7%
Engineering
$2.14M
$2.29M
+7.1%
Cloud & tools
$812K
$774K
−4.7%
G&A
$1.06M
$1.02M
−3.8%
FormulaDriversAssumptionsActuals

Inspect cell

Engineering · People cost

Approved

Headcount roster

system

+$1.82M

Fringe rules

rule

+$318K

Hiring plan

scenario

+$152K
Aria explains

Engineering is $152K above baseline. Six approved hires account for $118K; the remaining $34K comes from the updated employer-tax rule.

6 positionsFringe v3Board scenario
Product proof, not placeholder promises

Source-traced cells

Inputs, rules, drivers, and history

Spreadsheet-like modeling

Formulas and multidimensional grids

Scenario comparison

Baseline, branches, and proposals

Approval history

Stages, evidence, and decisions

Budget vs actuals

Variance down to GL transactions

Aria explanations

Grounded in visible model context

Deck-ready outputs

Board templates, PPTX, and PDF

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The model may work. The process around it does not.

Finance can calculate the answer and still spend days proving which version, input, approval, and assumption produced it. That is not a spreadsheet problem. It is a disconnected workflow problem.

Version chaos

Final_v7 becomes Final_v7_USE_THIS.

Hidden assumptions

The logic lives three tabs away or in someone’s head.

Detached approvals

The decision sits in Slack while the value sits in Excel.

Scenario drift

Each “what if” is another copy with a different truth.

Late actuals

Variance review starts after the window to act has closed.

Manual reporting

The board deck is rebuilt from screenshots and pasted tables.

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From planning frame to board narrative, without breaking the chain.

Switch-IO treats the budget as a living system: every step carries the context of the step before it, so the team can move faster without trading away control.

Live context rail

One model moves through every decision.

Model truthDecision trailSource evidence
01 / 08

Frame

Plan

Set the calendar, targets, dimensions, and owners.

Scope locked
02 / 08

Build

Model

Build formulas, drivers, assumptions, and plan items.

Logic visible
03 / 08

Collaborate

Collect

Gather scoped inputs without exposing the whole model.

Inputs scoped
04 / 08

Decide

Compare

Branch scenarios and quantify the impact of each choice.

Impact quantified
05 / 08

Govern

Approve

Route material changes through the right sign-off chain.

Decision recorded
06 / 08

Reconcile

Track

Bring actuals beside plan and drill into the variance.

Reality linked
07 / 08

Understand

Explain

Trace the causal chain and let Aria narrate the result.

Story sourced
08 / 08

Communicate

Present

Turn workbook analysis into an executive-ready deck.

Board ready
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Chain intact

No rekeying. No lost approvals. No detached explanation.

ModelDecisionEvidenceNarrative

Click a number. See the system that made it true.

A selected cell can expose its contributors, reconciliation math, causal chain, actual transactions, draft state, approval status, and audit history. The model stays inspectable at the level finance actually reviews.

4

live source types

1

reconciled cell

8

causal nodes

1,284

actual transactions

Selected cell

Engineering people cost · Q3

ApprovedBoard scenario
Driver
Jul
Aug
Sep
Q3
Active roster
$584K
$592K
$648K
$1.824M
Fringe
$101K
$104K
$113K
$318K
Planned hires
$32K
$49K
$71K
$152K
People cost
$717K
$745K
$832K
$2.294M
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Formula / logic

Roster + fringe + planned hires

Owner

Sarah L. · FP&A

Scenario impact

+$151.6K vs baseline

ContributorsAmount

Headcount recompute

system
$1,824,000

Fringe rule · US FTE

rule
$318,400

Hiring plan · Platform

scenario
$151,600
Reconciliation Match
Contributions reconcile to cell$2,294,000

AI that works inside the model and shows its work.

Aria can read workbook context, analyze actuals and budget cells, explain causal chains, draft changes, and help prepare reporting. The analyst stays in control: higher-risk actions surface for review before they run.

Explain why a number moved
Find material BvA variances
Compare scenario impact
Draft a formula or model change
Compose an executive narrative
Pause for approval before risky edits

Aria

Workbook context connected

FY27 Board
Why is Engineering Q3 people cost above baseline, and what would a hiring freeze change?
Grounded analysis

Q3 is $151.6K above baseline. Six planned hires contribute $118K and the updated employer-tax component contributes $33.6K.

Freezing hires that have not started would remove $91K in Q3 and $412K from the next-12-month run rate. Approved, already-started positions remain unchanged.

Hiring plan · 6 rowsFringe rule · v3Baseline snapshotBoard scenario

Aria needs your approval

Create “Hiring freeze” scenario and update 4 planned positions.

Review changesNot now

Ask anything. Get the full picture.

Aria answers in plain language, but the reasoning stays attached to the governed budget model from the first question through any proposed action.

01

Understand the question

Aria scopes the workbook, scenario, period, entity, and dimensions before calculating.

02

Work through the model

She follows formulas, drivers, rules, actuals, and dependencies instead of guessing from a summary.

03

Show the evidence

Every answer can carry the cells, rows, assumptions, versions, and transactions behind it.

04

Stop before the write

Material changes become reviewable actions, respecting permissions, approvals, and the audit trail.

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One analyst. One week. One connected model.

Move from actuals review to scenario work to executive reporting without teaching an assistant the model again at every step.

Monday · Reconcile

Open the plan. Know what changed.

Live workbook context

Posted actuals arrive beside plan. Aria scans the period, ranks material variances, and separates timing noise from changes that need an owner.

Which June variances need attention before the review?
Aria · cited answer

Six items clear the materiality threshold. Cloud infrastructure is $7.7K over plan; 82% is explained by two posted transactions and a usage step-up that started nine days early.

6

material variances

$7.7K

cloud variance

82%

source explained

SourcesJune BvANetSuite actuals2 GL transactions

From boardroom number to source record, the thread stays intact.

Aria’s citations open into the same evidence chain the product uses: output, cell, components, and source.

01 · Board output

$4.31M

Engineering · Q3 OpEx

02 · Budget cell

People cost

FY27 Board scenario

03 · Components

6 hires + fringe

Position and rule detail

04 · Source

Posted actuals

Rows, versions, transactions

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Source-cited

Answers link back to visible model evidence.

Permission-aware

Aria works inside the access scope of the user.

Human-reviewed

Higher-risk actions pause before execution.

Auditable

Approved actions preserve who, what, and when.

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See how Aria reasons, cites, and knows when to stop.

Explore the dedicated product story or bring a real workflow to the review.

Explore Aria in depth

A broad budgeting workspace with unusual depth where people cost gets hard.

Use the same governed model for revenue, OpEx, workforce, Capex, scenarios, actuals, and reporting. Headcount is a deep product surface inside the broader budgeting workflow, but it is not the boundary of the product.

Revenue planning

Build top-down targets and bottom-up models across accounts, periods, entities, and other dimensions.

Drivers & assumptionsScenario deltasP&L reporting

Operating expense

Plan department and vendor spend with reusable plan items, ownership, and actuals beside plan.

Vendor plan itemsDepartment filtersSpend reports

Headcount & workforce

Model positions in detail with salary, ramp, fringe, PTO, commission, attrition, and events.

Roster & hiring plansCost rollforwardOrg chart

Capex allocation

Separate capitalized and operating workforce cost using explicit allocation rules and account targets.

Allocation rulesOpex / Capex splitRule provenance

Scenarios & reforecasting

Branch from a controlled baseline, compare alternatives, submit proposals, and preserve the decision trail.

Scenario treeSnapshotsRolling forecast

Budget vs actuals

Compare plan to posted actuals and drill from a variance to the transactions behind it.

Variance bridgeGL drill-downAria anomaly scan

Executive reporting

Move from workbook data to executive summaries, P&L, runway, workforce, and scenario reports.

9 report typesAI narrativeBoard templates

Board reporting

Compose slides from budget analysis, edit the narrative, apply brand styling, and export PPTX or PDF.

Deck StudioSpeaker notesPPTX & PDF
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Compare the decision, the plan, and the performance in one place.

Branch alternatives from a controlled baseline, compare their business impact, bring posted actuals beside budget, and extend the latest truth into a rolling forecast.

Scenario tree

FY27 Board PlanBaseline

Source of truth · Locked

Upside · New markets
active+$1.8M EBITDA
Hiring freeze
review+$412K runway
Downside · −8% ARR
draft−$1.1M EBITDA

Baseline → Hiring freeze

What choosing Plan B changes

Metric
Baseline
Freeze
Impact
People cost
$6.51M
$6.10M
−$412K
Ending HC
184
176
−8
EBITDA
$1.94M
$2.35M
+$412K
Cash runway
18.2 mo
19.6 mo
+1.4 mo

Collaboration stays fluid. Financial truth stays controlled.

Finance can invite participation without turning the baseline into a free-for-all. Ownership, approvals, period states, proposals, and audit history are part of the model instead of living in a separate process.

Scoped ownership

Give contributors the workbook scope and permission level they need.

Approval chains

Configure stages, all/any/quorum policies, thresholds, SLAs, and evidence.

Period lifecycle

Define states and legal transitions from open through review and lock.

Versioned truth

Preserve scenario snapshots, proposals, cell history, and approval rounds.

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Material budget change

Stage 2 of 3

Draft

Finance

CFO

Applied

Request impact

+$412K

absolute change

Above $250K gate
Engineering+$284K
Sales+$93K
G&A+$35K

Decision context

SL

Sarah L. requested

12 cells · Board scenario

Move approved platform hires into Q3 and apply the updated US fringe rule.

2 evidence files · due in 18h

Period lifecycle

Q3 · Review

OpenReviewLocked

Deck Studio

FY27 Board Meeting

PDFExport PPTX

FY27 Operating Plan

The hiring reset extends runway without slowing product delivery.

06 / 10

+$412K

runway benefit

−8

unstarted roles

+1.4 mo

cash runway

Aria narrative

Lead with the runway gain, then show why approved platform capacity remains protected.

86% confidence

Speaker notes

Frame this as sequencing, not blanket cost cutting. Call out the six hires already approved.

The board deck starts with the model, not a blank slide.

Generate or compose executive slides from budget analysis, use board and review templates, edit charts and narratives, add speaker notes, apply brand styling, and export to PPTX or PDF.

Board-ready templates
Charts, KPIs, tables
Aria-built narrative
PPTX and PDF export
See the reporting workflow

Keep what analysts value. Fix what makes the process fragile.

Switch-IO is not asking finance to choose between spreadsheet transparency and governed planning. The product is designed to hold both.

Spreadsheets

Flexible, familiar modeling

Versions, approvals, actuals, and explanations live around the file

Keep the grid feel; add source trails, workflow, and governed truth.

Heavy enterprise FP&A

Broad, company-wide planning

Long implementations and process layers can distance analysts from the math

A focused planning instrument with cell-level visibility and workforce depth.

Excel-native FP&A

Preserves existing Excel habits

The workbook often remains the container for assumptions and governance

Make the governed model itself the shared planning workspace.

Generic AI finance tools

Fast summaries and answers

Unsupported answers are difficult to defend in finance review

Aria works from visible workbook context and pauses before risky actions.
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Show us how budgeting works today. We’ll show how it could work better in Switch-IO.

This is a consultative product session built around your process, not a canned feature tour.

30 minutes · no cleaned-up model required · leave with a concrete workflow map

What happens in the review

01

Bring the current workflow

A real spreadsheet, anonymized export, process diagram, or verbal walkthrough is enough.

02

Map one planning path

Choose headcount, department OpEx, scenario review, BvA, or board reporting.

03

Find the trust breaks

We identify hidden assumptions, version drift, approval gaps, and reporting handoffs.

04

See the Switch-IO version

We show how the same workflow can become source-traced, explainable, and governed.

How defensible is your budgeting process today?

Mark every statement that is reliably true, not just theoretically possible. Your live score will show where the workflow is ready and where trust still depends on manual work.

Process health score

High process risk

0/8

Your team likely depends on tribal knowledge, manual reconciliation, or disconnected approval and reporting steps.

Select what is true today

Clear answers before the workflow review.

Switch-IO keeps the grid-based, formula-driven modeling surface finance teams understand, but the shared planning workflow moves into Switch-IO. That adds scenarios, source trails, approvals, period governance, actuals, collaboration, and reporting around the model. Excel can still be part of import and export workflows.

Budget AppYour budget workflow, made defensible

Make every budget number easier to trust and easier to defend.

Bring one messy planning workflow. We'll map how its model, sources, decisions, actuals, explanations, and reporting can become one connected system.

Check my budget process
30 minutes · no cleaned-up model required

What happens next

One workflow. Three useful outcomes.

01

Bring one real workflow

A spreadsheet, export, or walkthrough is enough.

02

Find the trust breaks

We trace version, source, approval, and reporting gaps.

03

Leave with a clearer path

See the practical Switch-IO workflow for your team.

Plan · model · compare · approve · track · explain · present