budget plan for cost analysis

The attached pdf file shows a budget plan developed by Sanestorm consultants in order to help plan and predict costs for a regional direct marketing program (details made “generic” for confidentiality).

The attached PDF document was developed in Excel as a tool to plan for the next year’s budget requirements.

• Page 1 shows an overview of the plan, including the plan for the current year (1999), the projected outlook for the current year, and the plan in progress for the next year (2000)
• Pages 2-6 show the detailed cost projections of each natural account grouping; collateral distribution, collateral printing, merchandising and on-hold production, and direct mail bill-inserts and stand-alone costs.
• Page 7, “Variables,” was an innovation developed by Sanestorm in order to help facilitate “what if”  scenarios proposed by the client. Rather than have actual data for projected or estimated quantities (new customers, printing costs, postage costs, etc) appear in the appropriate account area, all variables were grouped on this worksheet for ease of adjustment. This enabled easy changes to key data to be made as different scenarios were plugged into the overall budget. For example, if the client requested an overall reduction in bill insert costs, changes could be made to either the print cost (which would require a less-expensive design), or to the percentage or customers included in the mailing.