RPM Training CEO Builds Advanced Models And Rolling Forecasts In Jirav To Drive Multi-channel Growth
Financial reports, board packages from hours to seconds to generate
Just two weeks to build complete budget template
Average new client fee
"... with Jirav, we can attach a tangible result to the FP&A types of services and capabilities"
As a business owner, Jirav gives me a real-time knob to turn for immediate feedback if we add stores, products, events, or personnel. It enables us to accurately forecast the trajectory of our business on a monthly basis, quickly add or adjust assumptions, and validate our decisions.
Industry: E-commerce, Retail
RPM Training's mission is to inspire movement by creating quality products and apparel, designed to help athletes & adventurers everywhere improve performance and ultimately get more enjoyment out of the activities they love.
With sophisticated engineering and customizable designs, RPM has become a leading provider of training products for competitive athletes everywhere—setting the standard for performance and personal expression.
As RPM Training expands its brand into new products, markets, and sales channels, its CEO needed more strategic and consolidated insight than Excel spreadsheets could deliver.
RPM Training is known in the training and sports world for its innovative products and passion for personalized design. The company continues to build its brand and seeks opportunities for growth in new markets and sales channels, which brings additional challenges to an already complex business model.
Shane Rogers, Founder, and CEO had been building models in Excel, which was time-consuming and couldn't provide the real-time information across the organization needed to make decisions or accurately forecast growth.
"We needed a way to look further out than traditional forecasting models could go," says Shane. "A universal platform and model that others inside or outside our team could easily understand and follow."
Jirav was recommended by RPM's accounting firm (Countsy.com) who had used it for many of their clients. Shane worked with Jirav's team to set up the Enterprise version, giving him the capability to build an unlimited number of plans, models, and scenarios. The solution easily connected to RPM's data from QuickBooks, Gusto payroll, and Excel.
As a business owner, Jirav empowered Shane to build and adapt models on the fly, resulting in faster insights, cost savings, and more time available for Shane and his CFO to focus on RPM's growth.
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Challenges Solved
- Time-consuming Excel modeling with disparate spreadsheets.
- Needed to quantify growing business and validate new opportunities.
- Complex multi-channel business model with inventory.
Advantages Delivered
- Accurate models in hours, not weeks.
- Strategic planning for multiple scenarios and departments.
- Monthly plan vs. actuals and rolling forecasts.
- Accurate inventory and cash flow tracking.
- Unlimited models on a unified platform.
Jirav Solution
- Jirav Enterprise
With Jirav, I can see a snapshot of the company today and easily change assumptions or compare scenarios to guide our decisions for the future.
Actionable Models In Hours, Not Weeks.
RPM Training is able to create multiple “as is” and “what if” models in Jirav, leveraging consolidated data across operations. What would take weeks to build and tweak in Excel takes a few hours in Jirav. They have gained a holistic view of their performance and profitability today, as well as how to get where they want to be.
"Jirav makes it easy to understand how, when, and where to scale our business. It helps us make more confident decisions and build a roadmap for our future," said Shane.
Strategic Planning For Multiple Scenarios And Departments
Something important to RPM was the ability to simulate different scenarios to see how each could influence their bottom line and capital requirements.
In Jirav, Shane is able to create and change any assumption or business driver to account for seasonality, inventory, adding products or personnel, bringing on new wholesalers, and much more. Calculations are automatically applied across all plans and reports in seconds so he and his leadership team can see side-by-side comparisons.
"It's a major advantage to see, for example, if we have the opportunity to bring on a big wholesale customer or add a new product line, whether it would be good for our brand and our company,” Shane reports. “I can just plug in or tweak one driver, and it applies to 15-20 other drivers."
Monthly Plan Vs. Actuals And Rolling Forecasts
Jirav pulls in actuals from QuickBooks and other data sources so RPM can compare against their plan and understand why they did better in one area or why they didn’t take action in another. "We wanted to forecast monthly, as well as annually and three years out, which is difficult to do with Excel. Our forecasts simply roll over each month, and it has given us a routine for month-end and a living plan we can use to make proactive adjustments."
Accurate Inventory And Cash Flow Tracking
According to Shane, Jirav has also been a valuable tool to monitor inventory and cash flow exactly how they want to see it—monthly, quarterly, and in out years. "We couldn’t do this before, and it has been very helpful in helping us create our growth plan."
Unlimited Models On A Unified Platform
Jirav gives Shane and his team an affordable way to simplify complex modeling on a universal, cloud-based platform. "I’m not the only one who will be working with our financials and models, and with Jirav, it gives us a foundation so anyone can pick up and run with it."