Like any Cooperative Research Centre, the Additive Manufacturing CRC manages funds across multiple projects, partners and years. Recording what has been spent is the easy part. The harder question is what the CRC will spend, and how that compares with the plan.

Forecasts tend to sit in spreadsheets, apart from the system that holds the actuals. They are updated at different times by different people, and they are hard to compare with actual expenditure as it comes in. Answering a basic question such as “where will we land by the end of the year?” means manually assembling figures from several sources. That is slow, depends on a small number of people, and leaves room for error.

The CRC wanted something different. They needed:

• A way to forecast expenditure into future quarters, not just report on the past
• Actual expenditure shown against forecast, so variances are visible as they emerge
• Clear controls over who can change forecasts and when
• One source of truth, rather than a parallel set of spreadsheets

[Optional second quote from the client on the challenge]

Matrix Grid: forecasting built into the platform. Matrix Grid is a grid view within turnKeyRM, built on Salesforce, that lets the CRC forecast expenditure quarter by quarter. Forecast and actual figures are held against the same records, so the CRC can see its plan and its position side by side.

Matrix Grid gives the CRC:

• Forward forecasting: expenditure can be forecast into future quarters directly in the platform, rather than in a separate spreadsheet.
• Forecast versus actual: as actuals are recorded, the difference from forecast is visible straight away, not at the end of a reporting cycle.
• Controlled editing: because Matrix Grid is built on Salesforce, the CRC’s governance requirements apply to the grid itself, covering who can change forecasts and when. [Confirm the specific controls implemented, for example locking closed quarters or restricting edits by role.]
• A single source of truth: forecasts and actuals sit with the project and partner records already in turnKeyRM, so there is no export-and-reconcile step.

Matrix Grid inherits the Salesforce platform’s security model, audit trail and reporting, so the CRC gets the controls it asked for without a separate tool to maintain.

The shift is operational and strategic. Operationally, forecasting no longer depends on assembling spreadsheets by hand. Forecasts and actuals live in one place, and the risk of version confusion and transcription error goes with the spreadsheets. [Add specifics if available: for example, time saved in quarterly reporting.]

Strategically, the CRC can see sooner where spending is tracking ahead of or behind plan. That puts management and the Board in a better position to make decisions about the remaining life of the program, with figures they can trust because they come straight from the system of record.

[Client quote about the outcome, with name and title]

For a research collaboration managing public and partner funds over many years, that clarity is more than a convenience. It supports the accountability and confidence that the partnership depends on.