Modelling states
How bluprnts distinguishes what's happening now from what's planned — hired versus planned roles, enabled projects, and what counts toward today's headcount.
A forecast contains two kinds of thing: what is true now, and what you intend. bluprnts keeps them apart so a plan full of intentions doesn't quietly read as a description of the business today.
Hired vs planned roles#
Every role carries a status:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Hired | Someone on the payroll now |
| Planned | A role you intend to fill |
Both cost the forecast from their start date — a planned hire is a real commitment, so leaving it out would understate what you're about to spend.
The difference is in how it's presented. A planned role is drawn as a ghost rail on the headcount plan and is left out of today's headcount, so the figure you'd quote as "we're a team of six" doesn't silently include three people you haven't recruited.
Enabled vs disabled projects#
A project is either on the forecast or not:
- Enabled — its products, sales, people, costs and financing are in every statement.
- Disabled — it contributes nothing, and nothing is deleted.
The base plan is a project that is always on. See Base plan, projects & scenarios.
Base case vs an applied scenario#
The forecast either reads on your committed plan — base case — or through a scenario. The scenario picker shows which, with a pulsing dot when a scenario is applied, so the state is visible on every page it matters on. See Set the working case.
Live vs frozen reports#
A report either resolves its figures live from the engine, or has them frozen as presented on a date. Same distinction, applied to documents: what is true now versus what you said at the time. See What a report is.
Why it matters#
Every one of these is the same idea — the model has to be able to hold a commitment and a fact at once without confusing them. When a figure surprises you, the first question is usually which state am I looking at?: a scenario left applied, a project toggled on, or planned hires counted as staff.
Related#
- Add or edit an employee — setting a role's status.
- Base plan, projects & scenarios — the three layers.
- My forecast doesn't look right — when a state is the cause.