Connecting a health check to Your Forecast
When you link a business health check to a Performance Forecast, your strategic findings are cross-referenced with what your metric data actually shows — producing a narrative that closes the loop between strategy and numbers.
Why Connect Them?
A forecast without strategic context explains what is happening. A linked forecast explains why — and what to do about it.
Most businesses run a business health check and a performance review separately — as two disconnected exercises. The health check identifies risks and opportunities in strategic terms. The forecast shows the numbers trending up or down. But the connection between the two is left to the reader to make manually, which often means it doesn't get made at all.
Linking a health check to a forecast gives the platform both pictures at once, so it can make those connections explicitly in the narrative — naming the specific health check item that a metric trend confirms, challenges, or amplifies.
Strategic context meets data
The platform receives your full health check grid — all four quadrants with confidence scores and rationale — alongside the regression results, and reasons across both before writing the narrative.
Specific, not generic
Instead of "costs are trending upward," the narrative can say "the upward cost trend confirms the 'no supplier contracts' weakness identified in your March health check — this risk is now showing in the numbers." Named, specific, actionable.
Validate or challenge the health check
The data sometimes contradicts what the health check predicted. The narrative will flag where a metric trend challenges a health check assumption — giving you an early signal that something has changed since the analysis was run.
What Changes in the Narrative
The same forecast data. Two very different narratives.
"Cost-per-unit is trending upward at 3.2% per month. If this continues, gross margin will compress to approximately 18% by Q4, down from the current 26%. This is the most significant risk in the forecast period. We recommend reviewing supplier agreements and identifying cost reduction opportunities."
"Cost-per-unit is trending upward at 3.2% per month — this directly validates the 'no long-term supplier contracts' weakness flagged in your February health check (confidence: 85%). That analysis identified supplier negotiation as a High-priority action; the data now makes it urgent. Margin compression to ~18% by Q4 is the likely outcome if this action remains unaddressed."
The underlying metric data is identical. The difference is context.
How to Use It
Run a health check first
The dropdown only shows completed health check analyses. If you haven't run one yet, start there — a business health check gives you the strategic layer that makes the forecast connection meaningful.
Upload your CSV
On the forecast upload form, you'll see a "Connect a Business Health Check" dropdown listing your completed analyses by title and date. Select the one most relevant to the business and time period your CSV covers.
Read the richer narrative
When your forecast completes, the AI narrative will reference specific health check items by name where the data supports a connection. The standard forecast sections (headline, highlights, risks, recommendations) remain — they're just richer.
Questions
Do I have to link a health check? What if I skip it?
Completely optional. If you don't select a health check, the forecast runs exactly as it always has — regression, confidence bands, charts, and an AI narrative based on the metric data and your accumulated business memory. The health check link adds depth; it doesn't change the standard output.
Which health check should I link — my most recent one, or the most relevant one?
The most relevant one. If you ran a health check on a specific division or product line that your CSV covers, link that one — even if it's older. A more specific health check produces more specific cross-references than a generic recent one. The dropdown shows the date of each analysis so you can judge recency.
Does linking a health check cost extra?
No. The health check context is injected into the same forecast narrative prompt — it's part of the standard 55-credit forecast run. The health check you link already used its own credits when you ran it. There's no additional cost for connecting them.
What if my health check is old? Will it still be useful?
It depends on how much has changed. A health check from six months ago is often still relevant — structural weaknesses and strategic threats don't change overnight. The analysis date is noted in the narrative so the connection is transparent. If the health check is genuinely stale, running a fresh one before the forecast is the better approach.
Will it always reference the health check, or only when relevant?
Only when the data supports a genuine connection. The platform is designed to name health check items directly where the metric trends confirm, challenge, or amplify them — not to force a connection where one doesn't exist. If your metrics and health check items don't overlap meaningfully, the narrative will focus on the data and note the health check context separately.
Ready to connect your strategy to your numbers?
Run a business health check, then link it to your next forecast — and see the difference in the narrative.
AI-assisted strategic perspectives — not authoritative business advice. Always validate with qualified professionals.