Ledgers

In this section, we’ll cover one of the core building blocks of the software—Ledgers.

In whatifi, ledgers are more than just a way to track finances—they serve as flexible containers for any time-series data, from income and expenses to customers, inventory, resources, and even KPIs. Ledgers organize and store the outcomes of your business events, providing an easy way to view and analyze the data that drives your scenarios.

A ledger in whatifi is a system used to record, track, and organize data over time. While it may resemble traditional accounting ledgers (tracking income, expenses, etc.), whatifi’s ledger system extends beyond finances. You can use ledgers to track customer counts, inventory levels, resource utilization (like employees or CPU cycles), and other key performance indicators.

When you start using whatifi, the platform comes pre-loaded with a default set of top-level ledgers, such as Income, Expense, Assets, Liabilities, and Customers. You can create additional custom ledgers nested under these top-level categories to organize your data in a way that best suits your business model.

Some events—like the Customer Event—automatically generate ledgers for you, and come with predefined sub-ledgers, saving you time and ensuring consistency in how data is tracked. For instance, if you set up a customer event, whatifi will create the necessary sub-ledgers, such as New Customers and Returning Customers, under the main Customer ledger.

While ledgers are flexible, the way you structure them at the beginning is important. Some decisions, especially regarding resources (such as employees, inventory, or other assets that are utilized over time), can be more challenging to change later. The Resource Ledger is an example of this. Resources can represent various elements of your business—like staff hours, product inventory, or machine capacity—and many downstream calculations use the structure of the resource ledger to determine how they perform calculations. Setting up your resources correctly will ensure that your business model accurately reflects how these assets are utilized over time.

By setting up your ledgers thoughtfully, whatifi helps you track the right data from the start, offering the flexibility to manage both financial and non-financial metrics in a way that aligns with your unique business needs.