ReThink ReBudget: Forecasting.ai for annual labour budgets

ReThink integrated Forecasting.ai into ReBudget Online so customers can generate consistent, 12‑month forecasts by location and use them to produce labour budgets (hours + cost) to allow better budgeting.

At a glance

Partner: ReThink Productivity
Best for SaaS vendors in: Budgeting & Forecasting, POS analytics, workload/labour planning tools
Engine embedded: Forecasting.ai
Forecast horizon: 12 months
Signals supported: sales, transactions, footfall, delivered item, covers, holidays, major events. Future development will include ideal contracts, labour turnover
Integration approach: API connectors (online edition)
Measured impact: 12‑month MAPE 17% → 9% (forecast baseline quality improvement)

The product challenge

seasonal patterns and local variation matter,
manual “best guess” methods slow cycles and reduce confidence,
building an in-house ML function increases cost and maintenance burden.

The engine-powered solution

ReThink embedded Forecasting.ai into ReBudget Online to generate multiple yearly forecasts per location, which ReBudget then converts into budgets by applying labour standards. Outputs can be exported back to WFM systems as weekly or daily hours and cost budgets.

Partner positioning (explicit): Forecasting.ai is an engine partners can embed — allowing budgeting/POS vendors to offer forecasting without having to maintain model pipelines internally.

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Implementation & productisation notes

Workflow: ingest historical demand signals → generate forecast baseline → apply labour standards → publish budgets/scenarios.
Online edition first (cloud workflow).
API connectors used for customer data feeds; integration effort is typically a few days per customer.
Forecasting accuracy improvements were validated at the 12‑month horizon (important for budget planning).

Outcomes

Forecast baseline improved: 12‑month MAPE reduced from ~17% to ~9%.
Customers can generate annual budgets more confidently, with a repeatable process across sites and categories.

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Partner playbook (what to copy)

Forecasting is a wedge feature for budgeting/workload planning tools.
Package outcomes, not models: “faster budgets”, “more confident plans”, “scenario-ready”.
Build once, scale broadly: connectors + standard forecast outputs unlock repeatable deployments.

Partner context

ReThink Productivity are the leading productivity consultancy, working companies across the world measuring (Time & Motion studies) productivity, operational improvement and benchmarking. ReThink created ReBudget: a workload and salary tool designed by budgeters, for budgeters. It brings the usability and capability you expect from modern business systems to the most critical part of your operation. ReBudget works in all sectors including retail, hospitality, manufacturing, logistics and service operations. ReBudget is used primarily as a head office planning tool to build annual budgets per location, using workload (labour) standards and labour logic rules such as minimum manning.

Quote

“Productivity improvements compound. Better forecasts make it easier to build realistic budgets and allocate resources. Partnering let us ship faster and avoid building a specialist data science function in-house.”

— Leadership, ReThink Productivity

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TL;DR

ReThink embedded Forecasting.ai into ReBudget Online, improved 12‑month forecast baseline accuracy (MAPE ~17% → ~9%), and enabled exports of daily hours/cost budgets back into WFM.

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