Two gaps:
one to win the work,
one to deliver it.
Winning the work is only half of budget. The revenue gap tells you whether you will hit the revenue number; the backlog gap tells you whether you can.
Each bar is a project delivering revenue over its life. Today's revenue was sold months ago — and the right-hand side of the year is not yours yet.
How much of next year’s revenue is already signed?
Backlog is signed work you have not delivered — next year's revenue, already won. Watching this forces BD to work far enough ahead of the revenue target so there are no surprises.
Revenue is delivered, not sold
A project won this month recognises revenue across the months it takes to deliver. Nothing you sell today lands in full today.
So next year is already partly decided
The longer the average project, the more of the coming year's revenue has to already be signed. Selling harder in month ten cannot fix month eleven.
The cover you need is a number
Secured work equal to the average project length is the minimum book. Below that line you are relying on deals nobody has won yet.
One number and two teams pulling in opposite directions = a sales machine.
BD and client relations
Wins signed work into backlog. Measured on the backlog gap: how much more secured work is needed to keep delivery fed.
Project management and delivery
Turns backlog into recognised revenue. Measured on the revenue gap: how much more has to be delivered this month to hit budget.
Once the target is set, two gaps are worth measuring.
One asks whether you can hit next year. The other asks whether you will hit this month. They belong to different halves of the business.
The backlog GAP
Backlog is next year’s revenue, so it carries a target of its own. Rolled forward every month, you see the book running thin long before it shows up in revenue.
Nothing operational closes this gap. It is closed only by selling.
The revenue GAP
What the month will actually recognise: work already invoiced, plus secured work being delivered, plus weighted pipeline. What budget it leaves uncovered is the gap.
As the months run out, more of the number rests on pipeline nobody has won yet.
One book, three wins, twelve months.
iA worked example. Average projects here run about nine months, so the book must always hold roughly nine months of delivery — the dashed target. The existing book only ever burns down; three future wins land at months 2, 4 and 7, and none of them delivers evenly. Follow the same colours across both views.
Each win lifts the book the day it is signed, then delivery pulls it back down. Between wins the book only falls — and late in the year it drops through the target: the point where winning work stops being optional.
The same three wins, delivering unevenly — a strong month here, a thin one there. While the book is deep, the stack clears the budget line; as it thins, monthly revenue sags below budget. The backlog view predicts it; the revenue view is where it lands.
The key roles that need this number.
Which deals must we win, and have we got the resource to land and deliver them?
A named mandate, not a vague target: these awards, at this value, by this date —to close this gap.
Have we got the capacity to deliver the revenue, where can we push or pull to utilise capacity?
The early warning sign of revenue coming down or the que to build and maximise profits.
See the GAP on real numbers.
The actual forecast: backlog, pipeline and the gap to budget, laid out the way you'd work it. Switch between divisions, and click any CRM line to see the deals behind it.
Real Meridian figures, shown the way you'd work them. The formulas that build the forecast run in the background, which is the part doing the work and the part you don't see here.
See your GAP in one session.
Bring a CSV of your pipeline and budget, and we'll show you the gap on your own numbers.
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