Base Scenarios

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Base Scenario Behavior

Every organization in Pluvo has one Base Scenario—your financial source of truth. Other scenarios are branches created from the base that inherit everything by default, unless a change is made. This model gives you power and flexibility: change only what’s different, and let the rest stay in sync.

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How Scenario Inheritance Works

When you create a new scenario:

• It clones the Base Scenario
• All variable definitions are linked to the Base
• Changes in the Base will automatically propagate to all scenarios—unless a variable or cell has been overridden

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Linked vs.

De-Linked Variables and Cells

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Editing a Variable

If you edit a variable’s formula in a non-base scenario:

• That variable becomes fully de-linked
• It no longer inherits any updates from the Base
• If you delete the changes to a de-linked variable, the link to base will be restored.

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Editing a Cell

If you change a single cell (within a variable) in a scenario:

• Only that cell becomes de-linked
• The rest of the variable remains linked to the Base
• Future changes in the Base will apply to all non-de-linked cells

This behavior applies to both forecast and actuals definitions—you can override either on a cell-by-cell basis.

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Example Walkthrough

You have a variable called Engineer Salary in both your Base and Optimistic scenarios.

• In the Base Scenario, salary is $10,000/month
• In the Optimistic Scenario, you increase the April salary to $12,000 by editing a single cell
• That April cell is now de-linked
• It appears highlighted blue
• If you later change the base salary to $11,000:
• All months except April update in the Optimistic Scenario
• April stays at $12,000 (it’s de-linked)

You can override as little or as much of a variable as needed, giving you surgical control without needing to fully de-link everything.

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Quick Reference:

What Happens When… | Action | Result | | ---------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | | Edit a variable in Base | All linked variables in other scenarios update | | Edit a full variable in a scenario | That variable becomes fully de-linked | | Edit a single cell in a scenario | That cell becomes de-linked (blue highlight) | | Edit a de-linked variable in Base | No impact on scenarios where that variable is de-linked | | Edit a de-linked cell in Base | No impact on that cell; others may still update |

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Global Behaviors

Some actions affect all scenarios, regardless of link status: | Action | Applies to All Scenarios | | ------------------------------------- | ------------------------ | | Creating or deleting variables | ✅ Yes | | Changing variable structure (folders) | ✅ Yes | | Editing actuals logic | ✅ Yes (unless de-linked) |

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Best Practices

• Use full variable edits for structural or logic changes
• Use cell overrides when modeling point-in-time differences (bonuses, late payments, etc.)
• Watch for blue-highlighted cells to track where scenario logic diverges
• Avoid de-linking unnecessarily—linked variables are easier to maintain

For more on how to roll scenario changes back into the Base, see Merging Scenarios.