A board plan is the revenue number in the approved operating plan, and it is the number a company reports against at every board meeting. An internal plan is the larger number the sales organization runs on, carried through quota assignments and capacity models. Both come out of the same planning work. They differ because they answer different questions. The board plan says what the company will be held to. The internal plan says what has to be sold for the board number to survive normal execution losses.
Why the two numbers exist
Set quota equal to the board number and the company misses the board number the first time a rep resigns, a territory sits open for a quarter, or a new hire ramps behind schedule. Sales capacity gets planned against a number above plan so predictable shortfalls still land on target. Finance builds spend against the board plan. Sales builds coverage against the internal plan.
How the gap gets sized
The gap covers losses you can already estimate: unstarted ramp, open territories, attrition, and the share of reps who will finish under quota. Take last year's attainment distribution, apply expected attrition to the roster you actually have, and the required internal number is arithmetic. Companies that pick the buffer by instinct get one of two outcomes. Quota lands so high that reps stop believing in it, or the buffer is too thin to absorb one weak quarter.
Reporting against both without confusing the board
Two habits keep the distinction clean.
- The board plan holds still all year. A sales forecast moves as conditions move. The plan does not, which is what makes the year measurable. - The internal plan moves when the roster moves. When a hiring class slips a quarter, quota capacity slips with it, and the board hears that as a risk to the plan rather than as a revision of it.
Where the two numbers collide
Trouble shows up when sales clears the internal number in one segment and misses badly in another, or when the pipeline behind the internal plan is not real. Coverage against a stretch number proves nothing by itself. ORM's Pete Furseth puts the standard range at 3x to 5x, with most ORM customers near 3.5x, and pipeline coverage inside that band still misses when the pipeline is aged or valued above what deals close for. Grade forecast accuracy against the board plan and grade quota attainment against the internal plan. Mixing the two hides which one broke.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do SaaS companies run two revenue plans?
Because quota set equal to the board number leaves no room for the losses every sales organization takes. Reps leave, territories sit open, new hires ramp slower than the model assumed, and a share of the team lands under quota. The internal plan absorbs those losses so the board number still gets hit.
How big should the gap between the board plan and the internal plan be?
Size it from your own attainment distribution and roster risk rather than picking a round percentage. Apply expected attrition to the headcount you actually have, layer in ramp time for open seats, and the required internal number falls out of the arithmetic. A buffer set by feel produces either an unreachable quota or one thin enough that a single bad quarter breaks the plan.
Which number should the board see?
Report performance against the board plan. Directors approved that number and every variance discussion should tie back to it. The internal plan belongs in the operating review where it explains quota assignments and coverage decisions, and it can appear in an appendix if the board asks how quota was set.
Should the board plan change mid-year?
No. The forecast updates as conditions change, and the plan stays as approved. Restating the plan to match a weaker forecast erases the baseline directors signed off on and removes any way to judge whether the year is on track. If the plan is genuinely unreachable, the board decides that explicitly, in a meeting, on the record.
Put these metrics to work
ORM builds custom revenue forecast models that turn concepts like board plan vs internal plan into prescriptive action for your team.
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