# Sales forecast and labor budget

See each day's projected sales from your POS history next to the weather, adjust the projection, and compare it with scheduled labor and your weekly labor budget.

For: Managers, Admins · On: Web · [Help Center](https://www.mays.app/help) › [Scheduling](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling) · Last updated October 3, 2026 · Mays Team

The **Forecast** page projects each day's sales from your point-of-sale history, so you can staff to demand. Set a weekly labor budget on the schedule and Mays tells you when you go over it.

**Where:** **Scheduling → Forecast**, on the web. It shows the location picked at the bottom of the sidebar, one week at a time.

**You need a connected POS.** Projections come from the sales your **Square** or **Union** account sends to Mays — see [Connecting Square](https://www.mays.app/help/integrations/connect-square). When you connect, Mays brings in the location's last 30 days of sales in the background and then collects new sales as they come in, so the first projections use those four weeks and fill out over the next few. To bring in older sales (up to 90 days), write to support — **Backfill payments** on the Square card brings in payments, not the sales the forecast uses.

## Read the forecast

![The Forecast page for North, Sep 21 – Sep 27, 2026: the Sales forecast card with Projected $13,793, Actual $4,425 and Projected labor % 9.7%, and a row per day with the weather (such as 85°/76° and a 59% chance of rain), Projected sales, Actual sales for Monday to Wednesday, and Basis Auto · 8 wks, with Friday's $2,600 marked Edited](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__sales-forecast-and-labor-budget__01-forecast.9296c7eabe.png)

The **Sales forecast** card shows one row per day:

| Column | What it shows |
| --- | --- |
| **Weather** | The forecast high and low (°F) and, when it's 30% or more, the chance of rain. Hover for the conditions. |
| **Projected sales** | What Mays expects you to sell that day. |
| **Actual sales** | What you've sold, for past days and today so far. |
| **Basis** | **Auto · 8 wks** — how many past weeks the projection uses; **Edited** — someone typed it in; **No history** — no sales on that weekday yet. |

At the top: the week's **Projected** and **Actual** totals, and **Projected labor %** — the labor cost of the shifts on the schedule (drafts included) as a share of projected sales.

**How it projects:** the average of the same weekday over the last 8 weeks, with recent weeks counting more. Sales are before tax and tips; cancelled orders don't count. Weather doesn't change the numbers, and neither do holidays — adjust those days yourself.

## Change a day's projection

Expecting a busy Friday, or a quiet holiday?

1. Click the day's amount under **Projected sales**.
2. Type the new amount and press **Enter** (**Esc** cancels).

The day is marked **Edited**, and everyone at the location sees your number. To go back to the automatic projection, click **Edited**.

**Without POS history you can't enter projections.** The page says *No POS sales history yet… You can still type projections in manually below*, but there are no day rows to type into. Connect Square or Union first.

![The Forecast page for a location without POS history: the Sales forecast card with Projected $0 and the message No POS sales history yet. Connect Square and sync a few weeks of sales, then projections appear here automatically. You can still type projections in manually below.](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__sales-forecast-and-labor-budget__02-no-pos-history.34a4c3ae48.png)

## Unit forecast

For stores that staff by item count — smoothies, bowls, coffees — the **Unit forecast** card shows how many of chosen items sell each hour.

1. Click **Select items**, tick the products that count as a unit, and click **Save**. The list comes from your Square item library for that location.
2. Pick a day to see **Projected units**, **Actual units** and the **Peak hour**, with an hourly chart of actual and projected sales.

It needs Square — Union locations can't pick items yet. When you move to another week, pick the day again: the day list changes, but the chart stays on the day you had.

## Set a weekly labor budget

The budget lives on the schedule, not the Forecast page.

1. Go to **Scheduling → Schedule** and the week you're building.
2. On the **Weekly budget** card, click **Set** (or **Edit**), type an amount and press **Enter** or click **Save**.

The card says **within budget** or turns amber with **over budget** when the **Scheduled labor** total goes over. A budget covers one week at one location — set it again for each week. Clear the box to remove it.

The **Labor %** card on the schedule is different from the Forecast's **Projected labor %**: it compares scheduled labor with the week's **actual** Square payments, so it only has a number once the week is under way, and only with Square. See [Building the weekly schedule](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/build-the-schedule).

## Good to know

- **Labor costs come from wages.** Set pay on each person or position — see [Positions and wages](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/positions-and-wages).
- **Weeks far ahead** (more than about 8 weeks out) show the *No POS sales history yet* message even with history.
- **The auto-scheduler doesn't use the forecast or the budget** — it copies last week. See [Auto-schedule with AI](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/auto-scheduler).
- **Scheduling → Reports → Actuals** compares projected and actual sales day by day — see [Scheduling reports](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/scheduling-reports).
- **Who can change it:** managers for their own locations, and admins. Anyone else who can open the schedule sees the page, but their changes don't save. Scheduling is part of the **Pro** plan; the forecast is on the web only.

## Related articles

- Scheduling: [Building the weekly schedule](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/build-the-schedule) — Build a location's week on the web — add, move, copy and edit shifts, add open shifts, and keep an eye on time off, availability and labor cost while you work.
- Integrations: [Connecting Square](https://www.mays.app/help/integrations/connect-square) — Connect each store's Square account so Mays gets its sales, payments, tips and refunds, sold-out items and team. Admins and managers can connect; one Square location per Mays location.
- Integrations: [Connecting Union POS](https://www.mays.app/help/integrations/connect-union-pos) — Connect a store's Union POS with the API key and client ID from Union, and Mays brings in its sales every 10 minutes. One client ID covers one venue and one Mays location.
- Scheduling: [Scheduling reports](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/scheduling-reports) — Ten ready-made reports on sales, labor, hours, overtime, time off, attendance, the shift pool and tips — for any date range, one location at a time, with CSV export.
- Scheduling: [Positions and wages](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/positions-and-wages) — Create the jobs people work — Barista, Cashier, Line Cook — with a colour and a default hourly wage, give people their positions and pay, and see where Mays uses them.
- Integrations: [Integrations overview](https://www.mays.app/help/integrations/integrations-overview) — What Mays connects to — Square, 7shifts, Union POS, Google Business, Govee thermometers, Dropbox and Google Drive — who can connect them, and how to check, sync or disconnect a connection.
- Scheduling: [Auto-schedule with AI](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/auto-scheduler) — Let Mays build a week's draft schedule from last week — working around time off, availability, notes and weekly hours — then fine-tune it by chatting with the assistant.

## Still need help?

Send us a support request and a real person on the Mays team will get back to you.

[Contact support](https://www.mays.app/contact?topic=support) · [Call +1 (561) 286-3939](tel:+15612863939)

Canonical: https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/sales-forecast-and-labor-budget