Salesforce Forecastuser Cheatsheet
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USING CUSTOMIZABLE FORECASTS
Note Customizable Forecasting is scheduled for retirement for all customers as of Summer
After the feature is retired users cant access the Customizable Forecasting feature and its underlying
data We encourage you to migrate to Collaborative Forecasts For more information see
Customizable Forecasting Will Be Retired in the Summer Release The following information
applies to Customizable Forecasting and not Collaborative Forecasts
Setting Your Quota
Users with the Edit Personal Quota permission can set their forecast quota for any quarter month
or product family and change their quota at any time Changes you make to your quota are immediately
available on your forecast
If you do not have the Edit Personal Quota permission your administrator can set your quota But
regardless of your user permissions administrators can always edit any quota and users can always
edit the quotas of users that report directly to them
Tip Go to your personal information page in your personal settings In the Quotas related list select
a forecast period and click Edit
Viewing Forecasts
Forecast Sharing
If enabled by your
administrator and set up
in the forecast hierarchy
you can manually share
your forecast with
another user
Click Sharing on the
forecast home page to
share your own forecast
data
Heres a quick review of forecasting terms
Term
Description
Direct Report
A person who reports to you in the role hierarchy
Subordinate
All of your direct reports including their direct reports
Forecast History
An audit trail of your forecast submissions Use the Forecast History report to
get a quick view of this data
Users can view their own forecasts by clicking the Forecasts tab Initially your name appears in the
title bar and above the Find a Forecast label in the user interface Users with the appropriate permissions
can click the magnifying glass icon and select another user or role to view that persons forecast
When viewing any forecast you can control the forecast period at the top of the page Select a Range
Start and Range Length to view forecasts for the selected period Forecast details for opportunities
that closed more than two years before you implemented customizable forecasting or more than
years in the future are not available
If you have subordinates forecast information for your direct reports displays below your forecast
The Choose a view option allows you to change the way forecast information is displayed for
your direct reports Use this option to group forecast data by subordinate or forecast period
When grouping by subordinate click View next to any name to view the forecast of that user
Last updated March
Using Customizable Forecasts
Understanding Forecast Categories
When grouping by period click on a subordinates name to view the forecast of that user
Click any amount to see opportunities and forecast overrides that make up that amount
Tip
Your forecasts always list the forecasts of your direct reports
Click the name of a direct report or click View to view his or her forecast
Understanding Forecast Categories
Each of your opportunities has a Stage picklist value that automatically maps to a Forecast
Category value When you change the stage of an opportunity the forecast category of that opportunity
is automatically set The forecast category determines what column in your forecast will include the
opportunity amount and if the amount contributes to your forecast at all
The following table summarizes the forecast categories
Category
Description
Omitted
The amount does not contribute to your forecast
Pipeline
Open opportunities in the beginning stages of the sales process
Best Case
Likely to commit These amounts are also reflected in the Pipeline category
Commit
Almost closed These amounts are also reflected in Best Case and Pipeline
categories
Closed
Closed and won deals These amounts are also reflected in Commit and Best
Case categories
For example if the Forecast Category is Omitted that opportunity amount will not contribute
to your forecast If the Forecast Category is Commit that opportunity amount is listed in the
Commit value of your forecast
A forecast category might not map to a single opportunity Stage picklist value In some cases several
opportunity stages map to the same forecast category For example the Prospecting Qualification
and Needs Analysis opportunity stages may map to the Pipeline forecast category
Consult your administrator about how your opportunity stages map to forecast categories
Review the forecast categories in the sidebar before you begin using customizable forecasts
Overriding Forecasts
To make your forecast a more realistic representation of your forecasted sales you may want to override
an amount of an opportunity in your forecast All users can override opportunity forecasts but only users
with the Override Forecasts permission can override their own forecasts as well as those of their direct
reports on the forecast
The following table explains the override status icons
Using Customizable Forecasts
Overriding Forecasts
Icon
Description
Opportunity has been updated since an override
A subordinate of yours has overridden the forecast
A person who reports directly to you has overridden the forecast
You have overridden the forecast
The forecast data is not uptodate Refresh your browser in a few minutes
Override Opportunities
To override an individual opportunity in a forecast click Opportunities on the lower section on
the Forecasts tab to view a list of forecastrelated opportunities Then click Edit to modify a specific
opportunity When available select an Override checkbox to make changes to the associated
field If the opportunity has products check the appropriate Change Category box to change
the forecast for that product The opportunity is now marked with the appropriate icon indicating
its status
Override Your Forecast
To override your entire forecast click Forecasts on the lower section of the Forecasts tab For
each amount you want to override click the corresponding edit icon
In the popup window
select the option you want included in your forecast and click Save The forecast amount is now
marked with an icon indicating its status Similar icons display for users who report to you and
indicate if a direct report or subordinate further down the role hierarchy overrode the amount
Click Forecast Summary to return to your forecast
Override Forecasts of Direct Reports
To override the forecasts of your direct reports click Forecasts on the lower section of the Forecasts
tab For each subordinates forecast you wish to override click the corresponding edit icon
Choose one of the override options
John Does forecast override Use this option to accept the forecast override that your direct report
has made
John Does forecast without overrides Use this option to ignore the immediate override but
include an override made by someone further down the chain
John Does forecast without any overrides Use this option to ignore all forecastlevel overrides
but include opportunitylevel overrides if you have provided them your own opportunity forecasts
are used in this calculation Choose this option if you want forecast amounts to be based on opportunity
amounts including overrides made at the opportunity level
My override of John Does forecast Use this option to enter an amount to replace the current
amount in your forecast Your manager will see this amount in your forecast but your subordinates
will not
Using Customizable Forecasts
Submitting Forecasts
Submitting Forecasts
Your forecast data is always available to users above you in the role hierarchy including your manager
and his or her managers But submitting your forecast makes a snapshot of your forecast data available
in your forecast history and in forecast reports
To submit a forecast click Submit on the forecast summary page and confirm the submission
Manually Sharing Forecasts
Your administrator defines your organizations forecasting hierarchy which determines which users can
view the forecast data However your administrator can manually extend sharing privileges for forecast
data and you may be able to manually extend sharing privileges for your own forecast data as well Manual
forecast sharing can only increase access to forecast data it cannot restrict access for users who already
have access To manually share a forecast you must be an administrator or a forecast manager who has
been given access to share your forecast data
If you organization uses manual forecast sharing on the Forecast home page click Sharing to view
the forecast sharing settings or to share the forecast with other users
Manual sharing extends to the opportunity data that makes up the forecast If a user has permission
to override forecast data then the user also has permission to override the opportunity forecast data
