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Custom Forecasting Object
We are interested in using SFC for Forecasting, however the current Forecasting processes in SFC do not meet our needs (standard or customized). The key issue at hand is that we would like our users to be able to override the forecast amounts by month for each opportunity rather than at a roll-up level. This would allow us to extract the Opportunity and related forecast data out of SFC for analysis through an OLAP tool (or even pumping back into a custom object in SFC to use their Dashboards/Reports).
I put together a rough idea of what I thought this might look like (image below). My thought was that this could be done as an SForce Control (not sure what language is best) embedded in tab. The object would by default just list open opportunities (based on predefined criteria) for the current logged in user.
Does this make sense? If so, does anyone have an idea of what it would take to build something like this?
Thanks,
Mike Smith
I put together a rough idea of what I thought this might look like (image below). My thought was that this could be done as an SForce Control (not sure what language is best) embedded in tab. The object would by default just list open opportunities (based on predefined criteria) for the current logged in user.
Does this make sense? If so, does anyone have an idea of what it would take to build something like this?
Thanks,
Mike Smith
This is an issue my company will also be facing soon as we need to forecast revenue profiles on the opportunities. Some possible approaches that don't involve extra development (assuming customizable forecasting):
1. If you set forecasting period to month (rather than FQ), users can override period at the opportunity level, thus changing the forecast month without changing the close date.
2. Users can set Product Date on each product, so if a user entered three product lines (for the same or different products), s/he could set different product dates so the revenue fell in different months.
3. You could use Revenue Schedules. You could set the default schedule to your modal revenue pattern, letting users override this for other patterns.
4. You could set up custom fields where users or sales managers enter % of deal value on milestones or dates and use these to calculate amounts for the month buckets.
Scott Fletcher
Thanks for the reply. I forgot to mention that we use Products for the revenue stream capability. However, for us that information is meant to identify the expected Revenue Recognition schedule for the opportunity (we're a service organization). We currently forecast using that schedule as a starting point. So, for each opportunity by each month (working with the current and next quarter only) we ask the Account Manager to forecast their gut feeling for revenue. For example, an opportunity may have $75K scheduled for June (using the product date), but based on the current stage and what they know about the client they may feel that $55K is a more reasonable forecast (i.e. what they can commit to).
We currently do this process in Excel, but it's very limited because it's not possible to extract the pipeline/forecast data along with opportunity details (industry, client, etc.) into another reporting tool, mainly because that data doesn't exist. Ideally, management would like to be able to use an OLAP reporting tool of some kind to slice/dice the forecast data by account manager, industry, client, region, etc.
I'd really like to find a way to allow our users to enter their forecasts while in SFC, this way they stick to the same tool they use for managing the opportunities. It also adds value to SFC (forecasting outside of SFC implies that SFC does not support forecasts). Too bad I don't know how to program with Ajax.
Thanks,
Mike
David Claiborne was the developer for this application and a few more since then. He can be contacted at claiborne at claico.com (replace 'at' with @).
Mike