Table 2. New Product Features in Siebel Forecasting Guide, Version 8.0
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Adding Aggregation Levels Adding a Custom Field for Aggregation Viewing the Forecast Summary |
Prior to Oracle's Siebel Sales 8.0, sales representatives and managers could either view forecasted revenue and product quantity line-by-line in the Forecast Detail view or view the total revenues and product quantities for the forecast period. The details were difficult to manage, especially in cases of large numbers of opportunities and the Summary view did not provide enough details. With the new product quantity forecasting functionality, the forecasting administrator can specify fields (dimensions) by which forecasts are aggregated. These fields are used to group the revenues into a hierarchy in the enhanced Summary view of forecasts. For example, users can now view product revenues and quantities grouped by different dimensions such as Product Line or Product. This feature eliminates the need to create multiple forecast series. |
About Forecasting System Preferences |
The information about the Forecast: Auto Forecast and Forecast: User Server Task system preferences has been expanded and clarified. |
Viewing the Forecast Summary |
The Forecast Summary view is enhanced to include the aggregate fields defined for product quantity forecasting. The Summary view now also includes a Tree view tab. |
About Using Units of Measurement in Forecasting Setting Up Units of Measurement Conversion for Forecasting |
Prior to Siebel Sales 8.0, sales teams with global presence who forecast product volume using different units of measurement (UoM) could not easily forecast and properly aggregate the quantity of sales products from individual sales representatives into the manager's forecast. This facility was only possible through extensive customization and Siebel Tools configuration. The new UoM conversion functionality enables sales organizations to forecast product revenues with appropriate UoMs independent of their geographical locations. The administrator can define the UoM used in forecasting and the calculations for conversion to other UoMs. Units of measurement are automatically converted when forecasts are rolled up. |
Setting a Default Unit of Measurement |
For each user, a preferred unit of measurement can be set. |
About Refreshing a Forecast Refreshing a Forecast |
Prior to Siebel Sales 8.0, to incorporate changes from a subordinate's revenues forecasts, sales managers had to manually add the record or delete all related forecasts, including subordinates forecasts, and recreate the entire forecast series. This method leads to loss of valuable adjusted revenue data. Now with the new refresh forecast functionality, sales managers can quickly determine whether subordinate forecasts have changed through automatic refresh forecast alerts. Managers can then automatically refresh all of their forecasts and all of their subordinate's forecasts to incorporate new revenue records that were added by subordinates after the manager created his forecasts. This feature allows sales managers to more accurately and reliably complete the revenue adjustment process without losing valuable adjustment data. |
Adjusting a Detail Depth Forecast Adjusting a Summary Depth Forecast |
In the Forecasts screen > Detail view, the Revenue field is now read-only, so adjustments must be made in the Adjustments field. The detail depth of the forecast determines how a manager can make adjustments to a subordinate's records. If the detail depth is Summary Only, a manager can make adjustments in the Summary view only. If the detail depth is Revenue Detail, a manager can make adjustments in the Detail view only. |
Rejecting a Subordinate's Forecast |
The Forecast screen > Subordinates view is enhanced to include a Reject button to allow managers to reject their subordinates' forecasts. |
Submitting a Forecast |
The Forecast form applet is enhanced with a Submit button to allow submission of forecasts. |
