Bookshelf v7.8: Creating Search Specs for Forecast Series

The following section describes how to build an Auto Forecast Search Spec and an Associate Search Spec.

Auto Forecast Search Spec and Associate Search Spec

The Auto Forecast Search Spec determines which revenue line items are automatically copied into the forecast when it is created. The Associate Search Spec determines which revenue line items can be manually added to the forecast by the sales representative after the forecast has been created. The Auto Forecast Search Spec and the Associate Search Spec can vary from one forecast series to another, and may be based on revenue type, revenue class, probability, or any other field on the revenue record. The end user sees the results of the Associate Search Spec displayed as a list of records in the Add New Records pop-up on the Forecast Details form.

The Auto Forecast Search Spec uses the same syntax and grammar that the Associated Search Spec uses. However, it is usually more restrictive in scope. For example, you can create a forecast series with the following search specifications:

Auto Forecast Search Spec: ([Revenue Type] = 'Shipped' or [Revenue Type] = 'Booked') and [Committed] = 'Y'

In this example, the end user can manually copy into the forecast any revenue record with a Revenue Class of Shipped or Booked, whether it is committed or not. However, the automatically included forecast details only include revenue records that were actually marked as committed.

As in this example, typically the Associate Search Spec is slightly less restrictive than the Auto Forecast Search Spec, allowing end users to copy into their forecast some revenue records that did not meet the more restrictive Auto Forecast Search Spec criteria.

Table 5. Common Forecast Search Specs
Search Spec	Comments
[Committed] = 'Y'	Allows the end user to add committed revenue records.
[Committed] = 'Y' and ([Revenue Type] = 'Shipped' or [Revenue Type] = 'Booked')	Allows the end user to add committed revenue records with Revenue Types of Shipped or Booked.
[Calculated Primary Flag] = 'Y'	Allows the end user to add only primary revenue records into the forecast. Each opportunity has one primary revenue record associated with it. The primary revenue line includes the revenue amount for the opportunity as a whole. The opportunity can have other revenue records, but those line items have [Calculated Primary Flag] set to null or 'N'.
[Partner] is NULL	Allows the end user to manually add revenue records in which the Partner field is null.
[Product] is NULL	Allows the end user to manually add revenue records in which the Product field is null.

NOTE: Test the search spec before deploying the forecast. To test the search spec, navigate to the Revenues screen and create a new query. Type or paste the exact search spec into the Description field in the query and then run the query to see if it delivers the correct results.