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Brand Owner Forecasts Partner Revenue

The brand owner can forecast partner revenue in a number of different ways. In this section, we will look at the following scenarios:

• The brand owner creates a direct quarterly forecast of all partner revenue.
• The brand owner creates a direct annual forecast of revenue for one partner organization.
• The brand owner creates a rollup forecast of annual revenue for one partner organization.

The Brand Owner Creates a Direct Quarterly Forecast of All Partner Revenue

In this scenario, only one person at the brand owner company, typically the channel manager, creates a forecast.

The forecast series in this scenario covers quarterly revenues that have been committed where a partner employee is the primary on the sales team or the partner organization is the primary in the organization field. Forecasts would be run once every month.

This scenario consists of the following steps:

• Step 1. Create a forecast series.
• Step 2. Create forecasts.

Step 1: Creating the forecast series

Before running a forecast, you must create the forecast series. The forecast series defines forecasts covering all committed, quarterly partner revenue.

To create the forecast series

1. Navigate to the Forecast Admin screen.
2. In the Forecast Series list, click the menu button, then click New Record.
3. Enter the following values in the fields of the new record.

   Field	Comment
   Name	A name for the forecast, such as Channel Manager's Quarterly Partner Forecast.
   Auto Forecast Search Spec	([Partner] is not NULL or [Opportunity Primary Organization Partner Flag] = 'Y') and [Committed] = 'Y' and [Calculated Primary Flag] = 'Y'
   Active	checked
   Description	A description of the forecast, such as Channel Manager's Quarterly Partner Forecast - Committed.
   Detail Depth	Summary Only
   View Mode	All Across Organizations
   Interval Period Type	Month
   Interval	1
   Base Period Type	Quarter

4. Click the Forecasts Series Dates tab.
5. In the Forecast Series Dates list, click the menu button, then click New Record.
6. Enter the following values in the fields of the new record.

   Field	Comment
   Forecast Date	The date when you want to begin running forecasts. This may be today's date.
   Description	A description, such as Q1 Partner Forecast.
   Start Date	The start date for the forecast period, such as 1/1/01.
   End Date	The end date for the forecast period, such as 3/31/01.

7. To create additional forecast dates, you can select the record you just created, click the menu button, then click Copy Record. By default, the new forecast date is one month later, and the rest of the fields are the same as in the original record. Repeat this step as many times as you would like: as you repeatedly copy records, the Forecast Date continues to change to later dates. Therefore, you may want to change the Start Date and End Date periods to reflect the time frames of the forecasts you want to generate.
8. Click the Forecast Series Participants view tab, and in the Forecast Series Participants list, click the menu button, then click New Record.

   The Add Participants dialog box appears.

9. In the Add Participants dialog box, use a query to find the channel manager, select the channel manager's record, and click OK.

Step 2: Creating the forecast

Once the forecast series has been set up, you can run the forecast.

To create the forecast

1. Navigate to the Forecasts screen.
2. In the Forecast list, click the menu button, then click New Record.
3. In the Forecast Series field of the new record, select the forecast series you want to use, such as Channel Manager's Quarterly Partner Forecast.
4. In the Forecast Date field, click the select button.
5. In the Pick Forecast Series Date dialog box, select the record with the forecast date you want and click OK.

   The forecast runs.

The Brand Owner Creates a Direct Annual Forecast of Revenue for One Partner Organization

In this scenario, only one person at the brand owner company, typically the channel manager, creates a forecast.

For this forecast, the forecast series defines forecasts that would cover annual revenue of one specific partner (Partner X) and be run once every quarter. The forecast results would provide a running total of forecasted revenues for the year.

You create this forecast series and forecast in the same way that you do in the scenario The Brand Owner Creates a Direct Quarterly Forecast of All Partner Revenue, except that:

• Because this is an annual forecast that will be run on a quarterly basis, you need to set up the Forecast Series Dates accordingly.
• You enter the following values in the fields of the Forecast Series record:

  Field	Comment
  Name	A name for the forecast, such as Channel Manager's Annual Partner X Forecast.
  Auto Forecast Search Spec	([Sale Rep Organization] = 'Partner X' or [Opportunity Primary Organization] = 'Partner X') and [Committed] = 'Y' and [Calculated Primary Flag] = 'Y'
  Description	A description of the forecast, such as Channel Manager's Annual Partner X Forecast - Committed.
  Active	checked
  Detail Depth	Summary Only
  View Mode	All Across Organizations
  Interval Period Type	Quarter
  Interval	1
  Base Period Type	Year

The Brand Owner Creates a Rollup Forecast of Annual Revenue for a Partner Organization

In this scenario, partner employees whose revenues are included in the forecast can run the forecast. In the previous scenarios, only the channel manager could run the forecasts.

This scenario consists of the following steps:

• Step 1. Set up the reporting hierarchy.
• Step 2. Create the forecast series.
• Step 3. Create the forecast.

Step 1: Setting up the reporting hierarchy

In this scenario, forecasts are rolled up through the position hierarchy to the channel manager at the brand owner company. You must set up the position hierarchy so all partner employees whose revenue will be included in the forecast report directly or indirectly to the channel manager at the brand owner company.

The position at the top of the partner company reporting hierarchy, the partner relationship manager, should report to the channel manager at the brand owner company. Partner sales agents whose revenue will be included in the forecast should report directly or indirectly to the partner relationship manager.

You can set up the positions hierarchy using Siebel Partner Manager's Partner Administration Screen, Positions view. For more information about setting up the positions hierarchy, see Applications Administration Guide.

Step 2: Creating the forecast series

The channel manager creates a forecast series that defines forecasts that will cover annual revenue of one specific partner (Partner X) and be run once every month. If you have set up the reporting hierarchy correctly, you can create this forecast series to do a rollup forecast.

To create the forecast series

1. Navigate to the Forecast Admin screen.
2. In the Forecast Series list, click the menu button, then click New Record.
3. Enter the following values in the fields of the new record.

   Field	Comment
   Name	A name for the forecast, such as Rollup Forecast of Annual Partner X Revenue.
   Auto Forecast Search Spec	[Sales Rep Organization] = 'Partner X' and [Committed] = 'Y' and [Calculated Primary Flag] = 'Y'
   Description	A description of the forecast, such as Rollup Forecast of Annual Partner X Revenue - Committed.
   Active	checked
   Detail Depth	Summary Only
   View Mode	My Revenues
   Interval Period Type	Month
   Interval	1
   Base Period Type	Year

4. Click the Forecasts Series Dates tab.
5. In the Forecast Series Dates list, click the menu button, then click New Record.
6. Enter the following values in the fields of the new record.

   Field	Comment
   Forecast Date	The date when you want to begin running forecasts. This may be today's date.
   Description	A description, such as June Rollup Forecast of Annual Partner X Revenue.
   Start Date	The start date for the forecast period, such as 1/1/01.
   End Date	The end date for the forecast period, such as 12/31/01.

7. If you want create additional forecast dates, you can select the record you just created, click the menu button, then click Copy Record. By default, the new forecast date is one month later, and the rest of the fields are the same as in the original record.
8. Click the Forecast Series Participants view tab, and in the Forecast Series Participants list, click the menu button, then click New Record.

   The Add Participants dialog box appears.

9. In the Add Participants dialog box, use a query to find the people in the brand owner and partner organization who would run the forecast. The positions of these people would include Channel Manager, Partner Sales Representative, Partner Sales Manager, and Partner Relationship Manager. Select these people, and click OK.

Step 3: Creating the forecast

Either the channel manager at the brand owner company, or any employee in the partner company who is below the channel manager in the reporting hierarchy, can run the forecast.

In order for the rollup forecast to run logically and to give employees the ability to adjust their forecasts, employees run and roll up forecasts in an order that is inversely related to their rank. The sales representative runs the forecast first, then the sales manager, then the partner relationship manager, and finally, the channel manager.

However, when managers run forecasts, Siebel PRM automatically runs their reports' forecasts, if the report has not already run the forecast.

To create the forecast

1. In Siebel Partner Portal, partner sales representatives (employees with no reports) navigate to the My Forecasts view.
2. The partner sales representative clicks New to create a new forecast.
3. The partner sales representative selects Rollup Forecast of Annual Partner X Revenue as the forecast series name.
4. The partner sales representative selects June Rollup Forecast of Annual Partner X Revenue as the forecast series date.
5. If the partner sales representative wants to adjust any of the revenue amounts that comprise the forecast, the partner sales representative clicks the Details view tab and modifies the revenue amounts.
6. When the partner sales representative is satisfied with the forecast details, the partner sales representative clicks the rollup button.

   The forecast is rolled up to the partner sales representative's manager, the Sales Manager.

7. In the Siebel Partner Portal, the sales manager repeats Step 1 through Step 6, rolling up the forecast to the partner relationship manager.
8. In the Siebel Partner Portal, the partner relationship manager repeats Step 1 through Step 6, rolling up the forecast to the channel manager at the brand owner company.
9. In the Siebel Partner Manager, the channel manager at the brand owner company repeats Step 1 through Step 5.

   The channel manager's final rollup forecast includes information from all of the employees whose revenues contributed to the forecast.