Bookshelf v7.5: Creating a Forecast Series (Administrator)

Siebel Forecasting Guide > Forecasting Setup >

Creating a Forecast Series (Administrator)

The following procedure explains how to create a forecast series.

To create a forecast series

From the application-level menu, choose View > Site Map > Forecast Administration > Forecast Administration.

In the More Info form, click New.

Fill in the fields, using the following table as a guide.


Field Name	Comments
Name	Typically gives some insight as to how the forecast series is used, what the forecast series includes, or how often it is run.
Auto Forecast Search Spec	Determines which revenue items are automatically included when a forecast is created. If a query is not specified here, then the sales representative's revenue records (within the applicable date range) are included in the forecast. For more information, see Auto Forecast Search Spec and Associate Search Spec.
Associate Search Spec	The filter that is applied to the Add New Records list on the Forecast Details view. This field determines which revenue items the end user can manually add to a forecast. For more information, see Auto Forecast Search Spec and Associate Search Spec.
Rollup Search Spec	Indicates which detail records are included in the forecast summary amounts. The Rollup 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 forecast detail record. Tip: For Rollup Search Spec to pull in fields, the field needs to come from the Forecast 2000 -- Forecast Item Detail flat business component, not revenue. For example, the committed spec is [Commit] = `Y'.
Active	Indicates whether the forecast series is available for forecasting purposes to anyone listed in the Forecast Series Participants list on the dates indicated on the Forecast Series Dates list. By default, this box is checked.
Detail Depth	Choices are: Revenue Detail and Summary Only. Determines whether the user's forecast details are copied into the manager's forecast or simply summarized in a set total. The default value for this field, Summary Only, is the recommended setting for most customers.
Visibility	This is the visibility mode applied to the revenue table in the selection of forecast records. Choices are: My Revenues, My Team's Revenues, All, and All Across Organizations. (These views are described in Table 3.) The default value for this field is My Revenues.
Public Access	Read-only. When checked, allows each employee within the selected organization to access the forecast and create a forecast. It is only selected when an organization is added.
Interval	When used in conjunction with the Interval Period Type field, this field determines the default amount of time that passes between forecasts of a given series. The default interval is 1, meaning that forecasts in this series have an interval of one unit of time indicated by the Interval Period Type.
Interval Period Type	The type of forecast interval period (includes Day, Week, Month, Year, and Quarter). The default type is Month.
Summary Period Type	Determines the buckets into which revenues are aggregated for each forecast in this series. Choices are based on period types and may include periods from a day to a year. The default type is Month, meaning that the Forecast Summary view shows monthly totals.

Add dates and participants.

For instructions, see Defining Forecast Series Dates (Administrator) and Adding Forecast Series Participants (Administrator).

Table 3. Forecast Visibility
Visibility	Description
My Revenues	This mode allows the forecast access only to records assigned to the sales representative who owns the revenues that are included in the forecast. My Revenues is used for standard forecasts.
My Team's Revenues	This mode allows the forecast access to each revenue record attributed to the end user's subordinates. This mode is recommended for departmental or group forecasts in which a manager wants a snapshot of the revenues attributed to their department or group. Use caution when using the My Team's Revenues setting; limit the number of participants to only one level of the forecast tree (that is, only directors or only VPs or only first level managers). If a manager and a subordinate are both listed as participants in a forecast series with this setting, the subordinate's revenue records are counted at least twice: once at the subordinate level and then a second time at the manager's level, and so on up the tree for every level in which there is a participant listed.
All	This mode allows the forecast access to each revenue record within the organization. This mode is recommended for organizational snapshots, in which just one person (typically an administrator) creates one forecast with a snapshot of each forecastable revenue record within that organization.
All Across Organizations	This mode allows the forecast access to each revenue record in the Siebel database, across all organizations. This mode is recommended for global snapshots, in which just one person (typically an administrator) creates one forecast with a snapshot of each forecastable revenue record within the Siebel database.

NOTE: A hybrid forecast uses My Revenues and My Team's Revenues simultaneously by adjusting the Visibility field in the Forecast Series Participants view. For more information about hybrid forecasts, see Creating a Hybrid Forecast Series (Administrator).