Setting Up Sales Forecasts

This chapter provides an overview of forecast setup and discusses how to define forecast elements.

Understanding Forecast Setup

Sales managers can use forecasts in PeopleSoft Enterprise Sales to predict sales for a specific time period. You create a forecast in PeopleSoft Enterprise Sales by uniquely identifying a forecast name and a time frame. The forecast name is a user-defined text field that describes characteristics of the forecast. The time frame specifies a particular week, month, quarter, or year.

For example, suppose the current date is April 1, 2004, and you are forecasting the sales of freezers for the third quarter of 2004 (July 1 to September 30). You generate forecasts monthly, so you expect to forecast again on May 1, 2004, and June 1, 2004. You can create three forecast names to meet your forecasting needs:

Freezers: Apr
Freezers: May
Freezers: Jun

For the time frame, you must set up quarterly time frames in 2004. When you create a forecast, you select one of the forecast names and the third quarter 2004 time frame. Use the Time Frame component to set up time frames.

See Defining Holiday Schedules, Time Frames, and Sales Quota Rollups.

Defining Forecast Elements

This section discusses how to:

Define forecast names.
Define forecast types.
Define revenue types.

To define forecast names, use the Forecast Names (RSF_FCAST_ID) component.

To define forecast types, use the Forecast Type (RSF_FCAST_TYPE) component.

To define revenue types, use the Revenue Type (RSF_REV_TYPE) component.

Pages Used to Define Forecast Elements

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Forecast Name	RSF_FCAST_ID	Set Up CRM, Product Related, Sales, Forecast, Forecast Names, Forecast Name	Define forecast names.
Forecast Type	RSF_FCAST_TYPE	Set Up CRM, Product Related, Sales, Forecast, Forecast Types, Forecast Type	Define forecast types, which are user-defined classifications.
Revenue Type	RSF_REV_TYPE	Set Up CRM, Product Related, Sales, Forecast, Revenue Types, Revenue Type	Define revenue types.

Defining Forecast Names

Access the Forecast Name page.

Expected Forecast Date

Enter the date on which sales users can use the forecast name to generate a forecast.

For example, suppose that the current date is May 1, 2004, and you are setting up a forecast name called Freezers:June for a forecast that will occur in June 2004. You do not want to make this forecast name available until June 2004, so you would enter an expected forecast date of June 1, 2004.

Forecast Thru Date (forecast-through date)

Enter the ending date for forecasting.

For example, suppose you are going to stop selling a product at the end of 2004. You would establish a forecast name with a forecast-through date of December 31, 2004. Sales users cannot use the forecast name to generate a forecast for the product for any time frames that begin after December 31, 2004.

The system generates a list of possible forecasts for a forecast name when there are time frame periods defined. For example, suppose you enter an expected forecast date of July 1, 2004, and a forecast-through date of September 30, 2004. The system builds a list of possible forecasts using that forecast name and the following time frames:

July, August, and September 2004 (if you use monthly time frames).
Third quarter 2004 (if you use quarterly time frames).
2004 (if you use yearly time frames).

The system displays the list of possible forecasts on the Search My Forecasts and Search Rollup Forecasts components.

Use the Time Frame component to set up time frames.

See Setting Calendar Options.

Defining Forecast Types

Access the Forecast Type page.

Use forecast types to categorize opportunity forecast revenue activity according to the business needs. For example, you might define forecast types of Adjusted, Confirmed, Committed, and Open. Forecast types are not predefined; typically, they vary considerably for different kinds of businesses.

Available on Opportunity

Select to make the forecast type available on the opportunity pages where you define and update opportunities.

When this check box is cleared, the forecast type is available only on forecast pages, where it is typically used to categorize types of adjustment activities.

Defining Revenue Types

Access the Revenue Type page.

Revenue Dimension 1 and Revenue Dimension 2

Revenue dimensions provide a mechanism for consolidating revenue types to forecast revenue analysis. When many revenue types exist, you can group them by using revenue dimensions.

For example, one dimension might be the type of revenue (for example, New, Upsell, or Repeat) and the other dimension might be the type of product or service (for example, License, Warranty, or Maintenance).

If the revenue type ID is New License, you might have dimensions of New Revenue and License.

If the revenue type ID is Warranty Add On, you might have the dimensions of Upsell and Warranty.

If the revenue type is Renew License, you might have the dimensions of Repeat Revenue and License.

When reviewing forecasts, you can generate subtotals for revenue types and revenue dimensions.