Overview of Forecasts

Your forecasts of future sales provides predictions of future revenue for specific time periods. Management uses sales forecast data to set production schedules and volumes, to determine resource requirements, and to report financial guidance to investors.

What You Can Do	Details
Submit forecasts	You can view, manage, and submit your forecasts in the office and using the mobile application. You can: Review your forecasted product items and submit the forecast. View your pipeline that isn't forecasted. Use embedded analytics to improve forecast accuracy.
View automatically generated forecasts	Your forecast for a period is automatically generated from eligible opportunity product items scheduled to close within the period. Forecasts are refreshed from the pipeline revenue in real time. Opportunities and forecast items continue to synchronize until you submit forecast items for final approval. The sales administrator sets the criteria that determine whether a product item is eligible to be automatically included in a forecast. The administrator also provides the option for you to override the established criteria and manually include or exclude a product item from the forecast. Forecasting reflects any edits you make to an opportunity, or any adjustments at the deal level in real time.
Forecast by territory	You forecast sales by territory. The forecasts roll up following the territory hierarchy. If enabled, subscription renewal forecasts roll up in a separate column from new forecasts that aren't renewals. The Forecast column shows the total for both new and renewal forecasts. Changes to the active territory hierarchy are periodically synchronized with the forecast hierarchy up until a freeze date. After the territory freeze date, you can make changes to your forecasts.
Compare forecasts	You can view current, future, and past forecasts. The current forecast is open for editing at certain times and then frozen. Your manager can view the latest forecasting data and compare it to key metrics such as pipeline and won revenue.
Adjust forecasts	Sales managers can review and adjust forecasts anywhere. Subscription renewals can be adjusted separately by choosing the Renewals category to display. The New category shows all except renewals. Select All to see the total forecast.
Manage subordinates' forecasts	You can quickly see which salespeople have submitted their forecasts, what has changed since the previous forecast, and the opportunities that comprise the forecast. You can also drill into your subordinates' forecasts to view a forecast the same way that the salesperson sees it. This provides sales managers with the opportunity for more effective coaching and greater forecast accuracy. You can add, remove, or adjust individual lines in a salesperson's forecast, segment the totals by time period, and override forecast totals for each salesperson. Any adjustments are clearly identified throughout the forecast hierarchy, allowing management to quickly view the changes made by sales managers who are on their team.
Record overlay forecasts	You can record overlay forecasts on opportunity revenue transactions in addition to the revenue sales credit split. Overlay forecasts allow nonprimary salespeople to forecast sales expectations for all overlay sales credits.
Forecast by product	If enabled, you can forecast by product, forecasting amount, and quantity. If your products include subscriptions, you can forecast subscription renewals separately from new forecast items by choosing the category.