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 Sales to predict sales for a specific time period. You create a forecast in PeopleSoft Sales by uniquely identifying a forecast name and a time frame. The forecast name is a user-defined text field that you can use to describe 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 reforecast 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 then choose 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

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

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

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

This section discusses how to:

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

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	Define forecast names.
Forecast Type	RSF_FCAST_TYPE	Set Up CRM, Product Related, Sales, Forecast, Forecast Types	Define forecast types (user-defined classifications).
Revenue Type	RSF_REV_TYPE	Set Up CRM, Product Related, Sales, Forecast, Revenue Types	Define revenue types.

Defining Forecast Names

Access the Forecast Name page.

Expected Forecast Date

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

For example, suppose today 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 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. In this case, establish a forecast name with a Forecast Thru 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 Add Forecast and Search 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 are quite different for different kinds of business.

Available on Opportunity

Select to make the forecast type available from the opportunity pages, where you define or update an opportunity.

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

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 you have many revenue types, you can group them by using revenue dimensions.

For example, one dimension might be the type of revenue (new, upsell, or repeat) and the other dimension might be the type of product or service (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.