Forecast
Forecast categories on every deal, a quota per rep per period, a weekly submission with commit and best case, and a manager review that is kept alongside it.
You
| Forecast Number | Period | Week Ending | Closed | Commit | Best Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FS-15160 | Q1 | 22 Sep | 60 | 230 | 330 |
| FS-69293 | Q2 | 18 Sep | 290 | 350 | 680 |
| FS-99658 | Q3 | 12 Sep | 610 | 430 | 800 |
| FS-21134 | Q4 | 29 Sep | 320 | 900 | 880 |
| FS-53762 | Q1 | 11 Sep | 430 | 660 | 250 |
| FS-96206 | Q2 | 22 Sep | 510 | 640 | 860 |
Forecast categories
Each open opportunity is in one category, defaulted from its stage and changed by the rep when their judgement differs from the process:
| Category | What it means |
|---|---|
| Commit | The rep would stake the quarter on it: verbal yes, terms agreed, paperwork in motion |
| Best case | Could close this period if the remaining steps go well |
| Pipeline | Real, but not expected this period |
| Omitted | Excluded from the forecast: on hold, being re-scoped, or the close date is a placeholder |
| Closed | Won and validated; the closed-won stage sets it |
Category is separate from stage on purpose. Stage says where the deal is in the process; category says what the rep believes about the date. A deal at negotiate with a procurement freeze until next quarter is best case or pipeline, and the manager should be able to see that the rep said so.
YouStatusOpenPendingClose
What number is forecast
A deal carries an annual value and a total value, and the forecast uses one of them. Each quota names its basis, annual or total, and the amount on every deal owned by that rep for the period follows it. A subscription business forecasts and pays out on annual value; a one-time or services business forecasts on total value. The two are never mixed on one submission.
Deals are priced in the account’s currency and quotas are set in the rep’s. The forecast converts each deal at the period rate from the exchange rate table, which sales operations fixes at the start of the period, so a forecast does not move because a currency did. The corporate rate is what the roll-up to region uses.
Approval conditions
The Sales Manager reviews it deal by deal, applies a ManagerAdjustment with a comment, and marks it reviewed (Status: Submitted → Reviewed).
Submitted
- FS-28399 LS 640 5 d
- FS-32213 ZW 580 7 d
- FS-91310 VJ 800 9 d
- FS-42801 KD 660 11 d
- FS-39087 ES 400 in 9 d
FS-28399
- User
- LS
- Period
- Q1
- WeekEnding
- 12 Sep
- Closed
- 640
- Commit
- 190
Review waits for the sales manager.
Quotas
A quota is a target for one user for one period, by type: new business, renewal or total. Managers set them in draft, publish them when the period plan is agreed, and close them when the period ends. Published quotas are what the forecast is measured against and what the attainment report shows. Quotas roll up the reporting line, so a manager’s number is the sum of the team’s unless operations sets it otherwise.
Approval conditions
Deal Desk approves the booking (Status: PendingClose → Won), which moves the deal to the ClosedWon stage, writes the StageHistory row and stamps ValidatedBy and ValidatedDate.
PendingClose
- OPP-68261 ACC-87580 8 d
- OPP-26755 ACC-82366 4 d
- OPP-10704 ACC-78824 11 d
- OPP-37680 ACC-39847 in 11 d
- OPP-87781 ACC-79573 in 2 d
OPP-68261
- OpportunityName
- Opportunity 705
- Account
- ACC-87580
- Owner
- HC
- Amount
- 660
- AnnualValue
- 920
Booking waits for the deal desk.
The weekly submission
Once a week, on the day the manager sets, each rep submits a forecast for the current period. Closed is separate from the cumulative open-deal categories:
- Closed: what has been won and validated so far in the period.
- Commit: the sum of deals in commit, which the rep may adjust down with a comment.
- Best case: commit plus the deals in best case.
- Pipeline: best case plus everything else open in the period.
The submission stores the four numbers as they were that week, and a line per open deal with its stage, category, amount, close date, probability and frozen AppliedExchangeRate and ForecastAmount. That is what makes a slip visible with the week it happened, and what lets the forecast be rebuilt deal by deal for any week of the quarter. Before submitting, the rep works through their open deals and sets the category and close date on each, which is the discipline the system is really enforcing.
Openoverdue
| Opportunity Number | Account | Owner | Stage | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OPP-42816 | ACC-35498 | BP | PS-2777 | 400 |
| OPP-98871 | ACC-99423 | TK | PS-4397 | 20 |
| OPP-24625 | ACC-12828 | CM | PS-2214 | 640 |
| OPP-22125 | ACC-66328 | RF | PS-5995 | 30 |
| OPP-42975 | ACC-45563 | PJ | PS-7949 | 200 |
| OPP-69824 | ACC-59598 | UP | PS-9249 | 770 |
Manager review
Submitted forecasts appear in the manager’s review queue. The manager opens each one and sees the deals behind the numbers with their stage, category, next step and last activity. The manager can apply an adjustment to commit, signed either way, with a comment, and marks the forecast reviewed. The rep’s number and the manager’s adjustment are stored side by side, so at the end of the quarter both can be compared with what closed. A manager who consistently adjusts one rep’s commit down, and is consistently right, has evidence for the next quota conversation.
The manager’s own submission upward is built from the reviewed team forecasts plus their adjustments, and goes through the same review by their manager.
Approval conditions
With Sales Manager negotiation approval recorded, they submit the deal for bookings validation (Status: Open → PendingClose).
Open
| Owner | Opportunity Name | Account | Stage | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LV | Opportunity 715 | ACC-66564 | PS-5338 | 340 |
| KY | Opportunity 462 | ACC-18461 | PS-2598 | 460 |
| BN | Opportunity 584 | ACC-49712 | PS-6274 | 690 |
| FP | Opportunity 114 | ACC-46364 | PS-1897 | 910 |
| WX | Opportunity 613 | ACC-35644 | PS-6289 | 300 |
| UZ | Opportunity 380 | ACC-74461 | PS-9757 | 680 |
Locking and history
At period end the manager locks the submissions. Locked forecasts cannot be edited and are what the attainment report and the executive read. Because every weekly submission is kept with its lines, the report can show the forecast as it stood at any week against the result.
OpenForecastCategoryPipelineBestCaseCommit
| Opportunity Name | Account | Stage | Amount | Probability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opportunity 582 | ACC-81728 | PS-3522 | 740 | 80 |
| Opportunity 818 | ACC-82787 | PS-9194 | 520 | 10 |
| Opportunity 690 | ACC-74366 | PS-9297 | 180 | 10 |
| Opportunity 761 | ACC-15193 | PS-9090 | 380 | 25 |
| Opportunity 332 | ACC-40978 | PS-9765 | 620 | 80 |
| Opportunity 695 | ACC-88864 | PS-4032 | 380 | 90 |
Modules
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Accounts
The company record everything else hangs off: hierarchy, sites, ownership by territory, the account team and the yearly plan for the accounts that matter most.
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Contacts
The people at each account: who they are, who they report to, the part they play in a purchase, and whether you may contact them.
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Pipeline
Leads in, opportunities through the stages, a next step with a date on every deal, and a history that shows how each one really moved.
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Quotes
Priced proposals built from a price book, versioned as the deal moves, and approved by the right person whenever a rep goes past their authority.
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Activities
Every call, meeting, email, demo, task and note, logged against the account and the deal, synced from mail and calendar, and rolled up into the fields managers sort on.
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Renewals
The contract a won deal becomes, the notice deadline and lead time on it, the renewal opportunity the system opens in time, and the expansion sold on top.
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Forecast
Forecast categories on every deal, a quota per rep per period, a weekly submission with commit and best case, and a manager review that is kept alongside it.
Reports
All reportsForecast vs Quota
Closed, commit and best case against quota per rep, with open pipeline as coverage of the quota remaining, rolled up through manager to region at the period rate, with the manager adjustment shown separately.
Roles and permissions
Owns the accounts, contacts, opportunities and quotes in their territory and submits the weekly forecast.
Runs a team of reps: approves negotiation and discounts within manager authority, approves the team's realignment moves, reviews forecasts and sets quotas.
Guards price, terms and bookings: approves quotes below floor price or outside standard terms, validates closed-won deals against the accepted quote, and maintains the price books and thresholds.
Owns customers after the win: contracts, renewal risk, renewal and expansion deals.
Owns territories, stages, quotas, sources, campaigns, rates and data hygiene, without a book of business.
Reads the forecast, the pipeline and the renewal book without editing any of it.
Related processes
Lead to deal
From a lead arriving to a signed contract handed to customer success: routing, qualification, acceptance, proposal, negotiation, the bookings check and the handover, with the gates where a person decides.
6 stages · 3 approvals
Quote approval
How a priced proposal gets from a rep's draft to the customer's inbox: the rules that decide who must approve, the steps in sequence, and what happens on rejection, revision and expiry.
6 stages · 1 approval
Forecast cycle
The weekly rhythm: reps categorise every open deal and submit, managers review and adjust on the record, and the period locks so the forecast can be checked against what closed.
6 stages · 2 approvals