Sales Planning Process

The sales planning process consists of 4 phases.

To start the process, select (Sales) > Forecast and click on (Sales Planning).

Phase 1 - Preparation

An overview of existing forecast records that have been agreed upon is displayed in the search results. New records you add for a year must be based on an existing forecast. To add a new record:

  1. Enter the Year and Rep that the targets apply to.
  2. Select the forecast to use as a basis in the list. The Product Group in the selected record is entered in the new forecast record and the Estimated Sum is used as the basis for calculating percentage increases.
    Note: If you select multiple forecasts in the list, a separate forecast record is added for each one with the data you entered. You can add forecast records manually, see Adding Forecasts Manually. If no entry is available containing the product group you require, add the forecast manually instead.
  3. Enter the target for the year, either as a percentage Increase on the selected entry's Estimated Sum or as a Fixed value
  4. Click on Continue with selected records to proceed to phase 2.

Phase 2 - Detail Planning

An overview of the forecast records awaiting review is listed. Click on an entry to display its details below the list. If you entered a Fixed value in phase 1, this annual total is evenly divided across the 12 months/4 quarters. If you entered a percentage increase, the targets for each month and quarter (taken from the forecast record selected in phase 1) are increased by this percentage.

You can manually change the distribution of revenue throughout the year:

  1. Select the desired record in the list. The monthly targets are displayed below the list. Switch to the Quarterly tab to display quarterly figures.
  2. Switch to edit mode and edit the values for each month as necessary. If you edit a quarterly value, it is evenly distributed across the months in that quarter.
    Note: Editing the targets also changes the total target for the year. The system does not check that the sum total matches the original value defined in the forecast record for the year. For example, if the yearly target was 12,000 (i.e. 1,000 per month) and you change the value of January to 0, the sum total for the year is now 11,000.
  3. Once you have finished editing the targets, click on Review in the search header to move the selected forecast(s) to the next phase.

Phase 3 - Review

In this phase, you need to review the forecast data together with your sales manager.

Click on Agreement to move the selected forecast(s) to the next phase.

Note: There is currently no means to return forecasts to the preparation phase in the default process. However, your administrator can add a button to the process that sets the status of the forecast accordingly.

Phase 4 - Agreement

In this phase, all forecasts that have been agreed upon are listed. The records can no longer be edited.