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Configuring Forecast and Quota Settings

Configure users and other settings to set up forecasts and quotas.
R
Ruba
5 Sep, 2024 - Updated 3 months ago
Table of Contents

Configuring Forecast and Quota Settings

 Before setting up forecasts and quotas, you must set up your team hierarchy, the forecast period, and the forecast category. This must be done under Forecast and Quota Settings 

Navigating to Forecast and Quota Settings

 Follow these steps to navigate to Forecast and Quota Settings:

  1. Log in to your CRM account.
  2. Click the User Menu on the top right corner of the screen.
  3. Click Settings.
  4. Look for the Marketing & Sales section.
  5. Select Forecast and Quota Settings.
 The setting is accessible only to Admin users. You can also access Forecast and Quota Settings by clicking the Settings option displayed on the Forecast page.
 

Note: Forecast Hierarchy is not the same as role-based hierarchy in Vtiger CRM.  

Forecast and Quota Hierarchy

Build your team hierarchy before you start off with setting up forecasts and quotas. Forecast and Quota Hierarchy is the tree structure of your team.

Adding users to forecast and quota hierarchy

 Follow these steps to add users to your team hierarchy:

  1. Log in to your CRM account.
  2. Click the Main Menu.
  3. Go to Sales.
  4. Select Forecast and Quota.
  5. Click the Settings icon on the top right of the page.
  6. Click the Forecast and Quota Hierarchy tab.
  7. Drag and drop users from the right column on the hierarchy to add them.
  To delete a user from the hierarchy, hover on the user’s name and click the Delete icon.
 

Note: Settings are not accessible by Standard users.

Configuration

Forecast and quota period

You have the option of configuring the Fiscal first period based on the financial year and not the calendar year. You can configure the financial year in Settings > Company Details using the Financial Year Starts in Month field. 

Here are a few points to note:

  • The difference between Calendar Quarters and Fiscal Quarters.
    • Calendar quarters correspond to the standard calendar year. This means that the first quarter always begins with January 1st and the fourth quarter ends with December 31st.  
    • Fiscal quarters coincide with a company's fiscal year – and they don't always align with a calendar year. 
  • Non-standard Fiscal Quarters
    • If a company’s fiscal quarters don’t align with regular fiscal calendar years (shown above), it has non-standard fiscal quarters. Non-standard fiscal quarters are common for companies with highly seasonal revenue streams. 
    • Consider the following examples:
      • A children’s toy company may generate over half of its net revenue during Q4.
      • Apple’s fiscal quarters cover the following months:  
        • Q1: October, November, December
        • Q2: January, February, March
        • Q3: April, May, June
        • Q4: July, August, September

You can configure the following fields related to the forecast and quota period.

 

Field

Description

Start Forecast and Quota from

The month and year starting from which you want to set up and display forecasts and quotas. You can set up quotas up to the year 2025.

Forecast and Quota Period

  • Monthly: Forecasts will be set up on a monthly basis, starting from the month and year set up in the previous step.
  • Quarterly: Forecasts will be set up on a quarterly basis, starting from the month and year set up in the previous step.

Number of Periods

  • If the Forecast and Quota Period is Monthly, then the number of forecast periods can be 12, 24, & 36.
  • If the Forecast and Quota Period is Quarterly, then the number of forecast periods can be 4, 6, 8, or 12.

Forecast adjustments

As a sales manager, you can make adjustments in deal amounts that were won or lost by a team member. Adjustments are not visible to sales team members. 
  

Allow Forecast Adjustments and Quota Set/Revisions on

  • Direct Report’s Deals: Can make adjustments to the deal amounts of direct reportees.
  • Direct report’s and their subordinates’ Deal: Can make adjustments to the deal amounts of direct reportees and subordinates or the reportees.
 

 Enabling adjustments

Before you try to make adjustments to forecasts, you must enable adjustments. Follow these steps to enable adjustments:

  1. Log in to your CRM account.
  2. Click the Main Menu.
  3. Go to Sales.
  4. Select Forecast and Quota.
  5. Click the Settings icon on the top right of the page.
  6. Click the Configuration tab.
  7. Enable the checkbox for forecast categories under the Adjustable column under the Forecast Category block.

Skip to this section to read more about forecast categories and adjustments.

Setting up adjustments

Note: As a sales manager or admin user, you cannot make adjustments to deal amounts assigned to you. 

Follow these steps to make adjustments to deal amounts:

  1. Log in to your CRM account.
  2. Click the Main Menu.
  3. Go to Sales.
  4. Select Forecast and Quota.
  5. Click on a deal amount displayed in a forecast category column in the Forecast Summary table.
  6. Hover on a row and click the Edit icon under the Adjusted Amount column. 
  7. Enter the adjusted (new) amount. 
  8. Click the checkmark.

Skip to this section to read more about adjustments.

Forecast category

In Vtiger CRM, forecast scenarios are referred to as Forecast Categories.  

Forecast categories are derived from sales pipelines and sales stages. You can group your deals into different forecast categories based on the sales stages they are in. There are four default forecast categories in Vtiger CRM – Pipeline, Best Case, Commit, and Closed Won. You can group multiple sales stages in your sales pipeline into a forecast category.

Below are the default forecast categories and the sales stage mapping in Vtiger CRM.

 

Forecast Category

Sales Stage Mapping

Adjustable

Pipeline

Ready to Close, New, Qualifying, Requirements Gathering, Value Proposition, Negotiation, Closed Won

If enabled, allow adjustments by admin users to the deal amounts mapped to Pipeline stages

Best Case

Ready to Close, Negotiation, Closed Won

If enabled, allow adjustments by admin users to the deal amounts mapped to Best-case stages

Commit

Ready to Close, Closed Won

If enabled, allow adjustments by admin users to the deal amounts mapped to the Commit stages

Closed 

Closed Won

If enabled, allow adjustments by admin users to the deal amounts mapped to Closed Won stages

 

Note: The forecast category Closed Won cannot be deleted. 

 

Other actions you can perform on forecast categories 

 

 Mapping forecast categories

You can add more forecast categories by clicking Map Forecast Category

Deleting forecast categories

Click the Delete icon under the Adjustable column to delete a forecast category.

Viewing unmapped sales stages 

Sales stages in the pipeline that have not been mapped to any forecast category are displayed in the block beside the forecast category block. 

Adding new picklist values to Sales Stage

  1. Click inside a block in the Sales Stage column. You will see all the unused sales stages. 
  2. Select a sales stage to add in a forecast category. 
  3. Click Save. 


 

Note: Standard users (or non-admin users) cannot view Forecast and Quota unless an admin user has set it up.

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