Creating Forecasts

Create Forecasts

In Zoho CRM, you can create forecasts for a financial year and for each quarter by entering data manually. The forecasts are useful for users (who have opportunities assigned to them) and their managers. You can create forecasts for a specific quarter only once. For example, if you create a forecast for Quarter 1 in Year 2011, then you cannot create another forecast in the same quarter. You can only modify the existing quarter details.

To create forecasts

1. In the Forecast module, click New Forecast.
2. In the Create Forecast page, select the Year and Quarter from the respective drop-down list.
3. Click Next.
4. In the Forecast Details section, specify the following details:
   • Enter the target Quota for each month.
   • Specify the Committed Amount and Best Case Amount for each month's target quota.
5. Click Save.

Associate Forecasts with Other Records

After creating forecasts, you can add potentials in each month. Once the potential is closed it is automatically displayed under forecast history. All the potentials created are displayed under sales person's monthly forecast list for follow-up.

In the Forecast Details page, the following details are displayed:

• Potentials' list for specific months: Displays the list of potentials, the associated accounts and the corresponding forecast details for a month.You can also add new potentials to the month.
• Forecast History: Displays the over-all details of the forecast with aggregate Quota, Closed Amount, Committed Amount and Best Case Amount details.

Set up Fiscal Year

This option allows you to configure the Fiscal Year Settings according to you organization's Fiscal cycle. Once the Fiscal start month is selected, fiscal quarters are automatically rolled up. You can also specify the fiscal year name based on the start or the end month. For example, let's say your fiscal year starts in April 2010 and ends in March 2011. If you choose the fiscal year to be based on the start month, the year name will be displayed as 2010 (wherever applicable) and if you choose the fiscal year to be based on the end month, the year name will be displayed as 2011.

To set up Fiscal Year

1. Click Setup > Organization Settings > Fiscal Year.
2. In the Fiscal Year page, select the Fiscal Start Month from the drop down list.
3. Choose Start Month or End Month to specify if the fiscal year name should be based on the start or the end month.
4. Click Save.