A few weeks ago, the StarrForce Tips Blog summarized overall the new features of the Salesforce Winter ’12 release. Today we go in depth to explore the new Salesforce Winter ’12 forecasting features.
Starting with the Winter ’12 version of Salesforce, there is a new Forecasts feature that will be enabled for all new instances and can be enabled in existing instances by contacting your Salesforce account executive.
Here, we will cover the differences so you can make an educated decision on which version to use in your existing instance.
There are actually three versions of Salesforce Forecasting now: Forecasts (classic), Customizable Forecasting, and the new Forecasts. Since most instances upgraded to Customizable Forecasting from the original Forecasts, we will concentrate on the differences between the new Forecasts and Customizable Forecasting.
Below is a table from Salesforce Help that lists the differences between Customizable Forecasting and the new Salesforce Forecasts in Winter ’12:
As you can see from the table above, the new Forecasts feature removes some features and adds a few new ones. Since the new Salesforce Forecasts features use a different style of interface, please be aware that the New User Interface in Salesforce must be enabled for them to function correctly. Forecasts are also not compatible with Territory Management at this time.
The biggest thing you will notice with the new Forecasts feature is the user interface, including these features from the Salesforce Winter ’12 Release Notes:
- Interactive, expandable tables that let you select and view your own forecasts and those of your subordinates.
- Forecast summary information for single months and a multi-month range, for each forecast category.
- A list of related opportunities that updates dynamically according to your forecast selection and can be hidden or expanded.
- Easy adjustments and access to related details, including who made adjustments and original forecast amounts.
- Access to opportunity records, right from the forecasts page.
Another feature of the new Salesforce Forecasts is the ability to rename the Forecast Categories and to separate them.
Users have been asking for this ability on the IdeaExchange for quite a while. With the new Forecasts, you can now call Best Case something like “Optimal” and only opportunities in the Stage(s) with the “Optimal” attribute will be listed.
The new Winter ’12 Forecasts also allows for more functionality when using multiple currencies. You can now set a default forecast currency and users can still view forecasts in the other currencies you have enabled. For more information on this feature, please see the Salesforce Help topic “Working With Multiple Currencies in Forecasts”.
There are some good features with the new Winter ’12 Forecasts and I foresee more functionality coming in the next few releases. Unless the new features are more important than the functionality you will be missing from Customizable Forecasting, current Salesforce users may want to wait a while before switching to the new Forecasts.
For more information on the new features of Salesforce Winter ’12 release, please visit Salesforce.com Winter ’12 Release Notes.
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