Enable Forecast Users and Set Up a Forecasts Hierarchy

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
  • List the two ways you can enable a forecast user.
  • Explain what the forecasts hierarchy is.
  • Set up a role-based forecasts hierarchy.

Enable Collaborative Forecasts Users

Lauren is getting closer to having Collaborative Forecasts set up for her team. But she still needs to enable individual forecast users within each profile. Why? By enabling individual users, she retains control over access to forecasts even though multiple groups might be using the same profile.

For example, accounts payable clerks and sales managers are both assigned to the Standard User profile, but at Rollings Tech, the accounts payable clerks don’t need access to forecasts.

You can enable forecast users on the All Users page or the Forecasts Hierarchy page. When you enable users, they’re added to your forecasts hierarchy.

Lauren wants to enable Beverly Shaw on the All Users page.

  1. From Setup, enter Users in the Quick Find box and select Users.
  2. Click Edit next to Beverly Shaw. (If you're following along in your Trailhead Playground, you won't see Nigel's users listed.)
  3. Under General Information, select Allow Forecasting and click Save. The User Edit page in Setup, with Allow Forecasting selected

Set Up Your Forecasts Hierarchy

The forecasts hierarchy is a nested, expandable list of forecast users. It determines how forecasts roll up within your company and who can view and adjust them. Your company’s role hierarchy determines your role-based forecasts hierarchy. If you use Enterprise Territory Management, your territory hierarchy determines your territory-based forecasts hierarchy. Then you specify which users are forecast managers in each.

For example, let’s say that you enable Collaborative Forecasts for the following users.
  • One in the role Vice President, Sales
  • Two in the role Sales Manager, both reporting to the Vice President, Sales
You can see these users enabled in the role-based forecasts hierarchy within their respective roles. But keep in mind, even though the Sales Manager role reports to the Vice President, Sales, in the role hierarchy, the users in the Sales Manager role won’t automatically report to the Vice President, Sales, in the forecasts hierarchy. You must enable a user in the forecasts hierarchy to act as the forecast manager if you want that user to see their team members’ or territories’ forecasts. Only one person at each level in the forecasts hierarchy can be the manager at any one time.

Lauren starts by adding a user, Henry Paul, via the role-based forecasts hierarchy.

  1. From Setup, enter Forecasts Hierarchy in the Quick Find box and select Forecasts Hierarchy.
  2. Click Expand All to see the available roles. Each level of the hierarchy has an Enable Users link at the end.
  3. Click the Enable Users link on the Director of Channel Sales level, select Henry’s name, and then click Add. (Your Trailhead Playground doesn’t include users to add, but of course, your own org would.) The Forecasts Users page with Henry Paul enabled as a user
  4. Click Save. Henry’s now enabled as a forecast user. Next let’s enable a forecast manager: Nigel Roberts.
  5. On the Forecasts Hierarchy page, click Edit Manager next to VP of Sales, and select Nigel’s name from the Forecast Manager picklist. (Remember, your Trailhead Playground doesn’t have any forecast users enabled, so you won’t see the Edit Manager link or the Forecasts Manager Assignment page that appears next.) The Forecasts Manager Assignment page with Nigel Roberts selected as forecast manager
  6. Click Save.
Nigel can now view and adjust the forecasts of people who report to him in the role-based forecasts hierarchy. He can also jump to a team member’s forecasts by clicking the down arrow next to his name and then entering a name in the search field.

Nigel’s forecasts page with easy access to a team member’s forecasts

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