Outline Custom Forecast Requirements

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

• List common customization use cases for Advanced Account Forecasting.
• Outline the tasks involved in Data Processing Engine customization.
• Sign up for a Developer Edition org.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you complete the following modules.

Required

• Complete the Data Processing Engine Essentials in Advanced Account Forecasting module to understand the fundamental concepts around Data Processing Engine (DPE) and its role in Advanced Account Forecasting.

Suggested

• Complete the Advanced Account Forecasting with Manufacturing Cloud module to find out how to create and configure advanced account forecasts in Manufacturing Cloud.

Rayler Parts Custom Requirements

Each business has its own forecast recipe, forecast criteria, and measures. Rayler Parts is no different. Cindy Jones, the Salesforce admin at Rayler Parts, is always busy finding solutions for the sales team that can help them improve their productivity. Cindy recently had a meeting with Elliot Drake, the VP of Sales in the AMER region. 

Elliot and his team of key account managers have been using Advanced Account Forecasting for some time now. They currently view account forecast data based on the measures and dimensions that the predefined definitions provide. As the new fiscal year approaches, Elliot wants Cindy to help with new forecasting requirements. Cindy creates a report to capture the requirements.

• I want the actual business in my company to be represented by the metrics Order Quantity and Order Revenue. I don’t want to see the metrics Last Year’s Order Quantity and Last Year’s Order Revenue.
  Elliott wants to concentrate on Order Quantity and Order Revenue as metrics, and not Last Year’s Order Quantity and Order Revenue. Projecting sales based on a single year of forecast data can be inaccurate at times, especially if the order volume is inconsistent across years.
• I want the forecast grid to display the actual amount derived from sales agreements value for all products. This is because the actual amount is the measure of order-based revenue for my run-rate business.
  Elliott wants to see the cumulative actual amount from all sales agreements surfaced on the forecast grid. Run-rate business at Rayler Parts is largely conducted through sales agreements and the actual amount is directly derived from orders associated with the agreements. So it’s an important metric for Elliott to track.
• I want to only include opportunity records in my forecast calculation that have a win probability of 70% or higher. I want the fields Opportunity Quantity and Opportunity Revenue to reflect the values accordingly.
  Elliott doesn’t want to consider opportunities that have a probability of less than 70%. These opportunities are most unlikely to be won and they reduce forecast accuracy.

Cindy’s Plan of Action

Cindy has devised a strategy to meet Elliot’s requirements. She decides to create a forecast set and then get started on the DPE customizations. She maps the requirements to the broad actions required for the customizations.

She has cloned the Generate Account Forecast DPE template to try out the customizations. In the upcoming units, follow along as she implements Elliot’s custom requirements. She’ll complete the following tasks.

1. Add fields to the object Advanced Account Forecast Fact to represent forecast metrics and dimensions.
2. Create forecast dimensions and period groups.
3. Configure a forecast set.
4. Customize the DPE definition.

Want to Explore Data Processing Engine in Manufacturing Cloud?

In the rest of this module, we walk you through a few customization scenarios for DPE definitions in Manufacturing Cloud. We don’t have any hands-on challenges in this module, but if you want to see the templates and try out the steps, you need a special Developer Edition org that contains Manufacturing Cloud. A regular Trailhead Playground doesn’t have Manufacturing Cloud or the required configurations. Here’s how to get the free Developer Edition org now.

1. Sign up for a free Manufacturing Cloud Developer Edition org.
2. Fill out the form. For Email, enter an active email address. For Username, enter a username that looks like an email address and is unique, but it doesn’t need to be a valid email account (for example, yourname@test.com).
3. After you fill out the form, click Sign me up. A confirmation message appears.
4. When you receive the activation email (which can take a few minutes), open it and click Verify Account.
5. Complete your registration by setting your password and challenge question.

You’re logged in to your Developer Edition org and ready to blaze new trails with Manufacturing Cloud!

Write down your username, password, and login URL for easy access later.

You can also use the learning org linked in the Resources to try out the DPE customizations.

Resources

• Salesforce Help: Streamline Forecast Calculations with Data Processing Engine Definitions
• Salesforce Site: Manufacturing Cloud Learning Org