Set up: Forecast boards

Who's this for? Revenue Ops, Business Admin with "Manage forecast settings" permissions (as assigned by your admin in your permission profile).

Where to go? Deals > Forecast

Plan: Working with Gong Forecast requires a Forecast seat.

Tip: Just getting started with Gong Forecast? Go here for an overview.

Take the training! Go here to get trained on setting up a board.

How to set up

Set up forecast boards for every line of business, with each board including all the forecasting categories used. This task is typically performed by someone in SalesOps, RevOps, or a sales leader. If you need guidance, check out our best practices!

1. Go to Deals > Forecast.

2. Click > Add line of business.

3. In the Basics section, give the line of business a name and description.

4. In the Categories section, set up forecast category settings:

   1. In the Target attainment row, choose the CRM field and values you use to measure actuals (actual sales).

      In the board, the Target attainment column shows a measure of rep performance, showing how close they are to their target (sales quota).

      The targets themselves can be added manually or uploaded in bulk.

   2. In the Pipeline coverage row, choose the CRM field and values that represent open deals in the pipeline.

      Click to add additional CRM fields and their values to filter the deals included in coverage.

      Go here to get help on setting up filters.

      In the board, the Pipeline coverage column shows how much coverage there is, that is the total active pipeline divided by the remaining quota to go in the selected period.

      

   3. For each category you use to forecast:

      • Click ADD COLUMN and set the CRM field and values you use in that category.

        Tip: Leverage filters to differentiate deals shown for each category across lines of business, e.g. "New business" vs "Renewals".

      • Click to add additional CRM fields and their values to filter the deals included in each category.

        The location and order of the operators affect how the filters are handled. When building your conditions, the order of precedence is important: logical complements (NOT) are performed first, than logical conjunctions (AND), and lastly logical disjunctions (OR). Go here to get help on setting up filters.

      • Click and select Autofill (block editing) to automatically fill the forecast with the total value of deals in this category in your CRM.

        When this option is turned on, people cannot edit their forecast number and aren't alerted to update their forecast for the category.

      In the board, each category shows the dollar value and number of open deals that make up the category.

      You can only hide categories rather than delete them in order to preserve your historical data in case you need it in the future.

      Click > Hide. Hide means they're removed from the board and nobody is reminded to update a number for that category.

5. In the Advanced settings, set the following:

   1. Select the forecast period that you forecast for in your org. Select Monthly, Quarterly, or both Monthly and quarterly.

   2. Select Autocalculate quarterly totals to get us to automatically calculate the quarterly forecast number for each category from the actual number landed on for closed months plus the forecast number for open months in the quarter.

       

      This action locks the quarterly number so that cannot be edited. The only way to change this number is for reps or sales leaders to change the forecast number in open months.

      The actual total of closed-won deals is always shown in green for each month in the quarterly view drill-down. This number shows the total for closed-won deals, the definition of which is set by you for target attainment (step 3a, above).

   3. In the Show deals handled by role dropdown, pick the user role as defined in your CRM we should use to show deals.

      For example, if you have CSMs that handle renewals, pick the CRM field you use to define that connection. They'll be able to use this forecast board to submit their numbers.

   4. In the Show deals by date dropdown, select the CRM date field by which to show deals in the forecast board and associated deal board.

   5. In the Amount dropdown, select the CRM amount field by which to show deals in the forecast board and associated deal board.

6. In the Cadence section, toggle on andset your forecast cadence. This is the day and time when sales leaders should update their forecast numbers. Set the cadence time according to your company timezone.

   We use this time as a trigger notifications reminding reps and sales leaders when it’s time to roll up forecast numbers.

   If you don't want to send reminders when its time to update forecast, leave the toggle in the off position.

7. In the Forecast snapshot section, set your forecast snapshot time, that is, when you lock in forecast numbers for the week, and we should snapshot your forecast numbers. The snapshot is taken at the designated time according to your company timezone.

   Typically, this is a time right before the weekly management forecast meeting.

   We use this time to show you changes in your forecast trends, week over week.

   People can change their numbers at any time. The numbers taken at the time of the snapshot are used to calculate progress.

8. In the Columns section, add the CRM fields you want to appear alongside the deal board that is generated from this forecast board.

   The generated board is visible when viewing deals from within forecast, and you can also find it in the list of your deal boards.

9. In the Update CRM section, define the CRM fields you want to appear in the Update CRM tabs in the forecast and generated deal boards.

10. In the Warnings section, set up warnings you want to see next to your deals in Forecasts and the associated deal board (that's generated from this forecast board):

    1. Toggle the warnings you want to include in your board to the ON position.

    2. To change the amount of time until you're alerted for the No activity warning, enter the desired number of days in the No activity for X days box.

    3. To change the amount of time until you're alerted for the No activity on prospect side warning, enter the desired number of days in the No activity on prospect side for X days box.

    4. To change the minimum amount of active prospects on the deal for the Single-threaded warning, enter the amount and the desired number of days in the Only X or less active prospects for Y days boxes.

    5. To change the amount of time before the deal closes on the Pricing wasn't mentioned warning, enter the desired number of days in the Deal expected to close in X days or less, and "pricing" hasn't been discussed box.

11. Click SAVE.

    People with forecasting permissions can now see the forecast board representing their reality. Get to know the forecast board.

    We also automatically generate a deal board named Forecast Board - Generated, visible in Deals > Pipeline, which your team can use to for pipeline reviews ahead of updating forecast. This board can only be edited by editing forecast board and forecast warning settings.

    To edit the board settings, select the line of business in the Forecast updates tab, and go > Forecast settings.

12. (Optional) Hide teams or people that don't need to forecast for this business line.

    If you don't remove them, they'll be able to forecast for this business line, get reminded to do so, and any number they enter is rolled up into the business line total.

    1. In the forecast board, navigate to a team or individual that you want to remove from the board.

    2. Next to the name of the individual(s) or team manager you want to remove, click > Hide from view.