Configuring Billing Forecasts

Note:

Before starting to configure the settings for your billing forecasts, ensure that Billing Forecasting has been set up as described in Setting up Forecasting.

To configure the settings for the billing forecasts you want to run:

  1. Select the Billing Forecast Setup tab.

  2. On the billing forecast category line you want to configure, such as Expected, enter the multiplier you want the billing forecast calculation to apply for each forecast factor. For example, if you enter "0.00", the corresponding forecast factor will be omitted completely; "0.50" includes half the amount; "1.00" includes the total amount; and "1.25" includes 25% more than the total amount.

    Notes:

    You must complete all the multiplier fields for at least one billing forecast category.
    Multipliers of "1.0" are already entered for the Expected billing forecast category by default.
    If you do not want to generate billing forecast calculations for a category, enter "0.00" in the multiplier fields.

  3. From the Default Opportunity Curve and Default Project Curve fields, select the billing forecast curves you want the billing forecast calculation to use when no curve is defined on an individual opportunity or project. If you have not created default project and opportunity billing forecast curves yet, click Create Curve. For more information on billing forecast curves, see Managing Curves for Billing Forecasts.

    Warning:

    You must specify the default curves you want billing forecasts to use when no curve is defined on an individual opportunity or project. If you do not, the calculations will fail.

  4. Specify how you want the billing forecast calculation to work for opportunities that contain both services and non-services products:
    • If you select Opportunity Product, the calculation looks at services product lines on Opportunity Products. It means only opportunity product lines with the Is Services Product Line checkbox selected are included.
    • If you select Product, the calculation looks at lines that have a related services product on an Opportunity. It means only product lines with the Is Services Product checkbox selected on the product itself are included.

      If there are no lines on an opportunity, the billing forecast calculation looks at the Is Services Opportunity checkbox on the opportunity itself. For more detailed information on how the billing forecast calculation works for opportunities, see Opportunities.

  5. Specify the object you want the curve to be applied from for opportunities:
    • If you select Product, the curves specified on the products linked to an opportunity are used. If no products are linked, the curve specified on the opportunity is used.
    • If you select Opportunity, the curve specified on the opportunity is used.
  6. Click Save. When you save billing forecast setup details, the previous billing forecast setup is automatically archived and the latest details are used for all subsequent billing forecast calculations, including scheduled ones. This means only one set of billing forecast setup details is active at any time.
  7. [Optional] Click Schedule Billing Forecast to create a schedule for your billing forecast calculations. See Scheduling Billing Forecasts for more information.
Warning:

It is best practice in managing projects to always create a budget at the start of a project. If your business doesn't follow this practice, it is recommended to always enter "0.00" for Unscheduled Backlog. If you do not, the billing forecast calculation generates a negative value, which offsets the total forecast amount calculated and gives a misleading overall result.

Billing forecast setup details are stored in the Billing Forecast Setup and Billing Forecast Setup Category objects. For more information, see:

Configuring Billing Forecast Batch Settings

The Billing Forecast Batch Settings custom setting allows you to define how billing forecast calculations are run in a batch process, including forecast batch size, maximum queue size and user notifications.

For further information, see Billing Forecast Batch Settings.