Add external data, such as stretch quota or internal booking target to Salesforce so forecast managers have all the information they need when reviewing their sales projections. The data you add can be added as a column in the forecast summary and can be unique to each forecast type.
Required Editions
| Available in: Lightning Experience |
| Available in: Enterprise, Performance, and Unlimited Editions with Sales |
Data Access and Availability
The data in a custom column is stored in custom number and custom currency fields added to the Forecasting Custom Data object. Users with access to import data and who have the Manage Forecasts Custom Data permission can load and manage data to those custom fields for themselves and their subordinates in the forecast hierarchy.
Users who also have the View All Forecasts permission can manage data for all users in the forecast hierarchy.
Data Preparation
Import data to the custom fields in the Forecasting Custom Data object using Data Loader. If you need more flexibility than what Data Loader provides, use Enterprise API. To use either method, ensure that API access is enabled and prepare a .csv file that contains these columns.
- User ID
- Forecast Type ID
- Period Start Date (yyyy-mm-dd or yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.sssZ; for example, 2012–03–01T08:00:00.00Z)
- A column each for the data you want to load
If you use territory forecasts, include a Territory ID column. If you use product family forecasts, include a Product Family column.
To help organize the .csv file, you can also include columns for Forecast Owner Name and Forecast Type Name, but those columns aren’t required. Here’s an example .csv file setup, with Stretch Quota as the reference data to load.
| Forecast User Name | Forecast Owner User ID | Forecast Type Name | Forecast Type ID | Product Family | Stretch Quota | Period Start Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin Bailey | 00599000000Hofh | OpportunityLineItemRevenue | 0DbD00000001eQ9KAI | Hardware | 20,000 | 2023–03–01 |
| Kevin Bailey | 00599000000Hofh | OpportunityLineItemRevenue | 0DbD00000001eQ9KAI | Software | 35,000 | 2023–04–01 |
Data Mapping
When you complete the import, map the columns in your .csv file to the ForecastingCustomData object as shown in this table.
| Column Headers in CSV File | Forecasting Fields |
|---|---|
| User ID | ForecastingOwnerID |
| Forecast Type ID | ForecastingTypeID |
| Period Start Date | StartDate |
| Product Family (needed only when the forecast data source is Product Families) | ProductFamily |
| Territory ID (needed only for territory forecast types) | ForecastingTypeID |
| Reference data columns | The name of your custom number or currency field in the Forecasting Custom Data object |