Re: Forecast question by Simon
Simon
Mon Feb 26 13:28:37 CST 2007
Thanks a lot for the help, I really appreciate it.
I was able to add the new fields (a lot easier than I expected) and now I
will start to work on th report.
I will use SQL 2005.
Simon
"MD" <MD@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9D07AB33-76B3-40FF-B53B-8CFA9C0C0FA6@microsoft.com...
> Not hard at all, so long as you have customization permissions. All
> Customizations to CRM forms and their attributes is accessed through the
> CRM
> UI.
>
> Check out the CRM Help Menu -- this will give you the path to the
> Opportunity Customization form. Adding new attributes is fairly intuitive
> once you're there. Just add those 2 (or 4) new DateTime fields and go from
> there.
>
> The main thing to remember when setting up your Opportunities (or any
> record
> type for that matter) is leveraging the capturing of data, vs. reporting
> on
> it.
>
> What I mean by that is that sales people will always want to enter as
> little
> data as possible, so your opportunity should capture key variables
> (start/end
> date, est. revenue), and let your reporting system do the math for you
> (Est.
> Revenue/DATEDIF(StartDate,EndDate,"M") (for the $/Month) -- Don't quote me
> on
> the syntax for this function, but that's the idea...
>
> With a little more effort on the SQL/Excel side, you can place the monthly
> revenue in the appropriate month, based on working business days. Since,
> in
> December, you'd work less business days than in January, so you projected
> revenue for December would be less than Proj rev for Jan.
>
>
> "Simon Renshaw" wrote:
>
>> How hard would it be to add those date fields in Opportunities?
>>
>> "MD" <MD@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:6D865286-3F44-49CB-BAC8-B68B6FFD956C@microsoft.com...
>> > I'd recommend Forcasting this in a Report (in SQL/SRS or Excel/Access)
>> > where
>> > you'll have an easier time breaking out the CRM data into Monthly
>> > forcasted
>> > revenue.
>> >
>> > First Step is to set up 2 Date fields in Opportunities called "Start
>> > Date"
>> > and "End Date" (actually, 4, Start Date (Proposed), End Date
>> > (Proposed),
>> > Start Date (Actual), End Date (Actual). Along with your Contract Amount
>> > (Using the system "Est. Revenue" field, or you own) and a SQL/Excel
>> > DATEDIF
>> > functions (that look at your start and end dates and give you the # of
>> > months) you have all the data points you need to calculate Est. Monthly
>> > revenue.
>> >
>> > You can use these new fields/calculations to modify the built in SRS
>> > pipeline report, or build your own...
>> >
>> > --Michael
>> >
>> > "Simon Renshaw" wrote:
>> >
>> >> Hi,
>> >>
>> >> We are a consulting company and most of our sales will have a contract
>> >> amount say $100,000.00 with a start day of 1/1/2007 and an end date of
>> >> 3/31/2007. We will invoice monthly for our services so the forecast
>> >> should
>> >> reflect $33,333.33 for January, $33,333.33 for February and $33,333.34
>> >> for
>> >> March. (I am not worried about where the penny goes.)
>> >>
>> >> How do we set up opportunities and price list to reflect such a
>> >> business
>> >> model? Can this be done with CRM 3?
>> >>
>> >> Thanks!
>> >> Simon
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>>
>>