Manage Your Forecast Fact Object for Advanced Account Forecasting

A forecast fact object stores generated forecast values, such as forecast revenue and quantity. Each forecast fact record represents a set of forecast values for a combination of dimensions and a forecast set. The fields in a forecast fact object represent dimensions, such as account and product, and measures, such as opportunity quantity and forecasted revenue. The records in a forecast fact object are updated based on forecast set configurations whenever the forecast data calculations happen. Advanced Account Forecasting includes a predefined forecast fact object called Advanced Account Forecast Fact. To meet your business needs, you can add fields to the Advanced Account Forecast Fact object or create a custom forecast fact object.

Required Editions

Available in: Lightning Experience

Available in: Enterprise, Unlimited, and Developer Editions

User Permissions Needed
To modify forecast settings:	Customize Application

The Advanced Account Forecast Fact object includes fields that represent dimensions and measures. The object includes these fields for dimensions.

• Product
• Period
• Account

The object includes these fields for measures.

• Opportunity Quantity
• Opportunity Revenue
• Order Quantity
• Order Revenue
• Last Year Order Quantity
• Last Year Order Revenue
• Sales Agreement Quantity
• Sales Agreement Revenue
• Forecasted Quantity
• Forecasted Revenue

Customize the Advanced Account Forecast Fact Object

Save time and effort in setting up forecasting by extending the predefined Advanced Account Forecast Fact object. Define new dimensions and measures by creating fields in the Advanced Account Forecast Fact object.

1. Add a field in the Advanced Account Forecast Fact object to represent a dimension.
   1. From the object management settings for Advanced Account Forecast Fact, go to Fields & Relationships.
   2. Select Lookup Relationships as the data type, and click Next.
   3. For Related To, select the object that serves as the context for the forecasts.
   4. For Field Label, Field Name, and Child Relationship Name, use the auto-populated values or edit them if necessary.
   5. Click Next.
   6. Set field-level security settings for each profile, and then click Next.
   7. Select the page layouts that you want to include this field in.
   8. Specify the details of the related list, and then save your changes.
2. Add a field in the Advanced Account Forecast Fact object to represent a measure.
   1. From the object management settings for Advanced Account Forecast Fact, go to Fields & Relationships.
   2. Click New.
   3. Select Number, Currency, or Formula as the data type, and then click Next.
   4. Specify the details of the field, such as its name and description, and then click Next.
   5. Set field-level security settings for each profile, and then click Next.
   6. Select the page layouts that you want to include the field in, and save your changes.

Example

A manufacturing company uses Advanced Account Forecast Fact as the forecast fact object to store their forecast data. The company's sales team wants to track forecasts with product category as a dimension and forecasted gross margin percent as a measure. The Salesforce admin creates two fields in the Advanced Account Forecast Fact object.

• A lookup field to the Category object called Product Category
• A formula type field called Forecasted Gross Margin Percent

Create a Custom Forecast Fact Object

Meet your unique forecasting requirements and bring flexibility to your forecasting model by creating a custom forecast fact object. Create objects that focus on particular segments of your business, such as different product lines, regions, or customer types. Add fields in the custom forecast fact object to represent dimensions and measures for the forecasts.

1. Create a custom forecast fact object.
   1. In Setup, open Object Manager.
   2. Click Create | Custom Object.
   3. Enter a label, an object name, and other details.
      See Fields Required for Creating Custom Objects.
   4. Save your changes.
2. Add a lookup field to the object that serves as the context for the forecasts in the custom forecast fact object.
   For example, to create forecasts for accounts, create a lookup to the Account object.
   1. From the object management settings for the custom forecast fact object, go to Fields & Relationships.
   2. Click New.
   3. Select Lookup Relationships as the data type, and click Next.
   4. For Related To, select the object that serves as the context for the forecasts.
   5. For Field Label, Field Name, and Child Relationship Name, use the auto-populated values or edit them if necessary.
   6. Click Next.
   7. Set field-level security settings for each profile, and then click Next.
   8. Select the page layouts that you want to include this field in.
   9. Specify the details of the related list, and then save your changes.
3. Add a lookup field to the Period object in the custom forecast fact object.
   1. From the object management settings for the custom forecast fact object, go to Fields & Relationships.
   2. Click New.
   3. Select Text as the data type, and click Next.
   4. For Field Label, enter Period.
      The Field Name is auto-populated.
   5. For Length, enter 18.
   6. Select Required, and specify other details as necessary.
   7. Click Next.
   8. Set field-level security settings for each profile, and then click Next.
   9. Select the page layouts that you want to include this field in, then save your changes.
4. Add a field in the custom forecast fact object to represent a dimension.
   1. From the object management settings for the custom forecast fact object, go to Fields & Relationships.
   2. Select Lookup Relationships as the data type, and click Next.
   3. For Related To, select the object that serves as the context for the forecasts.
   4. For Field Label, Field Name, and Child Relationship Name, use the auto-populated values or edit them if necessary.
   5. Click Next.
   6. Set field-level security settings for each profile, and then click Next.
   7. Select the page layouts that you want to include this field in.
   8. Specify the details of the related list, and then save your changes.
   9. Similarly, add more dimensions.
5. Add a field in the custom forecast fact object to represent a measure.
   1. From the object management settings for the custom forecast fact object, go to Fields & Relationships.
   2. Click New.
   3. Select Number, Currency, or Formula as the data type, and then click Next.
   4. Specify the details of the field, such as its name and description, and then click Next.
   5. Set field-level security settings for each profile, and then click Next.
   6. Select the page layouts that you want to include the field in, and save your changes.
   7. Similarly, add more measures.