How to Read the Forecast Export
Overview
The forecast export designed to extract your historical forecast data and act as a database that you can manipulate to gain important insights such as who is updating their forecast regularly, forecast accuracy, and compare managers and reps calls.
In this article, you'll learn how to read the forecast export. This includes:
- Forecast Export Types
- Columns in the Forecast Export
Forecast Export Types
There are 3 types of forecast exports.
Simple: Includes the historical data for what the team has entered as forecast values.
Detailed: Includes the simple export plus historical details for any notes that users added when they submitted their forecast.
Full: Includes the detailed export plus any quotas that have been loaded and the current value of any read-only field.
Note: Only the current values entered in read-only fields will be displayed because Clari does not store the historical values of these read-only fields in Forecasting.
Most of the time, you probably want to export the Full Forecast Export. However, if you are working at a very large organization, for example, then the Full Forecast Export might be too large. You may need to use the Detailed or Simple Forecast Export options.
In the Forecast Export, you'll find a unique row for every data type for every field for every week of the quarter for every individual user.
Columns in the Forecast Export
User
This column contains the name of the user.
Email
This column contains the email of the user.
CRM User ID
This column contains the unique Salesforce User ID of the user. This ID is also included in exports from Clari's User Management Module.
Role
This column contains the Salesforce role of the user.
Parent Role
This column contains the role that is directly above the role of the user in Salesforce.
Timeframe
This column contains the time period that the field in associated with. For a quarterly field, you'll see it labeled as Q1, Q2, Q3, or Q4. For a monthly field, you would see it labeled with the month and the fiscal year (i.e. Jan FY 2020, Feb FY 2020).
Field
This column contains the name of the field in the grid in Forecasting. The fields will be named as the columns in your Forecasting Module are labeled, which might include Plan or Quota, Commit or Most Likely, Best Case or Upside, etc.
Week
This column contains the week within the quarter that the data was saved from.
Note: We snapshot the values entered in forecast call fields once a week. If you were to submit/update your forecast twice in one week, Clari will only save the last number that you submitted for that week.
Note: If you see a week 0 in your forecast export, it's because a user entered their forecast call for the next quarter at some point before that quarter started/became the current quarter. We save the value that they entered in this row with the week identified as "0." If a user updates their forecast call for a future quarter more than once before it starts, Clari will save the last forecast call that they entered in week 0.
Start Day and End Day
These columns contain the specific start and end dates associated with each "week" in the quarter.
Note: In Forecasting, week boundaries are determined by your forecasting rollover date and a configuration that allows your organization to decide what Clari should do if a quarter begins in the middle of a forecasting week. If the beginning of the quarter starts on a Wednesday, for example, then you can decide to tell Clari that the first week of the quarter should be a short/partial "week" (i.e. this Wednesday to this Sunday = 5 days) or a long "week" (i.e. this Wednesday to next Sunday = 12 days).
Data Type
There are several data points associated with each field in Forecasting, and you'll see a row for each data point or type in the forecast export. This column tells you what type of data you're looking at to ensure that you can make sense of the value listed in the Data Value column to the right of it. There are several different data types that you'll find in the forecast export depending on what type of field you're looking at in that same row.
Forecast Value: This indicates the actual amount entered by the individual contributor, and is associated with forecast call fields (i.e. Commit or Most Likely, Best Case or Upside, etc.).
Forecast Updated: This indicates whether or not the individual contributor actually went into Forecasting and updated their call(s) or number(s), and this data type is associated with forecast call fields.
If a user doesn't need to make any changes to the actual number entered in a forecast call field, they can still double-click on the field in Forecasting and save it, and the forecast export will show that they updated their forecast that week even if the number entered in the field remained the same.
Notes: This indicates the notes that an individual contributor entered when they submitted their forecast call, and is associated with forecast call fields.
Adjusted Value: This indicates the adjusted call/number that a forecasting manager entered when they made a manager override to their report's call/number, and this data type is associated with forecast call fields.
Adjustment Notes: This indicates the notes that a forecasting manager entered when they adjusted their report's forecast call/number, and this data type is associated with forecast call fields.
Opportunities Total: This indicates the Total amount associated with the opportunities related to a forecast call, and is associated with forecast call fields.
For example, if you see the Opportunities Total Data Type for the Commit or Most Likely field in your forecast export, that's going to be the same value that was displayed in the Total amount in the Opportunities panel on the right side of Forecasting when you clicked on the Commit or Most Likely field that week.
In the forecast export, the Data Value associated with the Opportunities Total Data Type will match the Total amount displayed in the Opportunities related to a given Commit call that week. In the case above, it's Lucy's we see in the right panel, since we have Lucy selected.
Closed: This indicates the Closed amount associated with the opportunities related to a forecast call, and is associated with forecast call fields.
For example, if you see the Closed Data Type for the Commit or Most Likely field in your forecast export, that's going to be the same value that displayed in the Closed amount in the Opportunities panel on the right side of Forecasting when you clicked on the Commit or Most Likely field that week.
Quota Value: This indicates the value from the Quota field in Forecasting, and this data type is associated with Quota fields (i.e. Quota, Plan, Budget, etc.).
Booked, Closed Won, Won, etc.: This indicates the value from the Closed field in Forecasting, and this data type is associated with Closed fields (i.e. Booked, Closed-Won, Won, etc.).
Calculations Total: This indicates the value associated with a calculation field in Forecasting (i.e. Commit Coverage, Quota Coverage).
Data Value
These columns contain the actual value associated with each unique User/Field/Week/Data Type combination in each row. The values that you see in this column depend on the type of data you're looking at.
XLS Calculator Template
Now that you know how to read the export, here is how you can use it to:
- Calculate forecast accuracy across fiscal periods, comparing Clari's projection
- Forecast accuracy across the team by rep
Use this Google Sheets template. Go to File > Download > Microsoft Excel to use the template.
