Revamped forecasting in Zoho CRM
Forecasting is an important part of a business's strategy to help set meaningful targets, optimize their sales strategies to help users achieve said target and drive revenue for the business.
With this in mind, we've brought a number of different enhancements to Zoho CRM's forecasting capabilities to help businesses understand their pipeline better, make accurate forecasts, set realistic targets, and help sales teams achieve them. Earlier in December, we briefed about these enhancements in forecasts in our Winter '21 announcement. We are thrilled to talk about these changes in detail here.
Create multiple and condition based forecasts across different periods
Businesses were limited to just a single forecast that encompasses all deals, but now you can create multiple forecasts, which can include all your deals or deals that match specified conditions, with a greater control of the forecast periods.
Forecasts can be created for all the available hierarchy:
- Role/Reporting to
- Territory
Forecasts can be created monthly or quarterly for the following forecast periods.
- Current - 4 Quarters / 12 months of current fiscal year
- Future - 4 Quarters / 12 months of the next fiscal year
- Completed - The previous 2 fiscal years
Forecast types
Two forecasts types can be created which are based around the attribute that is used to set targets for your users:
- Deal Revenue based forecasts - These are forecasts where the targets are based on currency fields like deal amount, expected revenue or other custom currency fields defined the deals module
- Deal Quantity based forecasts - These are forecasts where the targets are based on system defined fields like "count of deals" and other custom number fields
Introducing Best Case and Committed deals under "Forecast Category"
In the current forecasting, deals only had three forecast categories that were associated with them.
- Closed won - Deal was marked "Won"
- Closed lost - Deal was marked "omitted"
- Open - Deal was marked "Pipeline"
Now open deals can be tagged with new options under the forecast category:
- Best case - Open deals that have a high chance of being won
- Committed - Open deals that sales reps commit to winning
Instead of generalising all open deals as pipeline deals, this split gives a better picture as to where a particular sales rep stands in terms of the deals in their pipeline. This allows the administrator to make a more informed decision when setting targets for a particular user.
Sales reps also have the option to update the forecast category in a specific deal manually, to the appropriate option when the situation calls for it. The deal amount will then be updated in your forecast during its next sync
Transparent split of deals in your pipeline for optimal targets
When setting targets for your users, a popup with your pipeline data shows the split of deals to give you a better picture of where each user stands in-terms of sales numbers.
The deals are split into open and closed won deals, with the open deals being further split into best cases, committed and pipeline deals.
Zia offers target suggestions and predicts target achievement
When creating forecasts, there are two choices. They can be built from the ground up as a completely new forecast, or they can be linked and created from an existing forecast.
When creating a continuous forecast, Zia will calculate and suggest targets based on the historical data of your selected forecasts. This will be available in the forecast create page when setting targets.
The historical and current deal closure pattern of users will be analysed as well to give you the predicted target achievement for the users. Achievement predictions will be available in the target achievement report.
Compare your performance across different forecast periods
All your created forecasts will be available in a list view under the forecast module. You can now drill down into a particular forecast and compare how your business performance fared across the years.
Depending on the duration selected in the filter, the following data will be consolidated and shown at the top :
- Total target
- Achievement
- Gap
Under the consolidated data, the forecast data for each quarter/month for the selected duration will be listed for a bird's eye view analysis. You can then drill down further to analyse the performance of individual users or roles if required.
Archived Forecast
The purpose of having forecasts is to keep track of the company's performance on various levels of the organization. Thus far, the forecast list view page shows data only for the completed two years, the current year, and one future year. So, as your business continues, you would be losing forecast records beyond two previous years. This clearly beats the purpose of having forecasts as the past data might still be significantly important. Hence, we have introduced archived forecasts as our latest enhancement.
- The forecast list view displays up to 2 completed years' data. Now, the forecasts created beyond these two years will be archived automatically.
For example, suppose the current forecast is for Q3 2021. The list view has records for completed forecasts since Q1 2019. The forecasts before Q1 2019 would be archived. - If a forecast configuration is edited, the current and future forecasts based on old configuration will be deleted while the completed forecasts will be archived.
For the above example of point 1, if you edit the hierarchy or any other configuration, the completed forecasts will be archived, and the current forecast for Q3 2021 will be deleted along with any future forecasts created.
When will forecasts be archived?
- Completed forecasts over two years from the current year will be archived. For example, if the current year is 2022, forecasts of 2021, and 2019 will be available on the forecast list view page. Forecasts older than 2019 will be archived.
- Forecasts will be archived automatically upon editing forecast configuration- changing either the hierarchy or forecast type.
For example if the Hierarchy is Reporting To, and its changed to Territory, or edit the forecast type, the existing forecasts would be archived. - Forecast will be archived if the hierarchy preferences are modified in Company Details.
In the archived forecast page, the forecasts are listed in chronological order. You can also filter them based on Hierarchy, Forecast Type, and Time.
Notes
- The archived forecasts cannot be edited, they are just for viewing purposes. Users can delete a forecast.
- Up to 5 years of forecasts records would be available as archive.
- Changing when the Fiscal Year of your org begins, say changing it from January to April, will delete all the existing forecasts as well as the archived forecasts.
Empowering forecast managers
Forecast managers can now build their own forecasts and assign targets to their role, their own target, their peers and sub roles & users. Individual teams can have their own distinct forecasts and targets which can be focused on. These forecasts will be visible for the Admin, CEO and the forecast manager of a higher role who can monitor these forecasts and update them when needed.
If a forecast manager's target has been modified by the CEO, admin or a forecast manager from a higher role, the modified target is locked and cannot be changed by the forecast manager.
That's all about the enhancements. For more details check out our help page Creating and Working with Forecasts.
We have opened this new forecast for all users subscribed to the paid editions of Zoho CRM, in all DCs. For users who are currently using the old forecasts, they will have the option to switch to new forecast till June end. Post which, it will be mandatory to switch to the new forecasts to access the forecast module.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Access your files securely from anywhere
New to Zoho Recruit?
Zoho Developer Community
New to Zoho LandingPage?
Zoho LandingPage Resources
New to Zoho Survey?
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Bigin?
Topic Participants
Nizamuddin Sohel SK
gavinpereira
Ishwarya SG
Jackie Koehler
Sunderjan Siddharth
Sticky Posts
Good news! Calendar in Zoho CRM gets a face lift
Dear Customers, We are delighted to unveil the revamped calendar UI in Zoho CRM. With a complete visual overhaul aligned with CRM for Everyone, the calendar now offers a more intuitive and flexible scheduling experience. What’s new? Distinguish activitiesVoC in Zoho CRM is now data savvy: Explore response drilldown, summary components and participation in CRM criteria
VoC has all the goods when it comes to customer intelligence—which is why we're constantly enhancing it. We recently added the following: A customer drilldown component that shows you the list of prospects and customers behind a chart's attribute ExpandedWrapping up 2025 on a high note: CRM Release Highlights of the year
Dear Customers, 2025 was an eventful year for us at Zoho CRM. We’ve had releases of all sizes and impact, and we are excited to look back, break it down, and rediscover them with you! Before we rewind—we’d like to take a minute and sincerely thank youPresenting ABM for Zoho CRM: Expand and retain your customers with precision
Picture this scenario: You're a growing SaaS company ready to launch a powerful business suite, and are looking to gain traction and momentum. But as a business with a tight budget, you know acquiring new customers is slow, expensive, and often deliversCreate and populate a record in an instant: Introducing zero-shot field prompting to Zia's ICR
A couple of months ago, we upgraded our in-house AI image detection and validation tool, Zia Vision, with intelligent character recognition (ICR). By training Zia with sample images, you could create and enrich CRM records with data extracted from standard
New to Zoho TeamInbox?
Zoho TeamInbox Resources
Zoho CRM Plus Resources
Zoho Books Resources
Zoho Subscriptions Resources
Zoho Projects Resources
Zoho Sprints Resources
Qntrl Resources
Zoho Creator Resources
Zoho CRM Resources
Design. Discuss. Deliver.
Zoho Show Resources
Get Started. Write Away!
Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.
Zoho CRM コンテンツ
-
オンラインヘルプ
-
Webセミナー
-
機能活用動画
-
よくある質問
-
Ebook
-
-
Zoho Campaigns
- Zoho サービスのWebセミナー
その他のサービス コンテンツ
Nederlandse Hulpbronnen
ご検討中の方
Recent Topics
Zoho Books - How to Invoke a Custom Function in Schedulers
We have multiple schedulers that send emails to customers in batches. Currently, we are maintaining the same code across several schedulers. Is it possible to use a custom function inside a scheduler script? If yes, how can we invoke the custom functionSpecial characters (like â, â, æ) breaking when input in a field (encoding issue)
Hey everyone, We are currently dealing with a probably encoding issue when we populate a field (mostly but not exclusively, 'Last Name' for Leads and Contracts). If the user manually inputs special characters (like ä, â, á etc.) from Scandinavian languages,Set Custom Icon for Custom Modules in new Zoho CRM UI
Portals-Adjust Column Sizes
I am trying to adjust the column widths in Portals tabs. Columns that don't need to be wide are wide and longer ones are very short. I thought adding more to the digits box in Edit would widen them, but it doesn't. Anyone know how to adjust these?All new Address Field in Zoho CRM: maintain structured and accurate address inputs
The address field will be available exclusively for IN DC users. We'll keep you updated on the DC-specific rollout soon. It's currently available for all new sign-ups and for existing Zoho CRM orgs which are in the Professional edition. Latest updateis there any way to change the "chat with us now" to custom message?
is there any way to change the "chat with us now" to custom message? I want to change this textNotes badge as a quick action in the list view
Hello all, We are introducing the Notes badge in the list view of all modules as a quick action you can perform for each record, in addition to the existing Activity badge. With this enhancement, users will have quick visibility into the notes associatedIs Zoho Live Chat compatible with WordPress CMS?
Hello, I have a website called www.jjrlab.com and I'm interested in using Zoho Chat on it. Does it support WordPress CMS? Thanks.Introducing spam detection for webforms: An additional layer of protection to keep your Zoho CRM clean and secure
Greetings all, One of the most highly anticipated feature launches—Spam Detection in webforms—has finally arrived! Webforms are a vital tool for record generation, but they're also vulnerable to submissions from unauthenticated or malicious sources, whichBring your CRM and Desk app inside SalesIQ with widgets
Have you ever been confused and frustrated with multiple open tabs and switching back and forth from SalesIQ to other apps to perform your business-specific operations? How effective would it be to have all the required tools and data of the apps youSpeak Your Customers' Language: SalesIQ's chatbots now support 30 languages 🤖
We're unveiling some major upgrades to our chatbot that are set to revolutionize your experience! Now SalesIQ support 30 languages for both Zobot and Answer bot. By speaking your customers' language, you can enhance engagement, improve customer satisfaction,record submitted from creator and invoice is creating in books , but the workflow of books is not tiggering on create of record in books
record submitted from creator and invoice is creating in books , but the workflow of books is not tiggering on create of record in books headermap = Map(); headermap.put("X-ZOHO-Execute-CustomFunction","true"); response_inv = invokeurl [ url :"https://www.zohoapis.com/books/v3/invoices/fromsalesorder?salesorder_id="Repeat Column merge in ZOHO writer columns doesn't allow to set max columns per row
I'm using ZOHO writer to merge data from a ZOHO CRM subform and I want it to make a table. We're using Insert Table for Column Repeat, because this is what we need. (Name of column (Teamname) and underneath that a list of names of teammembers). It worksPersisting email signals to contact timeline?
Hello there. Regarding the email signals that are logged when a contact opens an email, am I correct that these signals are not logged to a contact's timeline? Ideally, I would like to have this context available for future follow-ups, if the contactTrouble with using Apostrophe in Name of Customers and Vendors
We have had an ongoing issue with how the system recognizes an apostrophe in the name of customers and vendors. The search will not return any results for a name that includes the mark; ie one of our vendors names is "L'Heritage" and when entering theReally want the field "Company" in the activities module!
Hi team! Something we are really missing is able to see the field Company when working in the activities module. We have a lot of tasks and need to see what company it's related to. It's really annoying to not be able to see it.🙈 Thx!Unable to Assign Multiple Categories to a Single Product in Zoho Commerce
Hello Zoho Commerce Support Team, I am facing an issue while assigning categories to products in Zoho Commerce. I want to assign multiple categories to a single product, but in the Item edit page, the Category field allows selecting only one categoryUpcoming update to Google Drive integration in Zoho Creator
Hello everyone, We're writing to inform you about an upcoming update to how Zoho Creator integrates with Google Drive. In Zoho Creator, during actions like importing files to create an app or attaching files to fields, you can choose files directly fromManaging Scheduled Replies
Communication is most effective when the intended message reaches the right person at the right time. However, this can be challenging when communication occurs across different time zones. By scheduling replies, businesses can ensure that responses reachShow price book list price
When using price books, once you add products to the price book in the Products related list you can display the Unit price which is the default list price; however, there is no option to show the price book list price. To see the price book list priceAllow Attaching Quartz Recordings to Existing Zoho Support Tickets
Hi Zoho Team, We would like to request an enhancement to how Zoho Quartz recordings integrate with Zoho Support tickets. Current Behavior: At the moment, each Quartz recording automatically creates a new support ticket. However, in many real-world scenarios:Issue with open-rate reporting in Zoho Campaigns
Hello, Since yesterday I’ve been experiencing an issue with the open-rate reports in Zoho Campaigns. The campaigns I send appear in the reports as if none of the emails have been opened, even though I know they have. To verify this, I replicated the campaignCan I hide empty Contact fields from view?
Some contacts have a lot of empty fields, others are mostly filled. Is there a way I can hide/show empty fields without changing the actual Layout? I would like to de-clutter my view, and also be able to add information later as I am able. I would beManage user roles and profiles from the Bigin app (iOS and macOS)
Hello everyone! We're happy to announce that you can manage user roles and profiles from the Bigin mobile app. The Users & Controls section has three subsections: Users, Profiles, and Roles. Users Employees who belong to your Bigin organization are calledSupport Bots and Automations in External Channels
Hello Zoho Cliq Team, How are you? We actively use Zoho Cliq for collaboration, including with our external developers. For this purpose, external channels are a key tool since they work seamlessly within the same interface as all of our other channelsZoho Books Sandbox environment
Hello. Is there a free sandbox environment for the developers using Zoho Books API? I am working on the Zoho Books add-on and currently not ready to buy a premium service - maybe later when my add-on will start to bring money. Right now I just need aForm to PDF template
I am looking to create a Form and when information is inputted, it will merge it into a PDF template we already have. There could be multiple lines in the form and each line inputs information into a new page of a PDF template.Please verify my account
Hi, We have just launched our website and received media coverage in our country. Hundreds of users are signing up for our platform every day. We would like to send them a welcome email, but we are unable to do so because our ZeptoMail account has notSubject character limit increase
We have an occasional user case where subject lines exceed 500 characters which is the ZeptoMail imposed limit. While I understand long subject lines are not "best practice", these are particular notification emails with specific information for clientAccount blocked
Yesterday I got my Zeptomail account blocked due to too many hard bounces. My account is used exclusively for sending transactional emails (eg. your order has been shipped, a form has been filled, etc) and the sudden blocking impacted hundreds of websitesNested notebooks
Dear Sir/Madam, I would like to know if it is possible to nest notebooks. It would be very helpful when there are too many, as it would improve organization. Thank you for your response. Best regards.Whats that
Price?Proactive Alert for Existing Open Tickets per Contact / Account
Hello Zoho Desk Team, Greetings, and hope you’re doing well. We would like to submit a feature request aimed at improving agent awareness and efficiency when handling tickets in Zoho Desk. Use case When an agent opens a ticket (new or existing), it isShift-Centric View for Assigning and Managing Shifts in Zoho People
Hello Zoho People Product Team, Greetings and hope you are doing well. This feature request is related to Zoho People - please don't move it to zoho one! We would like to submit a feature request regarding the shift assignment and management view in ZohoAdd the ability to Hide Pages in Page Rules
Hi, We have Field Rules to show and hide fields and we have page Rules, but we can't hide a page in Page Rules so it isn't completed before the previous page (And then have the Deny Rules to prevent submitting without both pages completed), we can onlyTicket resolution field - can you add links, video, and images?
Seems like the ticket resolution fields is just a text field. Any plans to add the ability to add links, images...the same functionality in the problem description box? I would like to send the customer a link to a KB article, a link to our Wiki, embedTicket Resolution - Add rich formatting, screenshots and attachments
The resolution field only allows plain text at the moment. Many of our resolutions involve posting screenshots as evidence, it would be great for us to be able to have rich text formatting, be able to paste screenshots and add attachments in the solutionDeprecation Notice: OpenAI Assistants API will be shut down on August 26, 2026
I recieved this email from openAI what does it means for us that are using the integration and what should we do? Earlier this year, we shared our plan to deprecate the Assistants API once the Responses API reached feature parity. With the launch of Conversations,CRUD actions for Resources via API
Hello, is it possible to perform CRUD actions through the API for Resources? We want to create a sync from Zoho CRM Car record to Bookings resources to create availabilities for Car bookings. For Test drives, not only the sales person needs to be available,Kaizen #140 - Integrating Blog feed scraping service into Zoho CRM Dashboard
Howdy Tech Wizards! Welcome to a fresh week of kaizen. This week, we will look at how to create a dashboard widget that displays the most recent blog post of your preferred products/services, updated daily at a specific time. We will leverage the potentialNext Page