General definition: Sales Forecasting is a critical use case that enables organizations to estimate future sales performance across products, services, and channels. This use case supports data-driven planning in areas such as inventory management, cash flow projections, and sales capacity planning. It enables the creation of reliable sales projections that drive business strategy and operational planning. This use case generally includes the end-to-end sales forecasting process from pipeline generation tracking, pipeline health, through the end of the sales cycle.
Value it delivers: By centralizing and standardizing the sales forecasting process, organizations can improve forecast accuracy, align resources more effectively, and make more informed business decisions.
How Anaplan delivers that value: Anaplan provides a comprehensive platform for predicting sales volumes and revenue in upcoming time periods, supporting strategic decision-making and resource allocation. The software facilitates the creation of detailed sales forecasts using historical data, market trends, and current pipeline information. Users can develop forecasts at various levels of granularity, from individual products or services to entire business units or geographical regions. The platform supports both bottom-up and top-down forecasting methodologies, allowing for alignment between field-level projections and corporate targets. Advanced modeling and scenario planning capabilities enable sales leaders to simulate different market conditions and assess their potential impact on sales outcomes. The system includes robust what-if analysis tools, allowing users to adjust variables such as pricing, product mix, or market share to understand their effects on forecast results. Reporting features provide clear visualizations of forecast data, including trend analysis and variance reporting against actual performance. The platform supports collaborative forecasting processes, enabling input from various stakeholders across sales, marketing, and finance departments.
Typical inputs for this use case:
- Historical sales data
- Market trends
- Pipeline information
- Commit stages (Commit, Won, Lost)
- Salesforce Opportunities data
What this use case feeds into:
- Anaplan use cases:
  1. Sales & Marketing: Quota Planning
  2. Sales & Marketing: Territory Planning
  3. Sales & Marketing: Sales Capacity Planning
  4. Finance: Revenue Planning & Forecasting
  5. Supply Chain: Demand Forecasting
  6. Workforce (HR): Operational Workforce Planning
- Other business benefits:
  - Strategic decision-making
  - Optimized resource allocation
  - Improved Sales capacity planning

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