The quarterly forecast rolls up from every region, with the gaps explained

Each regional manager's forecast call is checked against the deals in Salesforce, every difference gets a reason, and the sales head has one national forecast the same day.

Used day to day by
  • Sales head
  • Regional sales managers
  • Sales operations team

How it runs with AI

The AI reads each regional sheet as it arrives and checks the call against the Commit deals in Salesforce. It asks managers on Teams about each difference and records their reasons. Then it rolls the calls into one national forecast, with the gap to target explained for each region, and the sales head sends it to the CFO the same day.

How it is done today

Every week of the quarter, regional managers email their forecast call as an Excel sheet. A sales operations analyst merges the sheets, checks each call against the deals marked Commit in Salesforce and phones managers about every number that differs. The national forecast reaches the CFO days later, with the gaps to target explained in a few hurried lines.

Step by step

Where the work happens, what the AI does, and where it hands over to a person.

  1. Step 1, AI

    Collects each regional manager's forecast sheet from the inbox

    Needs to know: Regional managers list, Forecast sheet layout

    In Outlook , Excel

    Exception to step 1

    Reminds the manager on Teams when a sheet is still missing at the cut-off

  2. Step 2, AI

    Checks each call against the deals marked Commit in Salesforce

    Needs to know: Difference limit, Forecast categories

    In Excel , Salesforce

  3. Step 3, AI

    Asks each of those managers on Teams for the reason and records it

    Needs to know: Manager for each region

    In Microsoft Teams

    Exception to step 3

    Marks the difference as unexplained when the manager has not replied by the cut-off

  4. Step 4, AI

    Rolls up the national forecast, with the gap to target explained for each region

    Needs to know: Targets by region

    In Excel

  5. Step 5, Person

    Reviews the forecast, adjusts any call and sends it to the CFO

    In Outlook , Excel

What stays with a person

  • Reviews the forecast, adjusts any call and sends it to the CFO

Apps in this example

  • Outlook
  • Excel
  • Salesforce
  • Microsoft Teams

The same flow works with the apps you use.

This fits you if

  • Regional managers send their forecast call in Excel every week or fortnight
  • Your deals sit in Salesforce, marked Commit or Best case
  • Someone merges the regional sheets by hand before the forecast reaches finance
  • Leadership often asks why the forecast differs from target

What to watch for

  • The check relies on current deals in Salesforce, so it works best alongside a weekly pipeline clean-up
  • Each regional manager makes their own call. The AI shows where the call and the deals differ, and the manager gives the reason
  • The sales head decides the number that goes to the CFO, and can change any region's call
  • Sales operations sets how large a difference must be to count, so small ones pass through quietly

Read more

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