Should Sales Forecast replace Sales Goals?
Yes ,Forecasts are the modern, recommended replacement for Goals.
Microsoft has effectively shifted focus from the old Sales Goal Management feature to the Sales Forecasting module.
The Goal Management feature is now considered legacy and may be deprecated in future releases.
Forecasts offer richer visualization, flexibility, integration with Dynamics 365 Sales Insights, and better hierarchy support (e.g., by Manager/Team/Product).
Forecasts also allow editable grids, real-time rollups, and custom metrics without relying on background recalculations like Goals.
👉 Recommendation: Move to Sales Forecasts and plan to phase out Goals.
Should the Forecast setup follow a Top-Down approach?
Yes, that’s the best practice.
Forecast hierarchies typically follow the organizational reporting structure:
Director → Sales Manager → Sales Representatives
This approach allows:
The Director to set top-level quotas.
Managers to distribute quotas to their team members.
Sales Reps to update their pipeline and deal statuses, which roll up to higher levels automatically.
Dynamics Forecasts can be built using Manager hierarchies, territory hierarchies, or custom structures — whichever matches your organization’s model.
Can we limit visibility when exporting the Forecast template?
By default, when you export the forecast template (Excel) from the system, the visibility follows record-level access and the forecast definition security settings.
However, as you’ve noticed:
Managers can currently see quotas assigned to other managers when exporting.
To limit visibility:
You can apply one of the following options:
Set the Forecast’s Security Model to “User” level
Configure the forecast definition → Permissions tab → set “Forecast access” to limit visibility to My team’s data only.
This prevents cross-manager visibility.
Use separate Forecast Definitions per business unit or region.
If your hierarchy allows, create a forecast per region/team.
This isolates data during export.
Custom Excel export view
Build a Power Automate flow or Power BI export logic that respects user access and filters the export by current user.
Currently, there’s no OOB setting to restrict export visibility per Manager directly in the template download — but hierarchy-based filtering and security roles can effectively control it.
Can we trigger a notification when Director assigns a quota to a Manager?
Yes,you can easily automate this with Power Automate.
Here’s how:
Process:
Entity to Monitor: msdyn_forecastconfiguration or msdyn_forecastrow
Trigger: When a forecast quota is created or updated (for example, when the Director updates the Manager’s quota value).
Condition: Check if the msdyn_ownerid or managerid matches a Sales Manager.
Action: Send a notification (email, Teams, or D365 in-app notification) to that Manager.
Optional Step: Allow the Manager to confirm receipt and then update their team’s quotas accordingly.
You can even add Power Automate approvals if you want a structured hand-off (Director → Manager → Sales Reps).
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