Why doprobability divides expected revenue in business contact man

[Pete]

I am quite new to Microsoft Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2003 so I am
still entering my data from previously used software.

Whlie entering opportunities I noticed that in the opportunities view the
'Expected Revenue' amount gets divided by the 'Probability' amount. WHY??

I can not see how there is a relationship between these two things and
certainly not to the point where a calculation should be made with these
figures.

If I am looking to sell a 'Widget' for £100 and there is a 25% chance of
getting the order then my expected revenue is not £25 as I either sell the 1
widget or I don't.

Please tell me if this is a setting that I can change or do I need to change
all my probabilities to 100%...which sort of defeats the object I think.

 

[Ian]

Pete,

I don’t think you’ve missed anything here. I believe it’s a “design
featureâ€. That’s why we use BCM for contact management and Exel for
forecasting.

Ian

 

[Pete]

Thank you for your reply Ian,

At least I now know that it is not just my set-up that does this crazy
calculation.
Looks like all probabilities will be set to 100% then.

I am amazed that the people who rote this software decided that calculation
should be made. Even someone with no sales knowledge can see that it is just
WRONG.

Here's hoping that someone at MS finds this post and decideds to change
this...one day.

Pete

 

[redbananaman]

Hi ,

For what its worth I have just started using it and noticed this too...basic
business understanding doesnt seem to count for much at MS!

Pity otherwise I am finding this a useful tool.....

Did you raise this with Microsoft?

/Mark

 

[Luther]

Hi ,

For what its worth I have just started using it and noticed this too...basic
business understanding doesnt seem to count for much at MS!

Pity otherwise I am finding this a useful tool.....

Did you raise this with Microsoft?

/Mark









- Show quoted text -

I assume Expected Revenue is intended to be aggregated across all
opportunities for pipeline and sales funnel reports. No one expects
you to sell 25% of a single widget. 25% is the probability of the
opportunity going through.

I'd bet that the Expected Revenue = Opportunity Value x Probablity
feature is based on customer research, surveys, focus groups, etc.
That's the way the default behaviors of features in Microsoft apps are
usually decided.