Connect the sources
Read opportunities through the available CRM API, orders through the ERP interface and actuals from a database or file. Set the required reporting period for each source.
Illustrative use case
Plan sales with up-to-date data
Bring customer deals, open orders and actual sales together. Data Bridge keeps these forecasting inputs up to date so your team can plan using current information.
CRMERPIBM Planning AnalyticsUBC Analytics
HOW THE WORKFLOW RUNS
CRMERPIBM Planning AnalyticsUBC Analytics
01Connect the sources
02Align business dimensions
03Separate the measures
04Deliver planning inputs
THE CHALLENGE
What slows the work down
The CRM holds opportunities, the ERP holds orders, and actual sales arrive in another export. Customer codes, product identifiers and dates differ between sources. During the weekly forecast review, people spend time reconciling versions rather than understanding what changed and deciding what to do next.
Commercial directors, FP&A teams and sales analysts.A PRACTICAL EXAMPLE
Illustrative scenario: a distributor refreshes actuals, open orders and its opportunity pipeline in Planning Analytics before a weekly sales review. Managers continue forecasting in their existing model while Data Bridge supplies consistently prepared inputs.
HOW THE WORKFLOW RUNS
From the first step to the right action.
Align business dimensions
Map customers, products, channels and currencies. Maintain the mappings in the workflow so subsequent runs apply the same agreed preparation rules.
Separate the measures
Prepare actuals, confirmed orders and opportunities as distinct measures. Check record keys and overlaps so different stages of the same sale are not inadvertently combined.
Deliver planning inputs
Simulate the workflow, then load prepared measures into the target model. Review the run history and confirm the period and coverage of the resulting data.
VALUE FOR THE TEAM
Make the work repeatable.
- Maintained mappings reduce conflicting interpretations of the same customer or product across reporting sources.
- Analysts can refresh a selected period without manually rebuilding the complete preparation process each time.
- Reviewers can distinguish actuals, orders and potential business rather than relying on an unexplained combined total.
Keep control of the result.
- Define record keys and rules for transactions that move from an opportunity into an order or completed sale.
- Check source freshness and coverage of the requested period before writing the resulting dataset.
- Keep forecast calculations and management assumptions in the appropriate planning model rather than implying that data integration predicts demand.
THE WORKFLOW OUTCOME
Planning receives traceable inputs instead of disconnected exports, supporting a more focused forecast discussion.
Capabilities behind this workflowFROM IDEA TO WORKING FLOW
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Sources, rules and outcomes — let’s build the conversation around your workflow.