Forecast User
A Forecast User is a Salesforce user enabled for Collaborative Forecasts who appears in the forecast hierarchy and contributes a forecast number to their manager's roll-up.
Definition
A Forecast User is a Salesforce user enabled for Collaborative Forecasts who appears in the forecast hierarchy and contributes a forecast number to their manager's roll-up. Forecast users hold opportunities, see their own forecast grid in the Forecasts tab, and (if they are a manager) see the rolled-up grids of every user reporting to them in the forecast hierarchy. The role is mandatory: only users marked as Forecast Users have their opportunities rolled into anyone's forecast number.
Enabling a user as a Forecast User is a one-click toggle in Setup, Forecasts Hierarchy. The setting layers on top of the normal user profile and permission set assignments. A user can have the Sales license and a quota and still produce a zero in the forecast grid until the Forecast User flag is on. The hierarchy then determines who sees whose roll-up, with each forecast user reporting up exactly one level per forecast type configured.
The toggle that decides whose opportunities count
The Forecasts Hierarchy node
Setup, Forecasts Hierarchy is the single place to enable or disable a user as a Forecast User and to set their manager in the hierarchy. The page renders the hierarchy as a tree based on role; expanding a role shows the users in it, each with a checkbox for forecast enablement. Saving the page updates both the User table and the Forecasting Hierarchy structure.
Forecast Manager assignment
Inside the same Forecasts Hierarchy page, each role can have one Forecast Manager. The manager rolls up the forecasts of every Forecast User in their role and in the roles below them. The hierarchy follows role inheritance, not the User.ManagerId field. If the role tree does not match the reporting structure, fix the role tree first; the forecast hierarchy cannot be rewired separately.
Why the toggle is independent of license
Salesforce ships Collaborative Forecasts with the Sales user license, but enablement is per-user and per-type. A finance analyst with a Sales license should not be a Forecast User, while a partner sales rep on a Customer Community Plus license may need to be one. The toggle gates exactly two things: whether the user appears in the grid and whether their owned opportunities roll up to anyone.
Quotas and the Forecast User
Forecast quotas live on the ForecastingQuota object, keyed by user and forecast type. Loading a quota for a user who is not enabled as a Forecast User is allowed but pointless: the user does not appear in the forecast grid, so no attainment math runs. Enable the user first, then load the quota. Quotas can be updated mid-period without re-enabling.
Hierarchy changes mid-period
Reorganizing the forecast hierarchy mid-quarter (promoting a rep to manager, moving a rep between regions) updates the rollup immediately. The new manager sees the moved rep's forecast in the next grid refresh; the old manager loses visibility. Salesforce does not snapshot the old hierarchy, so historical reporting must rely on Forecasting Item or custom log objects to retain manager attribution.
Partner forecasting
Partner users (Customer Community Plus, Partner Community licenses) can be Forecast Users with the Partner Forecast feature license. Enabling them places them on the same forecast grid as internal reps and lets channel managers see partner pipeline in the same view as direct pipeline. The feature requires a separate license SKU; do not assume it ships with every Communities edition.
Reporting on enablement
The User standard object has a ForecastEnabled field that returns true when the Forecast User flag is on. SOQL queries against User filtering on ForecastEnabled = true return the active forecast roster. Combine with role membership and quota records to build a single dashboard showing every enabled rep, their quota, and their current quarter attainment.
Enable a user as a Forecast User
Enablement is a two-step click path: enable Collaborative Forecasts at the org level, then enable the specific user under Forecasts Hierarchy.
- Confirm Collaborative Forecasts is on
Setup, Forecasts Settings. Verify the Enable Forecasts checkbox is on. Without it, no users can be enabled.
- Open Forecasts Hierarchy
Setup, Quick Find, Forecasts Hierarchy. Expand the role tree to find the user.
- Click Enable User next to the name
The action sets ForecastEnabled = true on the User record and inserts the user into the appropriate forecast level.
- Set the manager for the user's role
If the user is the first Forecast User in a role, assign a Forecast Manager so the rollup has somewhere to go.
- Load the quota
Open Setup, Forecasts Quotas, upload the user's quota for the current and future periods, or load to ForecastingQuota via Data Loader.
- Verify in the Forecasts tab
Log in as the user (or have them log in) and confirm the Forecasts tab shows their own grid with their opportunities listed.
- The forecast hierarchy follows the Role tree, not the User.ManagerId field. Fixing reporting in the user record alone does not update forecast roll-ups.
- Disabling a user as a Forecast User does not delete their historical forecast data. Their adjustments and roll-ups remain in ForecastingItem but stop updating after disable.
- Partner Forecast users require the Partner Forecast feature license. Without it, the toggle is greyed out on partner profiles.
- A Forecast User with no quota still appears in the grid but shows zero attainment. Reps often think they are broken; the fix is to load quotas, not to re-enable the user.
Trust & references
Cross-checked against the following references.
- Enable Forecast UsersSalesforce Help
- Forecasts HierarchySalesforce Help
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Forecast User.
- User Object ReferenceSalesforce Developers
About the Author
Dipojjal Chakrabarti is a B2C Solution Architect with 29 Salesforce certifications and over 13 years in the Salesforce ecosystem. He runs salesforcedictionary.com to help admins, developers, architects, and cert/interview candidates sharpen their fundamentals. More about Dipojjal.
Test your knowledge
Q1. What is a Forecast User?
Q2. What happens if a rep isn't in the forecast hierarchy?
Q3. When should the forecast hierarchy be updated?
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