What is a forecast category?
Forecast categories are labels for how confident the team is in each deal, commonly commit, best case and pipeline. They sit beside the sales stage. Stage says where the deal is in the buying process; category says whether the seller will be held to it this period. Microsoft's Dynamics 365 Sales, for example, uses pipeline, best case, committed and omitted, with won and lost set when a deal closes.
Why it matters to a revenue leader
Categories turn a pile of opportunities into a forecast a leader can defend. Commit is the floor, and best case is the upside above it. A small standard set of categories is easier to apply the same way than seller-estimated probabilities. The categories only work when every manager applies them the same way, so the definitions belong in writing and in every forecast review.
Example
Fictitious numbersA utility services company has $5.0M open this quarter: $1.8M in commit, $1.1M in best case and $2.1M in pipeline. The leader forecasts closed-won to date plus the $1.8M commit, and treats best case as the range above it. Deals dated next quarter sit outside all three.
"Do all our managers mean the same thing when they put a deal in commit?"
Sources
- Capture forecast category for opportunity checked 9 Oct 2026