5.1 Purpose and Business Value
The Finish Line is DDS's revenue opportunity pipeline management tool. It is designed for sales-oriented and account management staff who need to track potential and active revenue opportunities through a defined sales lifecycle — from initial prospecting through to a closed win or loss.
The Finish Line gives managers and sales staff a structured, centralised place to record, monitor, and progress revenue opportunities. It eliminates the need for external spreadsheets or email tracking and provides management with a consolidated view of the organisation's pipeline at any point in time.
5.2 What Is a Revenue Opportunity?
A Revenue Opportunity is a record representing a potential staffing engagement or client relationship that could generate revenue for the agency. Each opportunity is linked to a specific organisation (company/client) and tracks:
- The estimated revenue the opportunity could generate.
- The number of positions involved.
- Which stage of the sales process the opportunity is currently in.
- Key dates such as when the team last made contact and when the opportunity is expected to close.
5.3 Adding a Revenue Opportunity
To create a new Revenue Opportunity:
- Navigate to Sales & Service Navigation under Customer application (LTS, SPM, NCO, CMS) and click on Revenue opportunity
- Select the Organisation the opportunity is associated with. This is a required field.
- Fill in: Name, Competition, Status (Open/Won/Lost/Discard), No of Positions, Sales Stage, and Note.
- Click Save.
Important: Always assign a Sales Stage when creating a Revenue Opportunity. Opportunities without a Sales Stage assigned are not visible in the Finish Line grid. See Section 5.12 for details.
5.4 Sales Stages
Each Revenue Opportunity is assigned to one of five Sales Stages representing the progression of a sales engagement from initial awareness through to a final outcome.
Sales Stage | Description |
Prospecting | The opportunity has been identified. Initial research and outreach are underway. The agency is aware of a potential client need but has not yet made formal contact. |
Discovery | The agency has made contact and is learning more about the client's requirements. Conversations are happening and the scope is being defined. |
Proposing | A formal proposal, quote, or staffing solution has been presented to the client. The agency is awaiting feedback or a decision. |
Closing | The client has expressed strong intent. Negotiations, contract discussions, or finalisation steps are in progress. |
Win | The opportunity has been successfully closed. The client has agreed to the engagement and work is proceeding. |
Opportunities can also be moved to Lost (went to a competitor or did not proceed) or Discard (not viable — removed from the active pipeline) status.
5.5 The Finish Line Grid — All Columns Explained
The Finish Line grid displays all active Revenue Opportunities in tabular format. The following columns are available:
Column | Description |
Name | The title of the Revenue Opportunity as entered when the record was created. |
Organisation | The company or client this opportunity is associated with. |
Status | Current status: Open, Won, Lost, or Discard. |
Sales Stage | Current stage in the sales pipeline: Prospecting, Discovery, Proposing, Closing, or Win. |
No of Positions | The number of headcount positions this opportunity involves. |
Estimated Revenue | The base revenue figure — entered directly (free-form) or derived from Pay Rate × Markup (computed). |
Weekly | Projected revenue per week. |
Quarterly | Projected revenue over three months. |
Six Months | Projected revenue over six months. |
Yearly | Projected revenue over one year. |
Pay Rate | The worker pay rate used in computed mode. Only populated for computed opportunities. |
Markup Percent | The markup percentage applied to the Pay Rate in computed mode. |
Bill Rate | The resulting bill rate from Pay Rate × Markup (computed mode only). |
Gross Margin | The difference between Bill Rate and Pay Rate — the agency's margin on the opportunity. |
First Connect Date | The date the first qualifying contact attempt was logged via a comment on the linked record. Derived automatically — not manually entered. |
Last Connect Date | The date of the most recent qualifying contact attempt, derived from comment activity. |
Days Since Connect | Calendar days elapsed since the Last Connect Date. A high value indicates the opportunity may need follow-up. |
Days To Close | Days between the opportunity's creation date and its projected or actual close date. |
Closed Date | The date the opportunity was moved to Won, Lost, or Discard status. |
Entered By | The Zenople user who created the Revenue Opportunity record. |
Entered Date | The date and time the Revenue Opportunity record was created. |
5.6 Editing a Revenue Opportunity from the Grid
Revenue Opportunities can be edited directly from the Finish Line grid. The editable fields in the grid are Status and Sales Stage only. To edit:
- Locate the opportunity row in the grid.
- Click the Edit icon or click directly on an editable cell.
- Select the new Status or Sales Stage from the dropdown.
- You will be prompted to add a comment to record the reason for the change. This is strongly recommended as it creates an audit trail.
- Click Save to apply the change.
To edit all fields on a Revenue Opportunity, open the full record from the linked organisation or person profile.
5.7 Filter Panel
The Finish Line includes a filter panel to narrow the grid to relevant opportunities:
Filter | Description |
Company / Organisation | Show opportunities linked to a specific organisation. |
Branch / Office | Show opportunities belonging to a specific office or branch. |
User / Entered By | Show opportunities entered or owned by a specific user. |
Status | Filter by opportunity status (Open, Won, Lost, Discard, or combinations). |
Date Type | Choose which date field to filter by (Entered Date, Closed Date, or Connect Date). |
Date Range | Define the start and end date range once a Date Type is selected. |
5.8 Comment-Driven Connect Dates
The First Connect Date and Last Connect Date columns are derived automatically from comments recorded against the linked organisation or person record. The system recognises the following comment categories as qualifying sales contact attempts:
Comment Category | Represents |
ColdCall | A cold call made to the prospective client. |
EmailConnect | An email sent to or received from the prospective client. |
PhoneCallConnect | A phone call made to the prospective client. |
FaceToFaceConnect | An in-person meeting or visit with the prospective client. |
SalesConnect | A general sales contact activity that does not fit the above categories. |
To keep the connect date fields accurate, sales staff must log their client contact activities as comments on the relevant organisation or person record, using the correct comment category. If contact is made but not recorded, the Days Since Connect figure will appear artificially high.
5.19 Important Behavior Notes
Revenue Opportunities without a Sales Stage are not visible in the Finish Line grid.
If a Revenue Opportunity is created without a Sales Stage being assigned, the record will not appear in the Finish Line grid and cannot be found by browsing. If you cannot find an opportunity you know exists, check whether the Sales Stage field was populated. To fix this, open the opportunity through the linked organisation or person record and assign a Sales Stage.
Discarding an opportunity does not automatically set the Closed Date.
If you move an opportunity to Discard status, the Closed Date column will remain blank. If your reporting processes rely on Closed Date being populated for Discard status opportunities, the Closed Date must be entered manually at the time of discarding.
Days Since Connect reflects the last recorded contact comment.
If your team is making contact with a prospective client but not recording those contacts as comments using the SalesConnect comment categories, the Days Since Connect figure will appear higher than it actually is. Consistent comment-logging discipline is required for this metric to be meaningful.