Opportunity Sales Stages in Salesforce are critical elements in managing opportunities and the sales processes. To update Sales Stages, Salesforce Admins usually perform the following steps:
Steps:
Review your current stages
Understanding your Data Model
Audit your Opportunity Processes
Understand your Processes
Determine the impact to Stages that will be deactivated
Come with a plan on replacing your deactivated Stages with your New Stage Values (Step 4)
Review your Flows that could be tied to Stages.
Review your current Validation Rules for current Stages (Step 2d)
Review your Reports and Dashboard
Review your Forecast Categories
Create a Testing Plan
Create a Sandbox Environment
Create the New Stage Name Values
Update any Existing Flows using the Old StageName Values with the New StageName Values
Examples include:
Update your Validation Rules
Option 1: Via Swantide
Once the new Stage Values are in Production or
If Deployed from Swantide to your Sandbox Environment
Option 2: Directly in Salesforce and include them in a Change Set from Sandbox
Deactivate the Old StageName Fields in Production
When Deactivating and Deleting you have the Option to Replace the Picklist Value with a New Value
When using Replace, replace the Picklist Value with the New Stage Value and Deactivate the stage.
Access the Opportunity Object and the Stages:
Log in to Salesforce
Go to Setup. You can find this at the top right corner using the gear icon in Lightning Experience.
Navigate to Object Manager > Search Opportunity
Once in the Opportunity Object > Go to "Fields and Relationships" > in Quick Find type "Stages"
Review your current Stages
Understanding your Stages Data Model:
Understand your AS-IS State and To-BE State and how this will impact your Sales Cycle.
This is especially important for your Open Opportunities.
Stage Order (AS-IS) | Current Stages (AS-IS) | Stage Order (To-Be) | New Stages (To-Be) | Changes? |
1 | Qualifying | 1 | Meeting Set | Yes, Change in First Stage |
2 | Discovery | 2 | Qualifying | Yes, Change in Order of Stage however, no new mapping required |
3 | Negotiating | 3 | Discovery | Yes, Change in Order of Stage however, no new mapping required |
4 | Closed Won | 4 | Product Fit | Yes, Change in Stage Order |
5 | Closed Lost | 5 | Negotiating/ Contracting | Yes, Map the Stages Currently in Negotiating to Negotiating/ Contracting |
6 |
| 6 | Closed Won | Yes, Change in Order of Stage however, no new mapping required |
7 |
| 7 | Closed Lost | Yes, Change in Order of Stage however, no new mapping required |
Create a Backup File to Export your Salesforce Data, especially for your Opportunities.
A recommendation prior to doing this is creating the Opportunity Record 18 digit Id to be used in Exporting and Importing records. Read more about it here.
In Addition, always back up your data
Create a Sandbox: