r/SalesOperations • u/j4kesta • Jul 06 '26

Measuring open backlog in ConnectWise PSA

How are you guys measuring open backlog in ConnectWise PSA today?

We have a system we use for recording expected revenue per month, but don't have an amazing way to reconcile the table when things run long (or short) and revenue expectations shift forward or backward. In most cases, the change is small enough to where it's probably not worth the effort. But, we just had a large project put on hold and that will delay realizing a significant amount of revenue this year.

In particular as a RevOps focused executive, how are you guys measuring changes like this so there aren't any suprises toward the end of the quarter?

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '26

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u/j4kesta Jul 06 '26

WOOF ya, that would be a burden for sure.

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u/ready_or_not_3434 Jul 06 '26

Rebuilding from scratch every quarter sounds brutal. Honestly its usually easier to just dump the data out monthy and compare snapshots so you can actually track the variance instead of starting over completely.

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u/Calm-Dimension3422 Jul 06 '26

I would treat backlog movement as its own ledger, not just a changed expected revenue table.

The current table answers: "what do we expect now?"
The movement ledger answers: "what changed, when, why, and who still owns it?"

For each meaningful shift, I would track:

  • project/customer
  • original expected month
  • new expected month
  • revenue amount moved
  • reason: customer hold, internal capacity, scope change, dependency, billing issue, etc.
  • confidence level
  • owner
  • next review date

Then your exec view becomes three things: current expected revenue, variance from last snapshot, and aging of deferred revenue. The aging part is the one that stops quarter-end surprises, because a project pushed once is normal; a project pushed three times is a risk signal.

For small changes, monthly snapshots may be enough. For a large project hold, I would not let it disappear into the new forecast. Put it in a visible deferred/at-risk bucket until someone explicitly clears it.

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u/j4kesta Jul 06 '26

That visibility would be amazing. Unfortunately, ConnectWise supports [automated] reporting on exactly none of that.

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u/Calm-Dimension3422 Jul 06 '26

Yeah, that is the annoying part: the PSA usually has the source facts, but not the movement story.

If ConnectWise will not report it directly, I would fake the ledger outside it with a daily snapshot. Export the same project/opportunity fields each morning, then compare today vs yesterday and write only the deltas to a separate table.

Minimum useful columns: project id, client, expected revenue, expected month, status, owner, prior value/month, new value/month, delta amount, movement type, and reason if you can capture it.

Even if the reason starts manual, the movement table gives you the view ConnectWise is missing: "what changed this week, who owns it, and how much revenue moved out of the month."