# Pipeline Hygiene: What Dormant Opportunities Are > Pipeline hygiene starts with the question of which deals move. Dormant Opportunities are open deals without a single movement during an entire period. Canonical: https://funneleconomics.ai/resources/glossary/dormant-opportunities Dormant Opportunities are open opportunities that show not a single movement during an entire period. Movement means any change of stage, forward or backward, any change of stage class, and entry into the funnel. The term separates two questions of pipeline hygiene: whether a deal is old and whether it moves. ## How are Dormant Opportunities defined? :::formel Dormant Count = number of open opportunities in a period without a single movement Dormant Value = amount of dormant opportunities, reported in two separate parts - in the window at the end of the period – dormant opportunities that still stand in the window when the period ends - moved out of the window, still open – dormant opportunities whose close date was moved out of the window ::: For the count, lower is better. Both quantities are calculated by the optional add-on Funnel Economics Strategist. The quantity belongs to the view of how the pipeline is being built, not to the look back at a period that has run. Where the chosen model carries no data for the period, the quantity counts as not measurable; a zero is not reported. What is counted is the opportunity, not the single change. The entry [stage and stage class](https://funneleconomics.ai/resources/glossary/sales-stages) explains what a stage class is. The definition settles three cases explicitly: - A newly created deal can be dormant in the following period at the earliest. - A deal that changes stage and returns within the same period is not dormant. Dormant does not mean: in the same stage at the start and at the end. - Closed opportunities are not counted. The method reads the quantity as a series across several periods, beside its own prior periods. The quantity is never stated without the length of its period, because it depends on that length. ## Why does the amount have two parts? Each period looks at a window of close dates. A deal stands in the window as long as its close date lies inside it. When the close date is pushed out, the deal leaves the window. The moved-out part is the more critical one. Moving a deal out without any movement hides it in the future. Both parts stand side by side with equal weight, each with a count and an amount. A sum of both is not “the value of the dormant pipeline”. The amount covers only the dormant deals for which an amount is available. The rest is not measured, not zero; the amount is therefore stated with how many of the dormant deals it covers. ## Why is dormant not STALLED? The STALLED health band classifies an opportunity's total age against the SLA values of its stage. The band says nothing about movement. | Quantity | Question | Yardstick | |---|---|---| | Health band (HEALTHY, DELAYED, STALLED) | Is this deal old for its stage? | total age against the SLA values of the stage | | Dormant Opportunities | Did this deal move in the period? | stage change, class change or entry, yes or no | | BPV | Is this stage slow? | dwell time in the stage against its SLA | :::example Illustrative example without numbers: opportunities A and B sit with the same sales team for one quarter. Opportunity A has been in the funnel for a long time and changes stage during the quarter, in whichever direction. A is not dormant, but can sit in the STALLED band. Opportunity B was created only in the previous quarter and shows no movement during the quarter. B is dormant and can still sit in the HEALTHY band if its total age does not yet exceed the first SLA value of its stage. ::: More on this: [SLA Health, the classification by age](https://funneleconomics.ai/resources/glossary/sla-health) and [Funnel Calcification](https://funneleconomics.ai/resources/patterns/funnel-calcification). ## FAQ ### What is a dormant opportunity? A dormant opportunity is an open opportunity that shows not a single movement during an entire period. Movement means any change of stage, forward or backward, any change of stage class, and entry into the funnel. What is counted is the opportunity, not the single change. Closed opportunities are not included: a deal that is won or lost does not move any more. ### Is a dormant opportunity the same as a deal in the STALLED band? No. The STALLED health band classifies an opportunity's total age against the SLA values of its stage. Dormant, by contrast, describes missing movement in a period. An opportunity can move up a stage every week and still sit in the STALLED band. An opportunity without movement can sit in the HEALTHY band. ### Can a newly created deal be dormant? Not in the period in which the deal is created. A deal entering the funnel counts as a movement. The deal can be dormant in the following period at the earliest, if it then shows not a single movement. ### What does the amount of Dormant Opportunities show? The amount has two separate parts. The first part is dormant opportunities that still stand in the window at the end of the period. The second part is dormant opportunities whose close date was moved out of the window and that are still open. The moved-out part is the more critical one: moving a deal out without any movement hides it in the future. A sum of both parts is not the value of the dormant pipeline. ### Are dormant opportunities part of CRM hygiene? Dormant Opportunities are a matter of pipeline hygiene, not of master data. CRM hygiene usually means maintaining contacts, duplicates and fields. Pipeline hygiene asks whether the open deals are still moving and whether their age fits the stage. Dormant Opportunities answer the first part of that question. ### What is the difference between Dormant Opportunities and BPV? BPV compares the dwell time in a stage with that stage's SLA and asks whether a stage is slow. Dormant is not a duration in days. Dormant is a yes-or-no statement about an opportunity in a period: there was a movement, or there was none.