Next 6-Month Pipeline

What it measures

The sum of every signed, not-yet-live contract's annualized recurring value, filtered to only those contracts scheduled to activate within the next six months. Each contract is annualized at its standard run-rate (monthly recurring value times 12, or Total Contract Value divided by term in years). Contracts that have already gone live, contracts with no scheduled activation date, and one-time or non-recurring fees are all excluded.

Why it matters

The Next 6-Month Pipeline is your near-term revenue visibility. It answers a question that total contracted revenue cannot: of everything we have signed, how much will actually turn into live revenue in the next half-year? Sales forecasts which bookings convert to recognized revenue off it, Finance plans cash and hiring against it, and Operations reads it as the onboarding backlog that has to be delivered on a clock. A growing N6M Pipeline signals healthy deal flow and bookings that are maturing toward activation; a shrinking one warns of a dry quarter or stalled go-lives before they show up in ARR.

How to read it

Read N6M Pipeline as a forward-looking trend, not a single snapshot, and always against your onboarding capacity. Month-over-month growth means new bookings are flowing in faster than contracts activate out; flat or declining means the funnel is slowing or deals are slipping their go-live dates past the six-month line. Compare it to recent New CARR: if bookings are being signed but the pipeline isn't growing, activation dates are being pushed out — a leading indicator of delays. If N6M Pipeline outpaces what your implementation team can stand up, you build a backlog and miss revenue-recognition timing. Break it down by product, segment, and customer size to see which pipeline activates cleanly and where it stalls.

What good looks like

Watch-outs

• Treating it as total CARR. N6M Pipeline is only the slice of contracted revenue activating within six months — reporting all of CARR as near-term pipeline overstates what will actually go live and hides the backlog beyond the window.
• Booking annual or multi-year contracts at full TCV. A 2-year, $240K deal activating next quarter is $120K of pipeline, not $240K — always annualize to a one-year run-rate before summing.
• Including contracts with no activation date. A signed deal without a scheduled go-live belongs in CARR backlog, not N6M Pipeline; counting it inflates near-term visibility on revenue that may never be scheduled.
• Ignoring the activation curve. A flat total can hide that most go-lives are bunched in months 1–2 with a cliff afterward, or that deals keep slipping past the six-month line — read the month-by-month activation breakdown, not just the sum.
• Confusing pipeline with cash. Activation drives revenue recognition, not necessarily collection — annual-upfront or long-payment-term deals can be in N6M Pipeline yet contribute no near-term cash.

Worked example