Pipeline

You will find Pipeline in the Marketing layer, alongside the rest of Channels. The canonical meaning is the set of open opportunities and the stage each has reached.

It is a label with a settled working definition, so the value is in using it the same way every time. Once it is defined that clearly, arguments about it usually stop.

Pipeline earns its keep in campaign planning, channel choices and the reporting that follows them. It normally appears alongside Customer Relationship Management, Lead and Qualification. The practical test is whether everyone in the room means the same thing by it.

The cost of being vague about Pipeline shows up later, not today. When it is unclear, spend keeps moving but nobody can say what it bought. Clarity here removes a surprising amount of downstream argument.