Universal Containers (UC) has several custom Visualforce applications have been developed in which users are...

 Using a validation rule for each field that takes the Stage into consideration is the simplest approach to handle this new requirement. A validation rule can enforce the field requirements based on the logic and criteria that you define, and display an error message when users try to save a record that does not meet the requirements. Updating the Opportunity page layout to mark these fields as required will not work because page layouts do not support conditional field requirements. Updating these Opportunity field definitions in Setup to be required will not work because it will apply to all stages and records. Writing an Apex trigger that checks each field when records are saved is not the simplest approach because it requires coding and testing