The system forecasts product demand for both seasonal and non-seasonal products. You have the flexibility of setting your own forecast parameters.
Your company may have items that are seasonal or non-seasonal. For example, a branch in the Mid-West may have specific heating elements only carried in winter months. These are seasonal items. The demand for these types of items is calculated differently; however, you set the forecast parameters in the same way.
Forecast parameters are assigned at the following levels:
Control - Applies to all products unless overridden by a price line or product level forecast parameters.
Buy Line - Applies to all products assigned to the designated buy line and overrides the company default parameters.
Product - Applies to the product and overrides the buy line and company default parameters. If a parameter is not set at the product level, the system uses the buy line level parameter.
Branch
/ Territory - Applies to the individual branch or territory
and is used if there is no setting at the Buy Line Maintenance level.
Default settings for the branch are determined in the
For seasonal items that have the Auto Trend flag set to yes, you can use Auto Trend on the Forecast Parameters window to display the maximum decrease percent and maximum increase percent. For more information, see Entering Forecast Product Parameters.
To enter forecast parameters at the buy line level:
From the Purchase > Maintenance menu, select Buy Line Maintenance to display the Buy Line Maintenance window.
In the Buy Line ID field, enter a buy line you want to display.
From the Information menu, select Forecast Parameters to display the BuyLine Forecast Parameters window.
This window is view-only.
From the File menu, select Forecast Parameters.
Change or update the appropriate fields:
|
Field |
Description |
|
Branch |
The branch which uses the specified item's demand forecast parameters. |
|
Hits (Regular) |
The number of times a product was purchased for a regular stock item used with the regular minimum and maximum days to determine how many days of sales history to use to determine demand. Note: A hit is not necessarily the quantity sold. For example, a product has five hits. You have sold it in five instances. The first three instances the customer bought one of the product. The last two instances the customer bought five of the products. In total, you sold 13 items in five hits. |
|
Minimum Days (Regular) |
The minimum number of days used with the number of hits for a regular stock item to determine how many days of sales history to use to determine demand. |
|
Maximum Days (Regular) |
The maximum number of days used with the number of hits for a regular stock item to determine how many days of sales history to use to determine demand. |
|
Hits (Seasonal) |
The number of times a product was purchased for a seasonal stock item used with the seasonal minimum and maximum days to determine how many days of sales history to use to determine demand. |
|
Minimum Days (Seasonal) |
The minimum number of days used with the number of hits for a seasonal stock item to determine how many days of sales history to use to determine demand. |
|
Maximum Days (Seasonal) |
The maximum number of days used with the number of hits for a seasonal stock item to determine how many days of sales history to use to determine demand. |
|
Auto Trend |
Indicates whether a trend calculation is enabled for products using seasonal forecasting at the branch. Set the Auto Trend at the product, buy line, or control file level. |
|
Include Directs |
Indicates whether to include direct shipments from the vendor in demand calculations. Set the Include Directs parameter at the product, buy line, or control file level. |
See Also: