Using Forecasts in DRP FAQ

Forecast Group

All customers are assigned to a forecast group (All Others by default if not specified) so that sales and forecast information can be stored and analyzed by forecast group.

Note Typically, mass merchants that buy a significant percentage of products should be assigned to their own forecast group.

Customer Forecast

This is the customer-supplied forecast, typically from a mass merchant (e.g., Wal-Mart) and typically transmitting using EDI form 830 (Sales/Order Forecast).

System Forecast

This is the forecast calculated by the forecast method associated with a product/location’s buying method.

Note Forecast methods, used to calculate system forecasts, can be set up in Forecast Method Maintenance.

Actual Forecast

The actual forecast is one of three choices:

• Customer Forecast - If there is a customer forecast, this is used first.

• System Forecast - If there is no customer forecast, the system forecast is used.

• Manual Override - If the Actual Forecast check box is selected in the Edit Options section in Product DRP Management, then you can manually override the actual forecast by forecast group.

Note The total actual forecast for all forecast groups cannot be manually changed because it is a summation of all forecast groups.

Note Selecting a forecast group and then clicking the As Is button in the ribbon will re-populate the actual forecast with either the customer forecast or the system forecast.

Forecast to Use

This is the most important forecast field because it is used for all calculations in the DRP Schedule Management tab in Product DRP Management. Generally, it will be the same as the total actual forecast, unless you manually override it.

Note Selecting the ALL forecast group and then clicking the As Is button in the ribbon will re-populate the forecast to use with the total actual forecast.