Forecasting is the process of making predictions of the future demand based on past and present data

and analysis of trends. Different organizations use different techniques for historical data collection and
deriving forecast from that. You can read more on data collection & forecast techniques @
http://www.apicsforum.com/ebook/data_collection_and_forecast_techniques.

Forecast data is used by different planning methods for different purposes.

MRP: MRP uses forecast data to project the future requirements for different components used in the
forecasted item.

Min Max: Min Max planner uses the forecast data to calculate an optimum size for the min and max
values.

Kanban: Kanban uses forecast to calculate the kanban size and number of kanban cards.

You can enter multiple forecasts for the same item in different forecast names and thus can create
different forecasts for different purposes. System allows you to segregate forecast on basis of
demand class and customers.

You can use both forecast & sales order to derive supply in MRP and Min Max planning
engine. If you decide to use both sales order & forecast (which is always advisable)
then its necessary to reduce the forecast demand by the actual sales order quantity.
The process of replacing forecasted demand with actual sales order demand is called
forecast consumption.
Each time you create a sales order line, you create actual demand which should have
already been forecasted. If the actual demand is already forecasted, System
automatically reduces the forecast demand quantity. If the actual demand is not
forecasted, then system creates a negative forecast line to show the overconsumption
of the forecast by sales order.

Each forecast consists of 3 different levels of data

1. Header Level Information
2. Line Level Information

You can create forecast by various different methods.

1. Manually entering all the header & line details.
2. Importing all the header and line level information from an excel spreedshet.
3. Auto-generating forecast using forecast generation program.
Header Level Information
Header level information is same for all the forecast line items used in a forecast header. You can view &
update the header level information of a forecast by navigating to Forecast & Planning -> Forecast

Forecast Header Id:

A unique system generated number. You cant modify this number.

Inventory Org Name:

Select inventory organization name. You can default the inventory organization name from the inventory
organization profile. Forecasts are inventory level data but you can push demand from one organization
to another organization using sourcing rule.

Forecast Name:
Enter a unique name for the forecast.

Forecast Group:
Select a forecast group to assign the forecast to a forecast group.

Status:
Status field shows the current status of the forecast.

Demand Class:
You can assign a demand class to the forecast to control which sales order can consume from that
forecast.

Customer Name:
Select a customer name if you create forecasts for each customer.
If a forecast is associated with a customer then sales order from that specific customer can only consume
the forecast.

Description:
Enter any comment /remark in the description field.
Secondary Field:
Use the secondary field to assign any extra business specific data not seeded in inoERP.
Line Level Information
You can create one or more forecast line for each forecast header. Forecast line contains item, date and
forecast quantity related information.

Sequence Number:
Sequence number is a read-only field. System auto-populates a unique sequence number for all the lines
across all the tabs for easy viewing of data of a single line in different tabs.

Line Id:
Line id is a read-only field. Line id is an auto increased, primary key of the fp_forecast_line table.

Item Information:
Enter the item number in the item number field. You can enter the item number in different ways
i. Enter 2 consecutive characters from any part of the item number in the item
number field and system will show you a list of items containing the text entered
in that field. You can select the item number from the suggestion list.
ii. If you know the complete item numbers then enter it in the item number field.
iii. If you want to search items, then click on item number field. System will show
you a search icon next to the item field. Click on the search icon to search &
select item.

System should auto populate item id, item description and unit of measure field from item number value.

Press tab to move to the revision field. If the item is revision controlled, then system will show all the
available revisions in the revision field. Select the revision of the item.

Bucket:
Select bucket size of the forecast line.

Start Date & End Date:

Enter start and end date for the forecast line. You can use start & end to specify the number of buckets
for the lines.
Ex : Requirement : Create a forecast line of 10 units/week of an item for next 6 weeks.
You can satisfy above requirement by creating 6 different forecast lines with 10 units in each line
A better alternative is to use a single line from week1 as start date and week6 as end date.
This reducecs data entry and maintenance effort.

No of Bucket:
System auto-calculates the number of bucket from the selected start date, end date and bucket type.
Forecast Group
You can use forecast group to combine complimentary forecasts and there by control the consumption of
item in different forecasts. System consumes only once in a forecast group. So, if you forecast the same
item in different forecast headers and assign them to a single forecast set then system will consume only
from only one forecast header at a time.

You can view & update the header level information of a forecast by navigating to Forecast & Planning ->
Forecast ->Forecast Group

Forecast Group Header Id:

A unique system generated number. You cant modify this number.

Inventory Org Name:

Select inventory organization name. You can default the inventory organization name from the inventory
organization profile. You can assign a forecast group to a forecast only if both are defined in the same
organization.

Forecast Group:
Enter a unique name for the forecast group.

Description:
Enter any comment /remark in the description field.

Status:
Status field shows the current status of the forecast.

Bucket Type:
Select a default bucket type. System uses the selected bucket type to default the buck type in forecast
lines.

Consume Checkbox:
Enable the consume check box to specify that the forecasts assigned to this forecast group are available
for consumption.

Backward Days:
Enter backward days as necessary for your business.
System uses backward days to look back from the sales order schedule date to check if any forecast is
available for consumption.

Forward Days:
Enter forward days as necessary for your business.
System uses forward days to look forward from the sales order schedule date to check if any forecast is
available for consumption.
Forecast Over Consumption
Forecast overconsumption shows the item & quantity for which you have created a sales order without a
forecast. Forecast overconsumption is auto-generated by system to inform you that your forecast
numbers are less than the actual demand.

During consumption process, if system cannot find an appropriate forecast entry to consume, system
auto-create a new forecast entry with negative quantity to show the over consumption. MRP and other
planning engines ignore overconsumption quantity and dont plan for any material for overconsumed
quantity.

Overconsumption is read-only report and cannot be updated directly. You can change the
overconsumption quantity by changing either the sales order or the forecast.

You can view overconsumption details by navigating to Forecast & Planning -> Forecast ->Over
Consumption

Enter the organization name, forecast group or any other dynamic criteria in the over consumption search
form and click on the search button. System will show you the overconsumption item and quantity as per
the entered search criteria.

Forecast Group:
Forecast group shows the name of the forecast group if available.

Org:
Org field shows the name of the inventory organization.
SO Number:
SO Number field shows the sales order number for which system couldnt do consumption as enough
quantities were not forecasted.

Line Number:
Line Number field shows the sales order line number for which system couldnt do consumption as
enough quantities were not forecasted.

Item Number:
Item Number field shows the item number in the sales order line for which system failed to do the
consumption.

UOM:
Unit of measure is applicable for the quantity of overconsumption. The UOM field defaults from item
master and might be different from the UOM in sales order line.

Schedule Ship Date:

Schedule ship date of the sales order line for which overconsumption line is created.

Quantity:
Quantity field is always negative and shows the quantity by which actual demand (SO) is more than the
forecasted demand.