Forecasting Requirements Features and Functions

• Inputs multiple demand streams, including strategic, financial, marketing, sales, actual orders, promotions, safety stock requirements, forecasting profiles, and adjustments


• Generates forecasts based on multiple dimensions, including product families and options through item level


• Manages product changes and date ranges


• Creates customer or channel-level forecasting


• Changes a forecast hierarchy to accommodate market changes or product family changes


• Generates forecasts based on channels, customers, and store levels


• Weighs forecasts based on confidence factors, history, and customer priority


• Incorporates promotions, dynamic safety stocks, end-of-life, and effectivity dates of products


• Revenue planning and integration


• Shares forecasts based on various integration strategies (such as EDI and XML)


• Imports and exports functions to spreadsheets


• Creates forecast flex plans by supplier, product, and channel


• Generates history, such as forecast versus actual, at the product through to the item levels


• Financial and pricing performance


• Predictive alerting when demand tolerances are violated (higher or lower) allowing real time adjustments to be made


• Evaluates forecast versus actual by customers, suppliers, and service level agreements


• Evaluates forecast performance review shortages, overages, lost sales, and forecast versus actual performance