Previous article: How to generate forward inventory projections?
The current planning module is provided as a pilot in beta mode and by
means of an integration with a 3rd party service. The features supported
are those described in this Knowledge Base section only - additional
functionality may be able to be provided on a case by case basis.
The creation of the forward inventory projection requires a unit demand forecast i.e. the expected quantities to be shipped in each future period. The system automatically generates a 12-month forecast based on the historical shipment data retrieved from Megaventory.
When the system is first provisioned, shipment data for the past 12 months is retrieved from Megaventory. The data is then aggregated in monthly buckets for each and every item to come up with last year's sales numbers that are used to generate forecasts. Going forward, on the first day of every calendar month the system aggregates the shipment data for the past month, for each and every item and rolls forward the historical horizon as well as the planning horizon. Thus, at all times the system manages the past 12 months of actual shipments as well as the future 12 months of forecast. This data is exposed in the “Item Demand” view which is accessible through the main application menu or as the “Forecast and Sales Orders” drill down from the “Projection Detail” tab in the “Planning” view.
The top part of the snapshot shows a graphical depiction of the last year's sales, the forecast, and the existing sales orders. The bottom part provides numeric information.
The system always calculates both a seasonal forecast and a moving average forecast for each and every item. The calculated numbers are shown on the “Forecast” tab.
The planner can choose which forecast makes sense for an item and publish that forecast to be used in the inventory projection. Manual overrides are also possible and the planner can record short comments associated with an override. If needed, the planner can also override the last year's sales numbers that are used in forecast calculation.
Note that forecast numbers are calculated and published automatically by the system each night. Manual recalculation can be triggered by the planner by clicking the “Generate New Forecast” button.
The planner can also choose which forecast is published when it clicks the “Publish New Forecast” button. Manual overrides are input by checking the “Override” box then typing a “Current Forecast” number and optionally a comment. Once the “Submit Changes” button is clicked the changes are saved and inventory projections are automatically recalculated to take into account the changes.
The “Current Sales Orders” tab provides detailed sales order information for orders within the forecast horizon – 12 calendar months starting with and inclusive of the current calendar month. The “Historical Sales Order” tab contains detailed information about shipments within the historical horizon – past 12 calendar months. The data shown on this tab is the basis of the last year's sales numbers calculation.
Next article: How to Make a Production Plan in Megaventory