Considerations

Forecasting Date

Demand history information is retrieved for the 42 months immediately prior to the forecasting date entered on the screen.

The forecasting date is the period into which customer orders are currently being placed (that is, the period for which the demand history is not known).  Normally, this is the current date.  The demand history information is created starting from the month immediately before the forecasting date and goes back for 42 months.

Selective Download

Initial Download File records can be created selectively for:

·      Warehouse (only parts belonging to a certain company and warehouse)

·      Part (a selected individual part)

·      Planner (all parts belonging to a certain company and planner)

·      All parts for the company (when no selection is made)

Also, a combination of these selections can be used (for example, all parts belonging to a certain planner for a certain warehouse).

Part/Warehouse Combination

The Initial Download File record is created for each part within each warehouse.  Therefore, the key used in this file is part number/warehouse number combination. 

Please note that company number is not used as a key in the record.  This means that the data belonging to different companies should be downloaded to different PCs or to different directories on the same PC.  (Please refer to PC DOS user manuals for how to use directories.)  Each PC (or each directory of one PC) should contain the forecasting application programs and the data base pertaining to one company.

If warehouse numbers are unique among companies, a single copy of the forecasting application programs and data base can be used.

Master Scheduled and Service Parts Planning

Initial Download File records are created for standard master scheduled, daily master scheduled, and service parts only (demand type = M, D or S).

Demand History Calculation

The demand is calculated for each item within each warehouse in each of the past 42 months.  (Note that bundled items are not included:  the demand for each item in the bundle is accumulated for that item.)  Demand from sales orders, blanket orders, cash sales, and postbilling transactions for an item are summed to determine the total demand for that item.  The following figure details how the system determines the demand quantity and demand date for various types of transactions.  In all cases, the sourcing warehouse for the transaction is used to accumulate the demand quantities by warehouse.  If parts were ordered or shipped in selling units, the demand quantity is converted to the part's stockkeeping unit of measure (which is defined on the Part Master File).

         How Demand Quantities and Dates Are Determined.