Overview
A forecast is typically the anticipated demand for a product for a specific time. A Forecast Demand record includes an Item, a starting date and ending date (forecast period), and the number of sales anticipated (forecast quantity) for that period. MRP treats Forecasts as independent demand and creates planned Work Orders (for Manufactured Items), or planned Inventory Requisitions (for Purchased or Subcontract Items), to cover the demand. Under this condition, forecast as demand drives the MRP Plan for manufacturing and purchase activity in advance of the Customer Order. Without a Forecast, MRP plans for manufactured, purchased, and subcontract items are not generated until an actual demand (customer order and/or manufacturing order) is entered by the user. When Forecast Demands exist, MRP plans for the greater of the Forecast vs. Actual Demands.
NOTE When actual demand for a given product in a given period surpasses the forecasted quantity, the forecasted quantity will not be used by MRP, but rather just the actual demand.
NOTE Forecast Demands for past periods are not used by MRP, unlike past due Order Lines.
Application
The Forecast Demand Function is used to add and/or edit the item forecast. A forecast is entered manually, automatically generated or through a data import process.
NOTE There are predefined fields on this record. The dropdown function will provide valid selection options. Use the field-level and page help for additional information.
Navigation
Forecast Demand
Step 1: List View
The Forecast Demand Function is used to add and/or edit the Item forecast. Forecast Demands are entered manually one at a time or through the Forecast Demand - Fast Entry function.
Step 2: Select the button ‘New Forecast Demand’
Fields
Division: Identifies the Division impacted by the Forecast. MRP is Division specific and will create a material plan for the same Division as the Forecast.
Forecast Order: This field is a user-defined (unique) identifier for the Forecast. When adding a new Forecast Demand record the Forecast Order field will default to the next sequential number in the series. This value can be overridden by entering a preferred designation.
EXAMPLE Forecast June 2019.
NOTE If an override is selected, the order number must begin with an alpha character.
Item Name: Inventory Item for which this demand applies. (There can be no overlap in forecast date ranges for the same Division, Site, and Item).
Start Date / End Date: Also referred to as 'Buckets', these fields define the period of the forecast. MRP Planning will plan for the entire quantity of a Forecast Period to be available at the start of the Forecast Period. If an item has a Forecast for 100 and the Forecast Period is defined as Start Date 03/01/2019 and End Date 03/31/2019, MRP will plan supply orders due at the start of the Forecast Period (03/01/2019) to cover the entire forecast quantity for that period. If a Sales Order is placed with a due date of mid-month, MRP will plan an order to cover the remaining forecast due on 03/01/2019 and plan an order to cover the Sales Order due mid-month.
Quantity: The Forecast Quantity for the Forecast Period.
Status Picklist: Status of the forecast record.
Project: If Projects are active for this Division, you must specify a Project code for this demand. The Project ID identifies a specific project-related Forecast. Under this condition, MRP will plan based on Forecast and Customer Orders under the same Project Number. If Project Control is not active in this Division, defaults to Home Project.
Inv UOM: The Inventory Unit of measure is displayed for the Item.
Demand Netting Option: There are 2 options.
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Net all demands against forecast: Select this option to net all demands (independent and dependent) against a Forecast. Under this condition, all demands are consumed by the Forecast until the Forecast is depleted and only the remainder is applied as demand by MRP.
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Net only independent demands: Select this option to net all independent demands only against a Forecast.
Step 3: Save the Record.
EXAMPLE Forecast Period: 03/01/2022 – 03/31/2022 and Forecast Quantity: 100
3/1 ……………………………………….…..3/15……………………………………….…..3/31
Forecast 100
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MRP Plan 100
MRP plans an order for 100 due on 03/01/2022.
Sales Order entered for 50 units due 3/15.
MRP plans orders accordingly
3/1 ……………………………………….…..3/15……………………………………….…..3/31
Forecast 50
Sales Order 50
|----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------
MRP Plan 50 50
MRP plans 1 order for 50 units due 3/1 to cover the remaining forecast and plans 1 order for 50 units 3/15 to cover the Sales Order.
If the expected MRP Planned Order quantities are too large, you may want to consider breaking the Forecast into smaller periods (Weekly versus Monthly).
Forecast Period Ranges must be contiguous. If Forecasting an Item for each month, a Forecast of 0 must be entered for a month with 0 anticipated sales versus not entering a Forecast for that month.
Forecast Import: Forecast may be imported via a CSV file. Refer to Import Forecast Demand for more details.
SEE ALSO
Forecasting MRP Overview
Forecast Demand - Fast Entry
Item Usage Forecast
