How to set up confirmed forecast (supplier side)

This topic contains instructions to set up functionality for confirmed forecast and unconfirmed forecast for the supplier in a vendor managed inventory (VMI) situation.

For an overview of the various options, refer to Confirmed forecast and unconfirmed forecast.

Basic setup

To enable the use of confirmed and unconfirmed forecast, first set up the relevant terms and conditions agreement. For instructions on how to do this, refer to Setting up terms and conditions.

All the fields and check boxes mentioned in this topic are located in the Planning Terms and Conditions (tctrm1135m000) session, unless otherwise specified.

To specify that you plan the supply for your customer, select the Responsible for Supply Planning check box.

If the customer makes a distinction between confirmed forecast and unconfirmed forecast, select the Use Confirmed Forecast check box.

Your customer can use two methods to communicate the confirmed forecast:

In the forecast messages, by using an indicator for confirmed forecast or specifying a quantity of confirmed forecast.
In the terms and conditions agreement, by specifying a fixed number of periods in which the forecast is interpreted as confirmed forecast.

Confirmed forecast sent in forecast message

If your customer sends the confirmed forecast in the forecast message, use the following settings:

Field	Value
Use Confirmed Forecast	Yes (check box selected)
Specify Confirmed Forecast by	Message

Confirmed forecast based on terms and conditions

To define the number of periods in which the forecast quantities are considered to be confirmed demand in the terms and conditions agreement, use the following settings:

Field	Value
Use Confirmed Forecast	Yes (check box selected)
Specify Confirmed Forecast by	Terms and Conditions
Interpret Confirmed Forecast	First Periods
Number of Periods	The number of periods in a demand forecast message interpreted as confirmed forecast.

Note

To specify that all forecast is considered confirmed forecast, set the Interpret Confirmed Forecast field to All Forecast.

The use of the confirmed forecast

The confirmed forecast messages can serve two purposes:

Purely informational
As basis for the planning performed by the supplier.

You can use the confirmed forecast to calculate the confirmed supply that you communicate with your customer. If you do not calculate a confirmed supply, you can use the confirmed forecast to plan the supply and to optionally determine the replenishment plan as well.

To base the confirmed supply on confirmed forecast

To base the confirmed supply on confirmed forecast, use the following settings:

Select the Confirm Supply check box.
Set the Confirmed Supply Based On field to Confirmed Forecast.

To plan or replenish based on confirmed forecast

The following fields determine how you plan and replenish the supply:

The Planning Based On field.
The Replenishment Based On field.

The allowed values of these fields depend on the settings of many other fields. For more information on these fields, refer to the Help of the Planning Based On field and the Replenishment Based On field.

To plan the supply based on confirmed forecast, set the Planning Based On field to Confirmed Forecast.

To replenish the item based on confirmed forecast, set the Planning Based On field and Replenishment Based On field to Confirmed Forecast.