Forecast engine: Do Not Fit flag

The Forecast Engine is enhanced to support mapping of an additional input measure "Do not fit“. This is a flag to indicate that, where > 0 for the mapped measure, the item/location combination must not pass to the forecast engine. These combinations are skipped from processing. Any existing statistical forecast values are maintained, if applicable. The statistical forecast and other forecast engine output measures are to be cleared separately, if required.

Standard Demand Planning content is updated to support this functionality. This update is done for Demand Planning and Inventory Planning through two separate measures, so combinations in Inventory Planning can be excluded for forecast engines used in that cycle.

These measures are added:

  • Do Not Forecast Flag (DPLS_DONOTFIT): COUNT and SUM versions are included with related calculation rules to display an average (SUM/COUNT) for aggregate combinations.
  • Do Not Forecast Flag (IPLS_DONOTFIT): COUNT and SUM versions are included with related calculation rules to display an average (SUM/COUNT) for aggregate combinations.

All standard forecast engines are updated to map the corresponding measure, using non-calculated _SUM, for demand or inventory.

These macros are updated to copy forward Do Not Forecast Flag measure from the previous cycle period:

  • Import Demand Plan from SCV
  • Import Inventory Data from SCV

These worksheets are updated to review and maintain the Do Not Forecast flag:

  • Forecast Information (DPLS Forecast Exceptions) - Demand Planning
    • Display Count of Do Not Forecast Flag to review how many combinations in the current context are set to Do Not Forecast.
  • Forecast Parameters (DPLS Forecast Parameters) - Demand Planning
    • Added editable Do Not Forecast Flag measure.
    • Display Count of Do Not Forecast Flag to review how many combinations in the current context are set to Do Not Forecast.

      See below for details of this new worksheet panel.

  • Products at Locations (DPLS Products at Locations) - Demand Planning
    • Added editable Do Not Forecast Flag measure.
    • Display Count of Do Not Forecast Flag to review how many combinations in the current context are set to Do Not Forecast.
    • This worksheet panel is part of the multi-panel: ’9. Maintenance’.
  • Forecast Information (IPLS Forecast Exceptions) - Inventory Planning
    • Added editable Do Not Forecast Flag measure.
    • Display Count of Do Not Forecast Flag to review how many combinations in the current context are set to Do Not Forecast.
    • This worksheet panel is part of the multi-panel: ’2 Statistical Workbench’.
  • Products at Locations 4 (IPLS Products at Locations 4) - Inventory Planning
    • Added editable Do Not Forecast Flag measure.
    • Display Count of Do Not Forecast Flag to review how many combinations in the current context are set to Do Not Forecast.
    • This worksheet panel is part of the multi-panels: ’3. Maintenance’ and ’3 Data Errors’
Note: While calculating at a level of aggregation, the mapped measure that do not fit is aggregated from base elements to the level of forecasting.

Therefore, it is possible to exclude aggregates from forecasting, but any base-level children marked “do not forecast” prevents the aggregate from being calculated by the engine. This does not affect the period level of forecasting, since the flag is not time dependent.

The new forecast engine measure mapping is accessible after upgrade. The updated content is accessible after appending the demand planning template (dpls.zip) for this version. No additional role or privilege is required to access this feature. The measure is accessible to those users with access to the existing multi-panel worksheets and associated forecast engines.