Scheduling the Batch Forecasting task

The Batch Forecasting task can be scheduled to generate forecasts for a store or multiple stores under a corporate entity.

  1. Select Maintenance > System Administration > Job Scheduler.
  2. Click Add Schedule.
    The Task page is displayed.
  3. Specify a descriptive name in the Task Description field.
  4. At the Task Type section, select Java Task, then select Batch Forecasting from the drop-down list.
  5. Assign a specific scheduler to run the task in the Task Affinity field.
  6. In the Scheduled Time section, specify this information:
    Run at
    Specify the time to run the task.
    Timezone
    Select the applicable time zone using the lookup. By default, the Timezone field displays your actual local time zone. If you leave the Timezone field as the default, then the Run at time will be run at the employee’s local time.
  7. In the Scheduling Time section, select one of these options:
    Once
    Schedule the task to run only once.
    Daily
    Schedule the task to run by intervals of days and minutes. If using this option, then you must configure one of these options:
    • Specify the number of days between runs in the Every Day(s) field.
    • Specify the number of seconds between runs in the Interval Second(s) field. You can specify a minimum of 5 seconds between runs. Specify -1 to not use the field.
    Weekly
    Schedule the task to run by day of week. If using this option, then select the check boxes to indicate which days of the week the task will be run on.
    Monthly
    Schedule the task to run by month and by day of month. If using this option, then you must configure one of these options:
    • Select the Day Of option and type the day of month to indicate which date the task runs.
    • Select the Of option and select the week of the month and the day of week to indicate which day the task runs. For example, you can select Second and Thursday to run the task every second Thursday of the month.
    • Select the check boxes to indicate which months of the year the task runs.
  8. At the Blackout Period section, select None.
  9. In the Scheduling Range section, specify this information:
    Start On
    Select the date when the task will start running.
    End By
    Specify the end date of the task run. Or, if the task run has an infinite end date, leave the field blank.
  10. Click Submit, and click OK at the confirmation prompt.
    Your task is added to the list of scheduled tasks in the Task Schedules page.
  11. For your Batch Forecasting task, click Parameters to specify job parameters.
    The Schedule Settings page is displayed.
  12. Specify this information:
    Location
    Select the location for the task to generate forecasts for. This can be a store to forecast for a single store. It can also be a corporate entity to generate the forecast across its sub-locations.
    Name
    Specify a name for the generated forecasts. You can specify %FW in the name to include the fiscal week number in the forecast name.

    For example, you can specify Forecast - %FW. The forecast generated for first fiscal week would be generated with the name Forecast - 1.

  13. Specify this information:
    Initial Adjustment (%)
    Specify the percentage by which the historical data are increased for the current forecast. This field is only used for linear regression forecast. For other forecast methods, specify 0.0.
    Hist. Range Start Offset (Days)
    This field determines the start of the date range for the historical data used to generate linear regression forecasts. Specify the number of days from the start date of the forecast period to use as the start date for the historical data. For other forecast methods, specify any number.
    Hist. Range End Offset (Days)
    This field determines the end of the date range for the historical data used to generate linear regression forecasts. Specify the number of days from the start date of the forecast period to use as the end date for the historical data. For other forecast methods, specify any number. This value must be equal to or lower than the start date value.
    For example:
    • Forecast period is May 16, 2022 to May 22, 2022
    • Hist. Range Start Offset (Days) = 14
    • Hist. Range End Offset (Days) = 1

    The historical date range in this scenario would be May 2, 2022 to May 15, 2022.

  14. In the Forecast Period field, select Day Offset to generate the forecast for a time period relative to the date when the task is run. Select Date Range to generate the forecast for a specific date range.
  15. If you selected Day Offset, then specify this information:
    Min. Day Offset to Start Date
    Specify the minimum offset in days to start the forecast period. To determine the forecast start date, the offset is applied to the current date when the task runs. The forecast start date is the next day following the offset date that matches the Start Day of the week in the location's configuration. Negative numbers can be specified to forecast for past periods.
    For example:
    • Min. Day Offset to Start Date = 7
    • The location start day is Sunday
    • The task runs on Thursday, May 12, 2022
    The forecast start date is in this scenario is Sunday, May 22, 2022. It is the first Sunday after adding 7 days to the task run date.
    Number of Days
    Specify the length of the forecast period in days.
  16. If you selected Date Range, then specify the Start Date and End Date for the forecast period.
  17. In the Delete Existing Forecasts drop-down, select No to skip forecast generation for locations that have an existing forecast during the forecast period. Select Yes to overwrite existing forecasts.
  18. In the Workmail Notification field, specify users to receive notifications of the forecast generation status when the task is run.
  19. Click Submit to save the task parameters, and click OK to confirm.