3 Maintain Reference Curves

The Maintain Reference Curves task is used to create reference curves, which are used to spread unit sales to week in the Develop and Approve Item Plans task. Reference curves are based on percent-to-total sales, and they shrink or stretch to fit the defined regular or promotional sales period. In Item Planning, reference curves are used only for regular and promotional sales periods, unlike Assortment Planning which uses them for the entire lifecycle of an item. The reference curves created in this task are used in the Develop and Approve Item Plans task.

Building the Maintain Reference Curves Workbook

To build a Maintain Reference Curves workbook, perform the following steps:

1. Click the New Workbook icon in the Maintain Reference Curves task.

   Figure 3-1 Maintain Reference Curves Task

   
   

2. The Maintain Reference Curves Workbook Wizard appears at the Select Class step. Select the classes you want to map and click Finish.

   Figure 3-2 Reference Curves Workbook Wizard: Select Class

   
   

The Maintain Reference Curves workbook is built and opens at the Maintain Curve Profiles View.

Maintain Curve Profiles View

The Define Lifecycle Curves step contains a single view, Maintain Curve Profiles. Use this view to create sales curves to be used in the Develop and Approve Item Plans task. These curve profiles are based on a percent-to-total sales. Regardless of weeks in the curve, the curves can shrink or stretch to fit the defined regular and promotional sales period.

Figure 3-3 Maintain Curve Profiles View

Perform the following steps to create curve profiles:

1. Ensure that all[Calendar] is shown in the Calendar dimension.

2. In the intersection of the Sales Curve Label measure and the all[Calendar] dimension, enter the label of the curve profile. This label is displayed in the Item Planning task.

3. Starting in Week 01, enter the percent-to-total sales percentage in the weeks of the curve profile. The number of defined weeks is up to you.

   
   

   Note: You must start the curve in Week 01 for the curve to be able to shrink or stretch to fit the defined regular and promotional sales period.

   
   

4. Click Calculate. The all[Calendar] percentage is calculated based on the percentages in the defined weeks.

5. When finished, save and commit the workbook.

Table 3-1 lists the measures available on this view.

Table 3-1 Maintain Curve Profiles View Measures

Measure	Description
Sales Curve Label	Enter a label for the lifecycle curve. This label is displayed in the Item Planning task.
Sales Curve %	Enter percent-to-total sales percentage in the weeks of the curve.

Use the graph view to see how the curves look over the sales period (Figure 3-4).

Figure 3-4 Maintain Curve Profiles Graph View