Born — A new product
Young — A recently introduced product
Old — A mature product
Dead — A product whose functionality is no longer required as a result of new technology
A — Comprising 1 to 20% of all items but representing 80% of the total value, forecast in a controlled environment with non-adaptive forecasting models and significant monitoring.
B — Comprising 20 to 30% of all items worth 15 to 20% of sales, forecast using short term adaptive models.
C — Comprising 50 to 70% of all items and 5 to 10% of the value for which forecasts cannot provide significant ROI.
Years such as “2003” and “2004”
Quarters such as “Quarter 1 - 2003” and “Quarter 2 - 2003”
Months such as “February 2003” and “March 2003”
the expected standard deviation of the forecast errors
the expected upper and lower bonds on the forecasts
the probability of the forecast being accurate