18 Working with Forecast Consumption

This chapter contains these topics:

• Section 18.1, "About Forecast Consumption,"

• Section 18.2, "Setting Up Forecast Consumption,"

• Section 18.3, "Forecast Consumption Example."

18.1 About Forecast Consumption

Forecast consumption logic takes into account forecasts and total customer sales including shipments when planning, and uses whichever is greater to calculate requirements within user defined periods. Open sales orders and shipments "consume" the forecast until sales quantities exceed forecast quantities, at which point, the excess sales order demand drives requirements planning.

18.2 Setting Up Forecast Consumption

In order to use forecast consumption, you must set up the following in the system.

• Planning fence information in the Item/Branch Plant

• Sales order document type(s) in the UDC table 40/CF

• Forecast Consumption Periods

• Processing Options - Planning Generation

• Processing Options - Time Series

18.2.1 Adding Planning Fence Information

Navigation

From Inventory Management (G41), choose Inventory Master/Transactions

From Inventory Master/Transactions (G4111), choose Item Branch/Plant Information

To enter planning fence information in the Item Branch/Plant

On Item Branch/Plant Information

Figure 18-1 Item Branch/Plant Information screen

Description of "Figure 18-1 Item Branch/Plant Information screen"

1. Choose Manufacturing (F10) to display the Plant Manufacturing Data - Branch screen.

   Figure 18-2 Plant Manufacturing Data screen

   
   Description of "Figure 18-2 Plant Manufacturing Data screen"
   
   

2. Enter H in the following field:

   • Planning Fence Rule

3. Enter the number of days greater than or equal to the planning horizon in the following field:

   • Planning Fence

   For example, with planning horizon periods set for 12 monthly buckets, set Planning Fence field to at least 366.

18.2.2 Adding Sales Order Document Type

Navigation

From (G00), choose General User Defined Codes

All sales order document types selected in the inclusion rules specified in planning program processing options need to be specified on this 40/CF UDC table if using forecast consumption. When an order is ship confirmed, if the document type is set up in this table, the quantity is written to the Forecast Shipment Summary file (F3462) and these quantities continue to consume forecast in the appropriate period (-SHIP appears on the time series) until their scheduled pick date is prior to the current forecast consumption period.

Note:

If a sales order document type is added to 40/CF after shipments are made for orders with that doc type, the orders already shipped will not be included in F3462, and therefore the -SHIP for the period in which they were shipped will not appear.

To add a sales order document type to the UDC table

On General User Defined Codes

Figure 18-3 General User Defined Codes (Add Sales Order Document) screen

Description of "Figure 18-3 General User Defined Codes (Add Sales Order Document) screen"

1. Enter I in the following field:

   • Action Code

2. Enter 40 in the following field:

   • System Code

3. Enter CF in the following field:

   • User Defined Codes

4. Press Enter to inquire on this table.

5. Review or change the following fields, as needed:

   • Code

   • Description

18.2.3 Defining Monthly Forecast Consumption Periods

In order to use forecast consumption, forecast consumption periods must be defined. These periods determine what forecasts are consumed by what sales orders, depending on where forecasts and sales orders fall within the specified periods.

There are two valid Period Types:

• FC - Forecast consumption period

• TS - Time series bucket

The end date of each forecast consumption period is defined with FC in the Period Type field. When you enter forecast consumption periods, this information will apply system wide, can be any length, and can end on any date. If the end date entered is a non-workday, the system will use the last workday prior as the end date. The beginning date of a period is the first working day after the prior period end date.

Each period end date forces a time series bucket. When you run Planning Generation, the daily and weekly buckets specified in the planning horizon processing options will appear on the time series, but the months specified will be replaced by forecast consumption periods. The TS period type is used to generate time series buckets when forecast consumption periods are greater than a month.

For example, if quarterly forecast consumption periods are set up without any TS periods, only quarterly time series buckets will be written after any daily and/or weekly buckets. If time series buckets within the forecast consumption periods (i.e. monthly time series buckets within quarterly forecast consumption periods) are required, they are defined by the TS period type.

Navigation

From Material Planning (G34), choose Hidden Selection 29

From Material Planning Setup (G3440), choose Requirements Planning Setup

From Material Planning Setup (G3442), choose Forecast Consumption Periods

To define monthly forecast consumption periods

On Forecast Consumption Periods

1. Complete the following field for each consumption period to add:

   • Period End Date

2. To set up a monthly forecast consumption period, enter FC in the following field:

   • Period Type

   Figure 18-4 Forecast Consumption Periods screen

   
   Description of "Figure 18-4 Forecast Consumption Periods screen"
   
   

3. If the forecast consumption periods are greater than a month, you can generate time series buckets in between period end dates. Enter TS in the following field:

   • Period Type

Figure 18-5 Forecast Consumption Period (Time Series Buckets) screen

Description of "Figure 18-5 Forecast Consumption Period (Time Series Buckets) screen"

18.2.4 Processing Options - Planning Generation

(P3482 or P3483) processing options must have forecast consumption logic turned on and two past due periods selected

Two past due periods are only appropriate in conjunction with forecast consumption logic. The reason two past due buckets are used for forecast consumption is because there are times when the current forecast consumption period will cross over the generation date, leaving part of the period in the past. The Past Due 1 bucket includes supply and demand quantities due prior to the beginning of the current forecast consumption period. The Past Due 2 bucket consists of the period from the beginning date of the current forecast consumption period to the generation date of the planning run. Unlike other planning fence rules, forecasts prior to the generation date are still relevant (within the current forecast consumption period).

See Section 54.4, "Master Planning Schedule - Plant Maintenance (P3482)."

See Section 54.5, "Multi-Facility - Gross Regeneration (P3483)."

18.2.5 Processing Options - Time Series

To properly view the Time Series (P3413), its processing options must also have two past due periods specified and forecast consumption logic turned on.

See Section 54.3, "Time Series (P3413)."

18.3 Forecast Consumption Example

The following sequence of time series demonstrates the use of forecast consumption logic. For these examples, the planning generation processing options specified two weekly buckets then monthly, the forecast consumption periods were monthly, and quantities were forecasted for the first day of the month.

From a generation on the first day of the month, an unadjusted forecast of 1242 (-FCU) appears in the first weekly bucket. The forecast is consumed by 140 that have already shipped (-SHIP), and the sum of the sales orders within the forecast consumption period which is 650 (-SO) for an adjusted forecast quantity of 452 (-FC). The beginning available quantity of 445 minus adjusted forecast and sales order quantities results in an unadjusted ending available of -657 (=EAU) and a planned order for 657 (+PLO).

Figure 18-6 MRP Time Series Inquiry screen

Description of "Figure 18-6 MRP Time Series Inquiry screen"

Notice that with the forecast consumption processing option behind the time series turned on, period end dates are highlighted making forecast consumption periods easy to see.

On this time series, generated a few days later, we see the 657 are in process (+WOU/+WO) and another sales order for 100 (-SOU) has been accepted bringing the adjusted sales order quantity to 750 (-SO) and the adjusted forecast to 352 (-FC). Notice that the forecast and shipped quantities now appear in the Past Due 2 bucket; their dates are prior to the generation start date but still within the current forecast consumption period.

Figure 18-7 MRP Time Series Inquiry (Days Later) screen

Description of "Figure 18-7 MRP Time Series Inquiry (Days Later) screen"

The following week, the work order has been completed, 100 more have shipped, and more sales orders have been accepted (see -SOU of 400 in the 01/31 bucket) to the point that the forecast has been exceeded by 48. The unadjusted forecast of 1242 is fully consumed by the 240 shipped and adjusted sales of 1002; the remaining sales appear in the appropriate bucket (-SO of 48 in the 01/31 bucket) with a planned order for the same quantity as a result.

Figure 18-8 MRP Time Series Inquiry (One Week Later) screen

Description of "Figure 18-8 MRP Time Series Inquiry (One Week Later) screen"

See Also:

• Appendix C, "Time Series Quantity Types."