Forecast Consumption by Customer Calculation

These tables illustrate the different results that are reached, depending on whether you differentiate by customer. The first table demonstrates the results of a calculation that does not differentiate by customer:

Customer	Sales Order	Forecast	Greater of Forecast and Sales Order
A	100	80
B	400	375
C	700	750
Total	1200	1205	1205

In this calculation, you aggregate all of the sales orders and all of the forecasts for an item and compare the totals with each other. In this case, the total forecast is greater than the total sales order quantity. Therefore, the forecast becomes the total demand.

This table demonstrates the results of a calculation that nets each individual sales order against a forecast with matching customer number:

Customer	Sales Order	Forecast	Greater of Forecast and Sales Order
A	100	80	100
B	400	375	400
C	700	750	750
Total			1250

In this calculation, the sales order and forecast quantities are not totaled. Instead, each sales order is compared to a matching forecast. The greater quantity in each comparison is added to the total demand. In this case, the total demand is greater than if the first method had been used.