Overview of the Product Lifecycle Management Page Layout

The Product Lifecycle Management page layout helps you to manage product introductions and retirements. On this page layout, you can modify launch dates and discontinuation dates for products, while increasing or reducing baseline forecasts.

The introduction or retirement of a product often affects the demand for a related product. When the product introduction reduces the demand for the related product, the effect is termed as the cannibalization effect. When the product introduction increases the demand for the related product, the effect is termed as the halo effect.

Using this page layout along with predefined forecasting profiles in demand, demand and supply, replenishment, and sales and operations plans, you can do the following:

Generate forecasts while allowing for the cannibalization or halo effect.
Plan for cannibalization of existing products, and avoid revenue loss.
Plan for the increased demand for related products on account of the halo effect.

Note: The page layout isn’t available in the Planning Central work area.

Description of the Page Layout

The Product Lifecycle Management page layout consists of two panes:

The top pane displays the predefined Manage Product Life Cycle by Item and Date table, using which you can modify the launch and discontinuation dates for products.
The bottom pane displays the predefined Manage Forecast During Product Life Cycle table, using which you can modify the shipments or bookings forecast for products.

By default, both tables display products under the Category level 1 level of the Product hierarchy in the Product dimension.

The top table is dynamically linked to the bottom table; the former passes the highlighted selection in the Category level 1 level to the latter.

Note: If your products are in a different Product dimension level, you need to make a copy of the page layout and its tables, modify the Product dimension level for the table copies, and ensure that the top table dynamically passes the highlighted selection in the required Product dimension level to the bottom table. You can’t make changes to predefined page layouts or the hierarchy levels and links of predefined tables.

Measures for Managing Dates for Product Lifecycle Management

The measures you use for managing dates in this page layout are as follows:

Launch Date: Use this measure to store the date when the product is available for sale in the market. The value for this measure is collected or imported through the file-based data import (FBDI) template for Supply Chain Planning measures.
Adjusted Launch Date: Use this measure to modify the date when the product is available for sale in the market. You can modify this measure on the page layout.
Final Launch Date: This measure displays the final value for the date when the product is available for sale in the market. If the Adjusted Launch Date measure contains a value, that value is displayed by the Final Launch Date measure. Otherwise, the value of the Launch Date measure is displayed by the Final Launch Date measure.
The Final Launch Date measure is the default value for the LaunchDateMeasure forecasting parameter of the Forecast Bookings Including Product Life Cycle and Forecast Shipments Including Product Life Cycle forecasting profiles.
Discontinuation Date: Use this measure to store the date when the product is no longer available for sale in the market. The value for this measure is collected or imported through the FBDI template for Supply Chain Planning measures.
Adjusted Discontinuation Date: Use this measure to modify the date when the product is no longer available for sale in the market. You can modify this measure on the page layout.
Final Discontinuation Date: This measure displays the final value for the date when the product is no longer available for sale in the market. If the Adjusted Discontinuation Date measure contains a value, that value is displayed by the Final Discontinuation Date measure. Otherwise, the value of the Discontinuation Date measure is displayed by the Final Discontinuation Date measure.
The Final Discontinuation Date measure is the default value for the DiscontinueDateMeasure forecasting parameter of the Forecast Bookings Including Product Life Cycle and Forecast Shipments Including Product Life Cycle forecasting profiles.

Measures for Managing Forecasts for Product Lifecycle Management

Note: By default, the predefined Manage Forecast During Product Life Cycle table displays shipments forecast measures. If you want to generate a forecast that’s based on historical bookings, you need to click View > Measures > Manage Measures, select the hidden and visible measures according to your requirement, and save the table layout.

The measures you use for managing the shipments forecast in this page layout are as follows:

Shipments Forecast: This measure is the output measure for the predefined Forecast Shipments Including Product Life Cycle forecasting profile. The measure stores the shipments forecast that's based on shipments history.
Adjusted Shipments Forecast: Use this measure to modify the shipments forecast for the product by using a number. You can modify this measure on the page layout.
Change to Shipments Forecast Percentage: Use this measure to modify the shipments forecast for the product by using a percentage. You can modify this measure on the page layout.
For example, to increase the shipments forecast by 75%, enter 0.75 for the Change to Shipments Forecast Percentage measure. To decrease the shipments forecast by 25%, enter -0.25 for the Change to Shipments Forecast Percentage measure.
Final Shipments Forecast: This measure displays the final value for the shipments forecast and is dynamically updated in the Manage Forecast During Product Life Cycle table. If the Adjusted Shipments Forecast measure contains a value, it’s displayed by the Final Shipments Forecast measure. If the Change to Shipments Forecast Percentage measure contains a value, the calculated value is displayed by the Final Shipments Forecast measure. Otherwise, the value of the Shipments Forecast measure is displayed by the Final Shipments Forecast measure.
If both the Adjusted Shipments Forecast and Change to Shipments Forecast Percentage measures contain values, the percentage of the value in the Adjusted Shipments Forecast measure is calculated and displayed by the Final Shipments Forecast measure.

The measures you use for managing the bookings forecast in this page layout are as follows:

Bookings Forecast: This measure is the output measure for the predefined Forecast Bookings Including Product Life Cycle forecasting profile. The measure stores the bookings forecast that's based on bookings history.
Adjusted Bookings Forecast: Use this measure to modify the bookings forecast for the product by using a number. You can modify this measure on the page layout.
Change to Bookings Forecast Percentage: Use this measure to modify the bookings forecast for the product by using a percentage. You can modify this measure on the page layout.
For example, to increase the bookings forecast by 75%, enter 0.75 for the Change to Bookings Forecast Percentage measure. To decrease the bookings forecast by 25%, enter -0.25 for the Change to Bookings Forecast Percentage measure.
Final Bookings Forecast: This measure displays the final value for the bookings forecast and is dynamically updated in the Manage Forecast During Product Life Cycle table. If the Adjusted Bookings Forecast measure contains a value, it’s displayed by the Final Bookings Forecast measure. If the Change to Bookings Forecast Percentage measure contains a value, the calculated value is displayed by the Final Bookings Forecast measure. Otherwise, the value of the Bookings Forecast measure is displayed by the Final Bookings Forecast measure.
If both the Adjusted Bookings Forecast and Change to Bookings Forecast Percentage measures contain values, the percentage of the value in the Adjusted Bookings Forecast measure is calculated and displayed by the Final Bookings Forecast measure.

Forecasting Profiles for Product Lifecycle Management

You use these predefined forecasting profiles for managing product life cycles:

Forecast Shipments Including Product Life Cycle: This forecasting profile generates a forecast on the basis of historical shipments and the Final Launch Date and Final Discontinuation Date measures.
The forecasting profile is available for demand, demand and supply, replenishment, and sales and operations plans.
Forecast Bookings Including Product Life Cycle: This forecasting profile generates a forecast on the basis of historical bookings and the Final Launch Date and Final Discontinuation Date measures.
The forecasting profile is available for demand, demand and supply, and sales and operations plans.

Other Points to Note

Note these other points about the functionality for managing the product life cycle:

If the Final Launch Date measure doesn’t contain a value or isn’t present in the plan’s measure catalog, the forecast is generated from the forecast start date of the plan.
The plan’s forecast start date is used if it’s later than the value of the Final Launch Date measure.
If the Final Discontinuation Date measure doesn’t contain a value or isn’t present in the plan’s measure catalog, the forecast is generated till the forecast end date of the plan.
The plan’s forecast end date is used if it’s earlier than the value of the Final Discontinuation Date measure.
If the date in the Final Launch Date measure is later than the date in the Final Discontinuation Date measure, both measures are ignored, and the forecast is generated from the plan’s forecast start date to the plan’s forecast end date.
Optionally, you can use an override label for the Change to Shipments Forecast Percentage or Change to Bookings Forecast Percentage measure in the Manage Forecast During Product Life Cycle table so that the functionality of the page layout is better reflected. For example, you can use Launch and Cannibalization Factor as the override label in the Format Measures dialog box.