Forecast Spreading

When you enable forecast spreading, the planning process breaks down the forecast at an aggregate time level to the day level. This is known as forecast spreading. Configure the forecast spreading parameters on the Plan Options page, Supply tab, Forecast Allocation and Consumption subtab.

Use the Forecast Spreading option to decide whether to spread the forecast evenly or to not spread the forecast at all.

• Spread forecast evenly: The planning process spreads forecast to daily buckets if the demand is planned at an aggregate level, such as a weekly or monthly level.

  If selected, then select a calendar from the Forecast Spreading Calendar drop-down list to determine the start and end date of the consumption buckets as well as the working days. You can only spread the forecast evenly across all working days.

  Let’s say that you have a monthly demand forecast of 100 and you enable forecast spreading. There are 20 working days in the month. The planning process spreads the forecast quantity of 5 to each working day of the month.

• Do not spread forecast: The planning process retains the forecast at the weekly or monthly level. The planning process puts the forecast at the first day of the week or the first day of the month.

Note: You can enable the Rounding item attribute in the product data model or a simulation set. This ensures that the spread forecast is in integers and helps plan for items that aren't divisible.