Formula Forecasts

Owned by Ondřej Tesař
Nov 01, 2024
2 min read

The Forecast Engine enables you to compare historical and forecasted impacts on revenue, margin, and volume. This feature is crucial for assessing the potential outcomes of different agreement scenarios.

To activate a Forecast Engine, select the Forecast Engine on the Agreement Header. There are two predefined forecasts at the moment – AGR_Forecast_Average and AGR_Forecast_CostPlus.

A Forecast Engine might have assigned inputs. These are displayed under the Forecast Engine field. The fields may differ depending on the selected forecast.

The default Forecast Engine can be defined in the Advanced Configuration Options.

Since the default forecast engine is displayed at both – the header and scenario folder levels, if you switch to a different forecast engine at the header level and want it applied to all line items, you must remove the default forecast from the scenario folder; otherwise, the scenario folder’s forecast will be used.

Comparing Historical and Forecasted Data

  1. Set up the Agreement Header.

  2. Navigate to the Items tab.

  3. Select an item you want to compare the historical and forecast data for.

  4. Specify Product(s) and Formula and fill in all necessary fields on the Input Parameters tab.

If you want to change the forecasting period, navigate to Administration > Configuration > Advanced Configuration Options > AGR_AdvancedConfiguration. In the JSON, change the value of the forecastMonths property. The default value is 12, which means that all forecast engines run 12 times per year to produce a yearly forecast.

  1. Calculate the Agreement by clicking the Recalculate button.

  2. See the comparison on the Calculations tab (when the item is selected).

    FormulaAGR_Forecasts .png

     

On this tab, you can find the comparison tables – Revenue, Margin, Volume. Each table provides you with a comparison between historical and forecasted values for the calculated SKUs.

  • Forecast: The forecasted value.

  • Historical: The recorded historical value.

  • Change: The difference between the forecasted and historical values for the given period (specified by the forecastMonths property – see above).

 

For the technical documentation, refer to the How to Configure a new Forecast Engine article.