LS Forecast lets you calculate forecasts on a daily or weekly level for different item groups. While you might want to utilize the highest precision for your priority one items, a forecast on a weekly level can be sufficient for your spare parts, slow movers, and lower priority items. You can define this with an LS Forecast Batch by setting up its Forecast Bucket, which defines the calculation precision. Each batch can then be assigned with different items or item groups via the LS Forecast Item Links.
To set up LS Forecast Batches
- Click the
icon, enter LS Forecast Batches, and select the relevant link. - Click the New action to create a new batch in your LS Central database.
- Fill in the relevant fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| No. | This field specifies the number of the batch. The batch number cannot be blank and must only contain alphanumeric characters (A-Z and 0-9) without spaces. |
| Description | This field specifies the description of the batch. |
| Forecast Bucket | This field specifies if the forecast for the batch will be calculated on a daily or weekly basis. The available options are Daily (default) and Weekly. Because of the calculation range involved, calculation on the Weekly basis reduces time and cost for the forecast. Note: You cannot modify this setting for an active batch. You must first deactivate and synchronize it to LS Forecast, before changing this setting. |
| Scheduler Job ID | This field specifies the job that will be used to schedule the LS Forecast calculation for the batch. For more information see How to: Schedule LS Forecast Calculation. |
| Active | This check box specifies whether the batch is active or not. For newly created batches, you must first activate them in order for them to be synchronized to LS Forecast. For the batches you want to remove, you must deactivate and synchronize them to LS Forecast first, before proceeding with the deletion in your LS Central client. |
| Pending Sync. | This check box specifies if the batch is pending synchronization. Whenever you activate or deactivate a batch, this check box is automatically displayed as selected to tell you that you must synchronize the batch before any further changes can be made on that batch. You cannot edit this check box manually. |
To upload and synchronize LS Forecast Batches to LS Forecast
- Click the icon, enter LS Forecast Batches, and select the relevant link.
- Click Maintenance - Synchronize. This synchronizes all the batches in LS Central, which are pending synchronization, to LS Forecast. This means, any new batch created in LS Central will be created in LS Forecast, and any deactivated batch from LS Central will be removed from LS Forecast.
- Alternatively, you can set up a scheduler job to synchronize the LS Forecast Batches automatically. For more information see How to: Schedule Master Data Synchronization.
Note: When an inactive batch is synchronized to LS Forecast, all the LS Forecast Locations and LS Forecast Items that have been set up for this batch will also be deleted.
To compare batches in LS Central and LS Forecast
The LS Forecast Batches Compare page provides you with an overview of all the batches that are maintained in LS Forecast. You can use this page to compare these batches with the list of batches that are maintained locally in LS Central. This also helps you to easily identify any batches that may be out-of-sync between LS Central and LS Forecast.
- Click the icon, enter LS Forecast Batches, and select the relevant link.
- Click Maintenance- Compare (Local vs. Cloud). This helps you compare the LS Forecast batches with the LS Central batches.
- Batches present in LS Forecast but not in LS Central are marked as Not Exist (Local). To delete them from LS Forecast, you can use the Delete Batch action. This deletes the selected batch from LS Forecast.
- Any batches in LS Central, which are yet to be synchronized with LS Forecast, are marked as Out of Sync. You need to synchronize these batches to LS Forecast.
- Existing batches in LS Central which are not in sync, that is have any discrepancies with the corresponding batches in LS Forecast, are also marked as Out of Sync. To resolve such out-of-sync situations, you must first deactivate the batch in LS Central and synchronize it with LS Forecast. This will remove the batch and its related data from LS Forecast. Next, you must make the needed amendments to the batch in LS Central and then reactivate it. Finally, synchronize the batch with LS Forecast again.
See Also
How to: Set Up Locations for LS Forecast
How to: Set Up Items for LS Forecast