NEHANET Corporation > Wiki > Forecasting

Forecasting

Concepts

NEHANET provides a Forecasting Module uniquely suited to the needs of semiconductor and electronics component manufacturers. Please keep the following concepts in mind when coming up with specific requirements for your Forecast module.

  • You can control the forecast window from 12 to 60 months. You can further specify that the first 12 months be forecast in monthly buckets, and additional months after that in quarterly buckets if you so choose.
  • Forecasts are rolled over monthly (either manually or automatically) and go through a review and approval process. The possible stages are In Approval, Approved and Reviewed. The system can be set up to auto-roll-over on a particular date every month, and can also be set up to automatically approve forecasts upon rollover. Forecasts can be locked for most of the time; and unlocked for a small window after the rollover to allow sales people to go in and update their forecasts. Prior month forecasts are saved and can be used in waterfall reports.
  • You can forecast by opportunity (recommended since it brings in the associated customer and part automatically), or you can skip opportunities and directly forecast at the customer and part level. If you forecast by opportunity, then you can define the opportunity part statuses that are forecastable.
  • You can load in your BBB (Backlog and Shipment) data into NEHANET and use that as an input in the forecasting process. You can also use them in Actuals vs Forecast reports. Please details on integration, please see our ERP Integration page.
  • You can define multiple forecast types, such as Sales, Marketing etc and forecast independently for each forecast type. This allows you to have multiple forecasts for the same opportunity for the same time period, and run reports accordingly. Please make sure the actual (internal) value for Sales Forecast is “10″ inorder to show the forecast in the Sales Actuals and Forecast report.
  • You can run a very wide range of forecast reports right out of the box, ranging from detailed part level production planning reports all the way to executive/board level summaries.
    • You can generate your monthly demand plan by running a Forecast report by part number.
    • You can also generate a left to book report (GoGets) by uploading your Sales Actuals and Backlog (BBB) data.
    • You can generate forecast rollups by Product Family, Region, Rep, Part Number or other criteria you have in the system.
  • You can choose to have the underlying Accounts, Parts and Opportunities fields visible in the forecast module if you wish to use some of those fields in reports.
  • The forecast module differentiates between End Customers and Forecasted Customers, so you can, if you choose, forecast the end-customer during the design win process; and then switch the forecast to the CM during the production phase of the design.

Capabilities

Sales Actuals and Forecast Report

NEHANET has a built in Sales Actuals and Forecast report that combines your Backlog, Billings and Bookings (BBB) data along with your Forecast data to present you with a combined report that shows revenue by month and/or quarter. The Forecast data comes from the Forecast module and the BBB data comes from the Sales History module. Please make sure the actual (internal) value for Sales Forecast is “10″ inorder to show the forecast in the Sales Actuals and Forecast report.

To access this report:

  1. Click on Forecasts->Actions->Reports
  2. In Report Type, pick “Sales Actuals and Backlog”
  3. Select the Group By parameters and save it. You can also create a dashboard for this report.

The Total Revenue per month is computed as “UnweightedSalesForecast + Shipments + CommittedBacklog”
The Weighted Total Revenue per month is computed as “WeightedSalesForecast + Shipments + CommittedBacklog”

Forecast Snapshot on demand

The NEHANET system has the capability to create Forecast snapshots on demand. You can specify the label name, and the month and year and the system will generate a snapshot of the forecast data.

To access this, click on Admin->Forecast->Configuration Options->Forecast Snapshots.

Click on Create New Forecast Snapshot, specify the label name, year, and forecast period and Save the snapshot rules.  Once done, you can click on View to view your Forecast Snapshot.

Row/Column Locks and Grid maximizer

Rows and Columns on the Summary Grid can now be locked. This allows you, for example, to lock the first three columns on the forecast grid and scroll the data values left and right, while keeping the opportunity name, part number etc always in view. Similarly, one can scroll down while locking the column headings to make then visible. The Tabs and Header information on the Summary Grid can also be hidden, allowing for more screen real estate for viewing and making changes to the grid.

Customizable subject for auto email alerts

The auto email alerts that the system sends out can be customized with information you may need on the subject line. We have added the underlying platform support to the product.

Support for Fiscal quarter

We have added the capability to support your custom Fiscal Quarter (4-4-5, etc), in the system. The Rollover will adjust to the Fiscal month end date. All Forecast reports including BBB shipments, etc will take into account your Fiscal Quarter definition.

Right copy for Quantity, ASP and Confidence in Forecast summary grid edit mode

In the next release of our software, we are going to provide the ability for users to Right Click on any cell in the Forecast grid page (after enabling Grid Edit) and for 3 choices to appear — Right Copy ASP, Right Copy Qty and Right Copy Confidence. We will support this only on IE and Mozilla Firefox browser.

Best practices – Drive to zero Forecast filter

Sales Managers often require their Regional Managers to review/update all Forecasts on a monthly basis. To achieve that objective, you can create a search filter in Forecast module where the Last User Updated field for the Forecast is set to “Today-30″. In addition, you can make this the default filter, so when you click on the Forecast tab, you automatically get the Forecasts that are to be reviewed/updated. As you work thru the Forecasts and review/update them, it will automatically go out of your Forecast filter.

This is a recommended way of using the Forecasts module since it enforces a discipline within the organization to review/update the Forecasts that are awaiting your update. We like to call it “Drive to zero Forecast filter”.

Scheduling Forecast Report Emails

Forecast reports can now be scheduled to be run and emailed out at a regular frequency, typically hourly, daily or monthly. This information is specified in the forecast report edit page when the report is created/edited.

Module Presentation

Rollout Steps

Please provide NEHANET Services with your current forecast spreadsheet so that they can set up the forecast module to match your current data.

Back to Module Specific Rollout

If you wish to rereview prior information, please click on Basic System Setup.