Forecasting Page

02 Jul 2024
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Forecasting Page

Updated on 02 Jul 2024
10 Minutes to read

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This article reviews the Forecasting page, including the week view and day view for Weekly Forecasting. Here, users can view the week and day totals for the sales and labor forecasts, adjust sales and labor forecasts, and manage events.

Weekly Forecasting will be enabled for all customer throughout 2024. Please contact your CSM to learn more about migrating to the new experience.

Navigation and Security

Navigation

First, navigate to Smart Ops.

In the left navigation menu, click Forecasting under Sales & Forecasting to open the Weekly Forecasting page.

If one or more of the locations in the database is not enabled for Weekly Forecasting, a loading page will be displayed when the selected location is changed. After loading, either the Weekly Forecasting page or the Monthly/Daily/Hourly page will be displayed, depending on the style of forecasting enabled for that location.

Security

Users with the following permission will be able to access the Weekly Forecasting page:

Sales & Cash → Forecasts → Weekly Forecasting → View Weekly Forecasting

Users without the permission above will receive an 'Additional Access Required' message when attempting to access the page.

The permissions listed here are associated with Weekly Forecasting. These permissions can be added to custom user roles or single users. Learn more about managing permissions and custom user roles here.

Weekly Forecasting permissions are found in the permission tree as follows:

Sales & Cash
- Forecasts
  - Forecast Settings
    - Forecast Configurations
      - View Forecast Configurations
      - Create/Edit Forecast Configurations
  - Weekly Forecasting
    - View Weekly Forecasting
    - Adjust Sales Forecast
    - Publish Weekly Forecast
    - Customize Projection Dates
    - Daily Forecasting
      - View by Hour
      - View by 15 Minutes
      - View by 30 Minutes
      - Adjust Labor Forecast

The Permission Access Report can be used to determine which user roles or users already have these permissions assigned. Learn more about user setup and security here.

Header

	Field	Description
	Location	Location associated with the displayed forecast. Click to change the displayed location.
	Timestamp	Displays the 'Autosave' timestamp along with the last user who made adjustments.
	Settings	Click to open the Weekly Forecasting Settings sidesheet.
	Publish	Click to publish the currently-displayed weekly forecast. This button is disabled for published forecasts with no changes to re-publish. This button is disabled if all dates for the displayed week are in the past. This button is labeled 'Re-Publish' for published forecasts.
	Projection	Projection model used to generate the sales forecast. 'Customized' is displayed when the projection dates used to calculate the sales projection have been manually adjusted. Learn more about adjusting projection dates here. 'Imported' is displayed when the forecast was imported.
	Metric	Forecast metric used to generate the sales forecast.
	Pencil Icon	Click to edit the selected projection model, forecast metric, and/or recalculate the displayed forecast. This button is only displayed for users with the 'Adjust Sales Forecast' permission.

Week View

	Field	Description
	View Day Button	Click to navigate to the day view for the first day of the work week.
	< or >	Click to navigate to the previous or next week.
	Week Selector	Displays the date range for the week being forecasted. Click to open the week selector drop-down menu: Current Week - Click to change the displayed week to the current week. Week After Next - Click to navigate to the week two weeks after the current week. Another Work Week - Click to select a week from the calendar picker.
	Review Projection Dates Button	Click to open the Review Projection Dates page, where the historical dates used to calculate the sales projection can be viewed and adjusted. This button is disabled for imported forecasts. When new projection dates have been polled after the forecast was created, the Review Projection Dates button is displayed in orange along with the number of new days.
	Week Total Column	This column displays the weekly totals for all rows, and is not editable.
	Day Columns	These columns display the daily totals for all rows.
	Date	Day of the week and date for the forecasted day. Click to navigate to the day view of the forecast for that day.
	Weather	Displays the weather forecast (using Fahrenheit degrees) for the associated date and location. Weather is not available for dates more than 14 days in the future. When no weather forecast is available, the no weather icon is displayed. Weather is determined by the location's 'Zip' on its Location Record.
	Projected Sales	System-generated projected sales. Projected sales are calculated based on the selected projection model and are displayed in the units of the selected forecasting metric. Learn more about forecasting metrics and projection models here. When all of the projection dates have been removed from the projection model or if there is no historical data, zero sales will be forecasted. Days that have insufficient data to generate a forecast are indicated with an Info icon.
	Adjustment	This section displays the manual adjustments made by users for the sales forecast. Adjustments are applied to projected sales, and are reflected in the forecast row (#10). Learn more about adjusting forecasts here.
		a) Adjustment Gauge - Displays the adjustment amount as a gauge. Adjustment gauges are only displayed when one or more days have manual adjustments Days with no adjustments are displayed in grey. Days with positive adjustments are displayed in blue. Days with negative adjustments are displayed in red.
		b) % and $ Selector - Switches the display of the adjustment between percent and dollars. The week total and each day total can be switched separately. Click % to display the adjustment as a percent. Click $ to display the adjustment as dollars.
		c) Forecast Adjustment - Displays the total adjustment amount for the week total and each day total. Entering a new value into the forecast adjustment box for a single day will update that day's total forecast adjustment. Learn more about adjusting forecasts here.
	Forecast	Displays the total sales forecast after adjustments, as well as comparisons to past dates.
		d) Sales Forecast - Total sales forecast after adjustments. This is the sales forecast amount that will be published and used throughout R365.
		e) Last Week - Dollar amount of actual sales and percentage difference between the sales forecast and the actual sales from the same day of the week in the prior week.
		f) Last Year - Dollar amount of actual sales and percentage difference between the sales forecast and the actual sales from the same day of the week for the same week in the prior year.
	Labor Forecast	Displays the total labor forecast after adjustments. Labor forecasts are only calculated if Smart Labor is enabled and a supported Labor Matrix is saved.
	Events	Displays the current events for the week. The Events section is only displayed if Scheduling is enabled.
		g) Add Event - Click the 'Plus' icon to add a new event. Learn more about creating events here.
		h) Event Summary - Displays the count of the events for the week. Hover over or click on the event summary to open a list of events. Click 'View Event' to view or edit event details.
		i) Day Events - Each event for the day is displayed. Click on an event to view or edit its details.

Day View

Navigation

The day view can be accessed in the following ways from week view:

Click 'View Day' in the upper right corner of week view. This will open day view with the first day of the work week selected.

Click on the desired date from the date column of week view. This will open day view with the desired date selected.

Day View Fields

	Field	Description
	View Week Button	Click to navigate to the week view for Weekly Forecasting.
	< or >	Click to navigate to the previous or next week.
	Week Selector	Displays the date range for the week being forecasted. Click to open the week selector drop-down menu: Current Week - Click to navigate to the current week. Week After Next - Click to navigate to the week two weeks after the current week. Another Work Week - Click to select a week from the calendar picker.
	Review Projection Dates Button	Click to open the Review Projection Dates page, where the historical dates used to calculate the sales projection can be viewed and adjusted. This button is disabled for imported forecasts. When new projection dates have been polled after the forecast was created, the Review Projection Dates button is displayed in orange along with the number of new days.
	Day of the Week	Each day of the week for the week being forecasted. The day whose forecast is displayed at the hourly level is displayed in blue and underlined. Click the day of the week to change the day whose forecast is being displayed.
		a) Day of the week.
		b) Business day. By default, R365 business days start at 12:00 am. If a custom start of day time is defined, a business day is the 24-hour period from the start of day time.
		c) Weather forecast (using Fahrenheit degrees) for the associated date and location. Weather is not available for dates more than 14 days in the future. When no weather forecast is available, 'Unavailable' is displayed. Weather is determined by the location's 'Zip' on its Location record.
	Day Parts	Indicates the day parts for the hour columns below.
	Hour Columns	These columns display the hourly totals for all rows.
	Projected Sales	System-generated projected sales. Projected sales are calculated based on the selected projection model and are displayed in the units of the selected forecasting metric. Learn more about forecasting metrics and projection models here. When all of the projection dates have been removed from the projection model or if there is no historical data, zero sales will be forecasted. Days that have insufficient data to generate a forecast are indicated with an Info icon in the week total column.
	Sales Adjustment	This section displays the manual adjustments made by users for the sales forecast. Adjustments are applied to projected sales, and are reflected in the forecast row (#9). Learn more about adjusting forecasts here. By default, the sales adjustment section is collapsed, and any values are view-only. Click the 'Pencil' iconto edit the sales adjustments. The 'Pencil' icon and forecast adjustment fields are only displayed for users with the following permission: Forecasts → Weekly Forecasts → Adjust Sales Forecast
		d) Pencil Icon - Click to expand or collapse the sales adjustment section.
		e) Sales Adjustment Total - Total adjustment to the sales forecast for the day or hour, displayed as dollars.
		f) % and $ Selector - Switches the display of the adjustment between percent and dollars. The day total and each hour can be switched separately. Click % to display the adjustment as a percent. Click $ to display the adjustment as dollars.
		g) Forecast Adjustment - Displays the total adjustment amount for the day total and each hour. Entering a new value into the forecast adjustment box for a single hour will update that day's total forecast adjustment. Learn more about adjusting forecasts here.
	Sales Forecast	Total sales forecast, after adjustments. This is the sales forecast amount that will be published and used throughout R365.
	Projected Labor	System-generated projected labor, based on the forecasted sales per hour and the configured Labor Matrix. Labor forecasts are only calculated if Smart Labor is enabled and a supported Labor Matrix is saved.
	Labor Adjustment	Displays the manual adjustments made by users for the labor forecast. Adjustments in hours are applied to projected labor, and are reflected in the labor forecast (#12). Learn more about adjusting forecasts here. By default, the labor adjustment section is collapsed, and any values are view-only. Click the 'Pencil' iconto edit the labor adjustments. The 'Pencil' icon and forecast adjustment fields are only displayed for users with the following permission: Forecasts → Weekly Forecasts → Adjust Labor Forecast
	Labor Forecast	Displays the total labor forecast, after adjustments.
	Events	Displays the current events for the day. The events section is only displayed if Scheduling is enabled.
		h) Add Event - Click the 'Plus' icon to add a new event. Learn more about creating events here.
		i) Event Summary - Displays the total count of events for the day. Hover over or click on the event summary to open a list of events. Click 'View Event' to view or edit Event details.
		j) Hour Events - Each event for the day is displayed spanning its associated hours. Click on an event to view or edit details.