Adjusting Forecasts

This article reviews adjusting weekly forecasts on the Weekly Forecasting page. 

Weekly Forecasting will be enabled for all customers throughout 2024 and 2025. Please contact your CSM to learn more about migrating to the new experience. 

How To Adjust and Publish a Forecast - Video

Overview

When a weekly forecast is first created for a location, the sales forecast is generated using the default projection model for that location. The projection model determines how the system-generated projection will be calculated. The dates used to calculate the sales projection can be customized on the Review Projection Dates page. Learn more about customizing projection dates here. 

Once the sales forecast is generated, each hour and/or day can be manually adjusted. Manual adjustments are applied to projected sales, and are reflected in the total sales forecast. The total sales forecast, after adjustments, is the amount that will be published and used throughout R365.

Adjustments to the sales forecast can be made in both week view and day view. 

The day total for the forecast is the combined total of the hourly forecasts. When the sales forecast is adjusted in week view, the adjustment percentage is applied to all hours for that day, and any previously-entered adjustments to individual hours in day view will be overwritten. 

The labor forecast is based on the sales forecast and the location's Labor Matrix. If no Labor Matrix is configured, a labor forecast will not be provided. Adjustments to the labor forecast can only be made in day view.

Percentage & Dollar Adjustments for the Sales Forecast

Adjustments can be viewed as either a percentage or a dollar amount. Users can switch between these options at any point while viewing or entering adjustments by clicking on the '%' or '$' buttons above the adjustment entry box.

Minimum and Maximum Adjustments 

There is no upper bound for a sales or labor adjustment; as long as the adjustment is positive, any value can be entered. 

Forecasts cannot be negative. If a user enters a negative adjustment that would cause the resulting forecast to be negative, they will be prompted to change the adjustment amount. Entering an adjustment percentage of -100% will result in a sales forecast of $0. 

Adjustments to a Day or Hour with $0 Projected Sales

The projected sales for a day or hour can be $0. This occurs when the system is unable to project sales because there is insufficient historical data or because historical days/hours had no sales.

When a day or hour has projected sales of $0, percentage adjustments cannot be entered. This is because a percentage adjustment applied to $0 will always be $0. Positive dollar adjustments can be entered and will result in the sales forecast equaling the adjustment amount.

Saving and Publishing

Adjustments can be entered for future dates for both unpublished and published forecasts. While sales and labor forecasts are saved as adjustments are made, only published forecasts are used throughout R365. After completing manual adjustments, click 'Publish' in the page header to publish the forecast. 

Forecasts will need to be re-published after any adjustments are made. 

Learn more about publishing forecasts here.

Adjustments In Week View

Sales Adjustments

Adjustments to sales in week view are made in the day columns. Entering a new value will update the adjustment amount. Clicking out of the entry box or into a new entry box will automatically save the new adjustment amount for that day. The 'Tab' key on the keyboard can be used to move to the next day.

When any day in the displayed week has an adjustment, the adjustment gauges are displayed. For days with positive adjustments, the adjustment gauge is blue and fills in from the left. For days with negative adjustments, the adjustment gauge is red and fills in from the right. 

Adjustments in Day View

Sales Adjustments

In day view, previously-entered sales adjustments for each hour are displayed on the Sales Adjustment line. 

To enter or change adjustments for each hour, first click on the 'Pencil' icon  to expand the Sales Adjustment section. The forecast adjustment boxes for each hour will be displayed along with the '%' and '$' buttons.

Entering a new value into an entry box will update the adjustment amount. Clicking out of the entry box or into a new entry box will automatically save the new adjustment amount for that hour. The 'Tab' key on the keyboard can be used to move to the next hour.

Labor Adjustments

In day view, previously-entered labor adjustments for each hour are displayed on the Labor Adjustment line. 

To enter or change adjustments for each hour, expand the Labor Adjustment section by clicking the 'Pencil' icon; the labor forecast adjustment boxes for each hour will then be displayed. 

Labor adjustments are entered as hours with a single decimal place.

Entering a new value into an entry box will update the adjustment amount. Clicking out of the entry box or into a new entry box will automatically save the new adjustment amount for that hour. The 'Tab' key on the keyboard can be used to move to the next hour.

Regenerating a Weekly Forecast

When a weekly forecast is regenerated, any manual adjustments will be cleared, and the forecast will be recalculated with the selected projection model and forecast metric. 

 While on the Weekly Forecasting page, follow these steps to regenerate the forecast:

Adjustments to a Published Forecast

If a published forecast has been edited and not yet republished, a warning and a 'Discard Edits' button are displayed below the week selector. 

Edits can be made to published forecasts as long as the date to be edited is in the future. After making an adjustment to a forecast amount, hovering over the displayed sales forecast or labor forecast amount will show a tooltip with the currently-published amount.

To clear all edits and reset to the currently-published version of the forecast: