The item-specific explanatory variable setup is the same as the Global variable setup, except the file includes the attribute fields used in the historic data setup. The first few columns (columns A-D in the example below) list the attributes, the next column (column E below) is labeled Variable and contains the name of the explanatory variable and the remaining columns are labeled with dates and contain the date values (consistent with Forecast Pro, as described above).
The sample file shown below, “Cereal- Item Level Explanatory Variables.xlsx”, is provided with the software.
The examples shown above use a row format spreadsheet. Explanatory variables may also be imported using all other formats supported for input files (e.g., transaction spreadsheet, ODBC, etc.). ODBC requires the same layout as a transaction spreadsheet. An example of item-specific transaction explanatory variables, “Cereal- Item Level Explanatory Variables - Transactions.xlsx”, is provided with the software and shown below.
Notice that the attribute fields are in the first four columns. The attribute columns are followed by a column for the explanatory variable name. This column must be labeled Variable. The last 3 columns, Hist_Year, Hist_Period and Hist_Value, are number fields identifying the year, period and values respectively.