When demand history is stored in a database, it often consists of individual records for each transaction (e.g., each order or shipment) that includes the quantity and the date. If your data are currently available in Excel in this format, you will want to consider the transaction format. The advantage is that it may require less manipulation than other formats to bring the data into Forecast Pro. The disadvantage is that it is harder for a person to view and manipulate the data in Excel.
The data are assumed to reside in the topmost (first) spreadsheet in the workbook unless an alternate sheet has been specified by naming it BFSDATA.
Row 1 of the spreadsheet is devoted to column headings. The keyword “description” must be used as the column heading for the description column. The other cells in row 1 are ignored by Forecast Pro. You can use them for titles, calendar information, etc.
Here is an example of a transaction format spreadsheet. The file is installed with the program and is named Sample Historic Data – Transactions.xlsx.
The above example does not use attribute fields to define product groupings. This is often desirable and is discussed in the Using Attribute Fields to Define a Hierarchy section.
In our example, each data record consists of six header items in columns A through F, followed by the historic data in column G. Each item is placed in a separate cell.
Columns A through F contain the following six items required items.
A Variable name. Up to 256 characters.
B Variable description. Up to 256 characters.
C Year. Must be an integer.
D Period. Must be an integer.
E Periods per year. Must be an integer.
F Periods per seasonal cycle. Must be an integer.
See the Overview section at the beginning of this chapter for more details on these items.