Forecast Pro TRAC only
Product mapping is often used to generate forecasts for products that have not yet launched. In this case, you may use product mapping to generate forecasts for your new product prior to launch and start forecasting at the launch period. To specify a launch date, click the Start Dates icon in the Data Tools group on the Forecasting tab. See Start Dates for more details.
You may also want to stop forecasting an item that will be discontinued when the new product launches. To do this, you may select Discontinue after or Set forecast to zero after on the Discontinue icon drop-down menu in the Other group on the Forecasting tab. If you choose Discontinue after, the item will no longer be forecasted after the specified date. This means that you will be unable to make overrides after that date. If you choose Set forecast to zero after, the item will still be forecasted, but that forecast will be zero for all periods after the specified date. In this case, you can make overrides for all forecast periods.
If the transition between the old and new products is more gradual, you may use Weighting Transformations to gradually phase out and phase in the old and new product. To do so, you would want to provide weights for the forecast periods that are impacted by the transition. For example, if the transition is to occur over three periods with the old product sales in period 1 expected to be down 50%, sales in period 2 expected to be down by 75% and then a full transition expected in period 3, you would provide weights of 0.5 and 0.25 for periods 1 and 2, respectively, and then discontinue the old product starting in period 3. Similarly, you could ramp up the new product by launching in period 1 and then using weights of 0.5 and 0.75 in periods 1 and 2. See Weight (Weighting Transformations) for more details.