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Evo-ERP and DBA Classic >> Items >> Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
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Message started by podell on 07/16/10 at 12:50:22

Title: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by podell on 07/16/10 at 12:50:22

I just noticed that there is a place for Forecasted parts to show up on the inventory screen!! Where do you input the information in order for it to show up?

Also noticed on the Inventory Inquiry - two different buttons on the bottom of the screen, one is RM and the other SR - when I press on them it says empty file. What are these for?

Thank you

Title: Re: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by Lynn_Pantic on 07/16/10 at 18:28:58

Forecast is entered in MR-A and there is a setting in MR-M (Evo-ERP Admin menu) to include the forecast in stock status.

RM is RMA and SR is Service/Repair orders

Title: Re: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by podell on 07/20/10 at 07:23:48

Thanks Lynn for the info. We changed the default - enter the forecast amount-but it doesn't seem to be showing up. Are we missing something?

Title: Re: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by Lynn_Pantic on 07/20/10 at 10:50:05

Have you actually entered Forecast quantities in MR-A?

Title: Re: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by podell on 07/20/10 at 11:06:17

Yes, we have entered an item in the forecast MR-A - does not show up on the IN-A screen.

Title: Re: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by Dave Miller on 07/20/10 at 12:24:27

Same situation here.

Title: Re: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by dameng on 08/10/10 at 16:56:32

might want to adjust the logic for the stock status invoving the Forecast quantity. currently it set to subtract. which if the Top Level item like the W-100 Red Wagon, the forecast quantity is actuall a PLUS, while It's components are a Minus.....

Title: Re: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by GasGiant on 08/11/10 at 04:48:04

So, how is this supposed to work? The forecast is forecasted sales, yes? Do you want those subtracted from the Available to show shortages in availability? Or are they forecasted builds that you want added to availability? The help file seems to be telling me that forecasts would show up like sales orders, which should subtract from available stock and affect MRP accordingly.

Title: Re: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by podell on 08/12/10 at 05:11:53

That is how I understand it. Forecast is treated like a sales order and deducted from Units on hand. However, I found out the only type of inventory it works for is "F" - finished good. Does not work with purchased items - which would be perfect.

Title: Re: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by GasGiant on 08/12/10 at 05:41:37

You forecast sales for items other than finished goods? Sounds a bit odd, but...

Title: Re: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by podell on 08/12/10 at 06:24:31

I guess I thought I could use the Forecast based on forecast usuage of a part and not actual sales?? I dont' know.

Title: Re: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by GasGiant on 08/12/10 at 06:46:17

Usage of parts trickles down from forecasted sales through BOMs. You forecast selling 100 doodads and MRP tells you how many parts you need (and when) so you can make those doodads. You can also set a reorder point (safety stock) for individual parts so that you will have a few extra in case of scrap, repairs, late vendors, etc. The bear is entering lead time and other MRP info for the hundreds of parts that going into the dozens of items that you forecast... or the thousands of parts that go into the hundred items in your forecast :o

Title: Re: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by RPCAdmin on 08/12/10 at 07:07:00

We don't use this at all (although I would love it if sales would do some forecasting) - however, it may not be a good assumption that ONLY finished goods are sold and forecasted (if we mean type F parts). About 35% of the parts we sell are type F, where we build a finished good from multiple parts. The other 65% are purchased complete and are tagged as type R parts. Is there a chance that the utility ignores type R parts?

Title: Re: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by GasGiant on 08/12/10 at 09:53:55

My understanding of the system would suggest that OEM stuff (purchased ready for sale) should be class F. We have a few items of that sort.

And yes, the help on forecasting states plainly that it operates on type F only.

Title: Re: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by RPCAdmin on 08/12/10 at 10:15:16

Yeah, this is something we have been doing here for 10 years - not saying it is correct. Perhaps Lynn could let us know if having R parts that we sell could be a problem or manifest itself in strange ways.

Title: Re: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by GasGiant on 08/12/10 at 10:25:29

Probably not, as long as you have put them in various classes. We lump almost all Type R and Type A parts into a raw materials class. We have various classes for Type N (expenses) and Type F (income) items to track expense and income by category. If you are taking the time to put each Type R item into a class that has both expense and income GLs set to toss the debits and credits into the right buckets it does not matter which of the two types you set.

Title: Re: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by RPCAdmin on 08/12/10 at 10:41:58

That pretty much describes the way we do those parts. 8-)

Title: Re: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by Lynn_Pantic on 08/12/10 at 13:25:24

The Forecast field on IN-A was added at the request of a customer who we were doing some other customization for. For the next update, we will make it include all part types because as you point out, you may have R parts that are bought and resold. To clarify how this will work, IN-A will first look to see if the part being loaded on the screen has any forecast (as entered in MR-A) and if so, add up if there are multiple records for a total forecasted quantity. It will also look one level up into BOM parents it goes into and if any of those have a forecast, it will also include them. We will not traverse the BOM more than one level because we feel it would slow IN-A down too much. If you have deeper BOMs and a need to see the impact of forecast on demand you will have to look at the reports in MRP.

Title: Re: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by podell on 08/12/10 at 13:55:48

Thanks Lynn, that sounds great to me!

Title: Re: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by GasGiant on 08/13/10 at 04:50:52

Yes, that seems like a good balance.

Title: Re: Forecasted in Inventory Inquiry
Post by dameng on 08/18/10 at 09:22:22

there is not a problem in using MR-A to put in Items with type A's or R's. i have several customers that do that as well, but ONLY on Key assemblies or special items. i highly encourage ROL's for the most part. yes, type F's are the logical ones that are items sold to customers and somebody trys to calculate a sales forcast base on xyz widgets for x amount per period as to putting that in MR-A.
some company's besides using ROL's, becuase of the diversity of their lower sub-Assy's, putting in Forecast for the end item is not pratical due to the many permutations. so they go down to the most common level sub-assy to Forecast and roll it each month and adjusting as necessary. it works.