<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ManualTopic ID="/baanerp/cp/onlinemanual/000490" xml:lang="en">
   <Header>
      <Title>Forecast (VMI)</Title>
      <Keyword type="header" order="d1e185462">
         <Level1>Forecast</Level1>
      </Keyword>
      <Keyword type="header" order="d1e185465">
         <Level1>VMI</Level1>
         <Level2>forecast</Level2>
      </Keyword>
   </Header>
   <AimSection>
      <Paragraph>A forecast in a <Link href="/baanerp/wh/glossary/glossary#000469" role="glossary">vendor managed inventory (VMI)</Link> setup is the demand for
		parts, calculated by the customer that purchases that item, and aggregated to
		forecast periods according to the agreed terms and conditions. The customer
		sends the forecast to the supplier that plans the item supply.</Paragraph>
   </AimSection>
   <Note>
      <SectionTitle>Note</SectionTitle>
      <Paragraph>For information on the <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000015" role="glossary">demand forecasting</Link> process that you use to estimate
		future demand based on historic sales data, refer to <Link href="/baanerp/cp/onlinemanual/000077" role="manual">Demand forecasting in Enterprise Planning</Link>. These two
		subjects are unrelated.</Paragraph>
   </Note>
   <GeneralSection>
      <SectionTitle>Life-cycle of forecast data</SectionTitle>
      <Paragraph>During an <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000060" role="glossary">order-based planning</Link> run, <GUIRef href="/baanerp/cp" role="package">Enterprise Planning</GUIRef> generates <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000047" role="glossary">planned production orders</Link>, <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000048" role="glossary">planned purchase orders</Link>, and <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000049" role="glossary">planned distribution orders</Link> to fill the demand. However,
		if a plan item is purchased from a <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000466" role="glossary">VMI supplier</Link>, <GUIRef href="/baanerp/cp" role="package">Enterprise Planning</GUIRef> does not generate <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000050" role="glossary">planned orders</Link> for that item. <GUIRef href="/baanerp/cp" role="package">Enterprise Planning</GUIRef> generates a <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000456" role="glossary">forecast</Link> instead of planned orders.</Paragraph>
      <Paragraph>The customer sends the forecast to the supplier.</Paragraph>
      <Paragraph>The supplier uses the forecast to plan the supply and optionally
		to calculate the <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000461" role="glossary">confirmed supply</Link>.</Paragraph>
   </GeneralSection>
   <GeneralSection>
      <SectionTitle>Terms and conditions</SectionTitle>
      <Paragraph>To use <Link href="/baanerp/wh/glossary/glossary#000469" role="glossary">vendor managed inventory (VMI)</Link>, the supplier and the
		customer must define a <Link href="/baanerp/tc/glossary/glossary#000500" role="glossary">terms and conditions agreement</Link>, which is stored in the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/tc/trm" role="module">Terms and Conditions</GUIRef> module in the <GUIRef href="/baanerp/tc" role="package">Common</GUIRef> package. A terms and conditions agreement is linked to a contract. The supplier
		stores this contract as a <Link href="/baanerp/td/glossary/glossary#000220" role="glossary">sales contract</Link> and the customer stores the contract as a <Link href="/baanerp/td/glossary/glossary#PurchContra_td" role="glossary">purchase contract</Link>.</Paragraph>
      <Paragraph>For more information, refer to <Link href="/baanerp/tc/onlinemanual/000500" role="manual">Overview of terms and conditions</Link>.</Paragraph>
   </GeneralSection>
   <GeneralSection>
      <SectionTitle>Aggregation period</SectionTitle>
      <Paragraph>Generally, the customer aggregates the forecast to <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000463" role="glossary">forecast periods</Link>, such as, one day, one week, or five
		weeks. The terms and conditions agreement defines the forecast periods' length.
		The customer can also send detailed demand data without aggregating over
		periods.</Paragraph>
      <ExampleSection>
         <SectionTitle>Example</SectionTitle>
         <Paragraph>If the forecast period is a week, the forecast message for
		  item X can specify the following data:</Paragraph>
         <TABLE border="1" cellpadding="4" borderstyle="default"
                space-and-orientation="indented-estimated">
            <THEAD noTR="1">
               <TR no="1" isLast="true">
                  <TD rowspan="1" colspan="1">Period</TD>
                  <TD align="right" rowspan="1" colspan="1">Forecast</TD>
               </TR>
            </THEAD>
            <TBODY noTR="3">
               <TR no="1" isLast="false">
                  <TD rowspan="1" colspan="1">Week 20</TD>
                  <TD align="right" rowspan="1" colspan="1">350 piece</TD>
               </TR>
               <TR no="2" isLast="false">
                  <TD rowspan="1" colspan="1">Week 21</TD>
                  <TD align="right" rowspan="1" colspan="1">410
				  piece</TD>
               </TR>
               <TR no="3" isLast="true">
                  <TD rowspan="1" colspan="1">Week 22</TD>
                  <TD align="right" rowspan="1" colspan="1">360
				  piece</TD>
               </TR>
            </TBODY>
         </TABLE>
      </ExampleSection>
   </GeneralSection>
   <GeneralSection>
      <SectionTitle>Approval</SectionTitle>
      <Paragraph>After ERP Enterprise calculated the forecast, the customer can optionally change the forecast
		manually. Before ERP Enterprise sends the forecast to the supplier, the customer must approve the data.</Paragraph>
      <Paragraph>If a forecast revision has been approved, you cannot change that
		forecast revision, unless you undo the approval. After a forecast revision was
		sent to the supplier, you can no longer undo the approval.</Paragraph>
   </GeneralSection>
   <GeneralSection>
      <SectionTitle>Revisions</SectionTitle>
      <Paragraph>The customer can send as many forecast messages as desired.
		Every revised forecast message gets a <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000457" role="glossary">revision number</Link> that is incremented by one. You can
		specify whether and how many previous revisions must be stored for future
		reference.</Paragraph>
      <Paragraph>If the supplier sends a <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000461" role="glossary">confirmed-supply</Link> message to the customer, the
		relationship with the forecast revision on which the confirmed supply was based
		is retained.</Paragraph>
   </GeneralSection>
   <GeneralSection>
      <SectionTitle>Forecast frozen zone</SectionTitle>
      <Paragraph>Supplier and customer can agree that the forecast for the
		immediate future cannot be increased or decreased. This restriction ensures
		that the supplier has sufficient time to adapt the supply plan if required.</Paragraph>
      <Paragraph>For more information, refer to <Link href="/baanerp/cp/onlinemanual/000475" role="manual">Forecast frozen zones</Link>.</Paragraph>
   </GeneralSection>
   <GeneralSection>
      <SectionTitle>Total forecast and confirmed part of the
		forecast</SectionTitle>
      <Paragraph>Optionally, you can split the <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000456" role="glossary">forecast</Link> in <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000458" role="glossary">confirmed forecast</Link> and <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000459" role="glossary">unconfirmed forecast</Link>. The supplier can use this
		information in several ways. For example, the supplier can base its internal
		production plans on the total forecast, and replenish the customer based on the
		confirmed forecast.</Paragraph>
      <Paragraph>When more sales information becomes available and the customer
		sends new forecast revisions, the unconfirmed forecast can be gradually
		replaced by confirmed forecast.</Paragraph>
      <Paragraph>For more information, refer to <Link href="/baanerp/cp/onlinemanual/000474" role="manual">Confirmed forecast and unconfirmed forecast</Link>.</Paragraph>
   </GeneralSection>
   <GeneralSection>
      <SectionTitle>Supplier actions</SectionTitle>
      <Paragraph>Before the supplier uses the received forecast in the planning
		process, the supplier must accept the forecast. Optionally, you set the system
		up to automatically accept all forecasts.</Paragraph>
      <List>
         <ListIntro>The supplier uses the forecast for the following
		  purposes:</ListIntro>
         <ListItem>To calculate the <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000461" role="glossary">confirmed supply</Link>, which is subsequently sent to the
		  customer.</ListItem>
         <ListItem>To generate the <Link href="/baanerp/cp/glossary/glossary#000049" role="glossary">planned distribution orders</Link> to replenish the customer's
		  warehouse.</ListItem>
      </List>
      <Paragraph>For more information, refer to <Link href="/baanerp/cp/onlinemanual/000483" role="manual">Planning methods (VMI)</Link>.</Paragraph>
   </GeneralSection>
   <RelatedTopics>
      <SectionTitle>Related topics</SectionTitle>
      <RelTopic>
         <Link href="/baanerp/cp/onlinemanual/000470" role="manual">Supply planning by supplier</Link>
      </RelTopic>
      <RelTopic>
         <Link href="/baanerp/tc/onlinemanual/000500" role="manual">Overview of terms and conditions</Link>
      </RelTopic>
      <RelTopic>
         <Link href="/baanerp/cp/onlinemanual/000475" role="manual">Forecast frozen zones</Link>
      </RelTopic>
      <RelTopic>
         <Link href="/baanerp/cp/onlinemanual/000474" role="manual">Confirmed forecast and unconfirmed forecast</Link>
      </RelTopic>
      <RelTopic>
         <Link href="/baanerp/cp/onlinemanual/000483" role="manual">Planning methods (VMI)</Link>
      </RelTopic>
   </RelatedTopics>
</ManualTopic>