agrē allows you to create a spreadsheet template to use for entering inventory forecasting numbers, then imports the values into your database.
What you'll find:
I want to read the Inventory Forecasting white paper (with lots of screenshots of exporting and importing, and manual forecasting too).
Export the Inventory Forecast Worksheet to use as a template for your forecasting data.
To create the product forecasting template:
Navigate to Inventory > Manage > Product Forecasts Import.
The Product Forecasts Import window opens.
Navigate to the Export tab.
Optionally change the selection criteria.
Optionally Hide Columns you don't need in the worksheet.
In this case "Hide Columns" really means "Exclude Columns" - any checked columns will not be included in the export file.
Some columns are hidden by default depending on criteria selection (for example, Hide Location is checked when a single Location is selected from the dropdown) but they can be unchecked.
Export to Excel as you normally would.
(config U) Remember to save the file on a local drive or local network drive so that you can access it outside of agrē.
Tip
Follow the tips for Selecting a Destination for Exported Files to make sure you're saving the file to where you can edit it outside of agrē.
Follow the usual worksheet rules: don't add or remove rows or columns; leave empty rows and columns blank.
In a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel, add your product forecast values to the last column: Inventory Forecast.
The Inventory Forecast must be a numeric value. If the column contains invalid characters (for example, any text letters), you will receive an error message when trying to import the file.
Depending on the options you select when you are importing the forecasts, this value can have more than one meaning, but it must mean the same thing for all products on the same worksheet.
the Inventory Forecast value can mean:
the total forecasted amount for a single period
the amount forecasted for each of multiple periods
the total forecasted amount for multiple periods (to be distributed evenly between them)
Once the forecasted values have been entered, save the spreadsheet. The forecasts can now be imported into agrē.
Now you can use the worksheet to bring your inventory forecasts into agrē.
To import product forecasts into agrē:
* indicates a required field
Navigate to Inventory > Manage > Product Forecasts Import.
The Product Forecasts Import window opens.
Click Browse Files*.
The Select Inventory Forecast Worksheet window opens.
(config U) Navigate to where your worksheet is stored, select it, and click Open.
The Select Inventory Forecast Worksheet window closes.
Select the Fiscal Year* from the drop down menu.
Select the Period(s)* this forecast relates to.
if a single period is selected: the Inventory Forecast value will be used for the selected period
if multiple periods are selected, you have the option to distribute the Inventory Forecast value evenly into the selected periods
if Distribute Evenly Between Periods is not checked (this is the default), the Inventory Forecast value will be used for each of the selected periods
if Distribute Evenly Between Periods is checked, the Inventory Forecast value will divided by the number of periods selected, and that value will be used as the forecast for each period
Click Import.
If there were existing forecasts for the selected period(s), the Overwrite Existing Forecast Values? window opens.
Click Yes to continue with the import and overwrite the existing forecasts for those periods.
The Import Success window opens. Click OK to continue and close the Product Forecasts Import window.
Click No to cancel the import and return to the Product Forecasts Import window for a change to change your options.