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The flexible forecast extends the standard demand forecast in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. It adds extra dimensions to the forecast entries so you can forecast on salesperson, customer, country, variant code, and global dimensions 1 and 2.
You can let different salespeople create their own forecasts and consolidate them into one specific forecast. You can also export forecasts to Excel filtered by salesperson, customer, country, or dimension.
The flexible forecast includes planning functionality. You can create sales orders, purchase orders, and transfer orders directly from the forecast.
What the flexible forecast adds to the standard demand forecast
The flexible forecast builds on the normal demand forecast functionality in Business Central. The standard demand forecast entry contains the forecast name, item number, and quantities. The flexible forecast keeps all of that and adds more columns to work with.
The new columns are salesperson, customer, country, variant code, global dimension 1, and global dimension 2. This means you can forecast on all of those parameters, not just on the item itself.
Forecasting per salesperson, customer, country, or dimension
Because the forecast entries are enriched with these extra columns, you have several ways to break down the work. You can export to an Excel sheet with a filter on salesperson and have different salespeople do their own forecasts. You can do the same per customer, per country, or per dimension.
This makes it easy to split the forecasting across people and segments, and then consolidate the results into one specific forecast. All the underlying detail stays on the forecast entries, so the consolidated forecast carries that extra information with it.
Different views in the flexible forecast
The flexible forecast offers more than one view. The forecast per period view shows periods per item, which gives you a straightforward overview. From the forecast entry you get the full detail with all the added columns. Together these views let you move between a high-level picture and the detailed forecast lines.
Planning functionality and creating orders directly
The flexible forecast also includes planning functionality. You can create sales orders, purchase orders, and transfer orders directly from within the forecast, working with the different columns available. This is one of the more advanced features in the flexible forecast and gives you a lot of enriched functionality in one place.
Q&A
What does the flexible forecast add compared to the standard demand forecast in Business Central?
It keeps the standard fields like forecast name, item number, and quantities, and adds columns for salesperson, customer, country, variant code, global dimension 1, and global dimension 2. This lets you forecast on all of those parameters.
Can I have different salespeople create their own forecasts?
Yes. You can export to Excel with a filter on salesperson and let different salespeople do their own forecasts. You can then consolidate them into one specific forecast. You can do the same per customer, country, or dimension.
Can I create orders directly from the flexible forecast?
Yes. The flexible forecast includes planning functionality that lets you create sales orders, purchase orders, and transfer orders directly from within the forecast.
What is the forecast per period view?
It is one of the views in the flexible forecast. It shows periods per item, giving you an overview of forecast quantities across time periods.