Revised Forecast

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to to revise the forecast

With the knowledge we gained from the Profitability Analysis, we can now create a new Forecast. We will reduce the sales of Venus product and make some other changes to adjust the future sales numbers.

  1. Select the Table which was created in the previous section.

  2. Under Tools, select the (…) More button, then Version Management.

  1. Move over to the Version Management settings panel on the right.

  2. In case Forecast doesn’t show as an available version with the Public Version management panel, please select Data Refresh.

  3. Select the Copy icon next to Forecast in the version management panel.

  1. Enter the Version Name ForecastRevAft20Q1.

Note

A version is a set of data from the database, viewed in a table. To control who can access a version, you make the versions public, private, or shared. Version management control allows you to use the existing categories in a table to create new private versions.
  1. Select OK.

  1. Select Close at the bottom of the Version Management panel.

  2. Refresh the story so all charts will have the new version available by clicking the Data Refresh icon and choosing Data Refresh.

  1. Select the Product Sales per Date, Forecast chart.

  1. In the Builder panel on the right-hand side, scroll down to the Color section.

  2. Select on +Add Version.

  1. Select our new version ForecastRevAft201Q1.

  1. Select the Show As options beside ForecastRevAft201Q1.

  2. Select the Triangle display option for the new forecast.

  1. The Product Sales per Date bar chart should now look like this:

  1. Select the PnL_AdminXXX table chart.

  1. In the Builder, under the Columns section, modify the Version filter by hovering and selecting the filter icon.

  1. De-select Forecast from the Available Members. This will leave just Actual and ForecastRevAft20Q1 selected. Then select OK.

  1. Save your story.

  2. Your charts should now look like this:

Modify the Forecast Version

  1. Select View to put story in View mode.

  1. Within our PnL_AdminXXX table chart, under Actual, expand United States (all) > 2020 (You may have to scroll to the right to see the content). Then select the first cell under Q1 (2020).

  1. Copy the cell using the Ctrl+C.

  2. Under ForecastRevAft20Q1 expand United States (all) > 2020 (you may have to scroll back to see the content).

  3. Go to the first cell of Q1 (2020) > All Product Lines.

  1. Paste the copied cell from Actuals Q1 (2020). (If you have lost your copied cell, go back to cell Q1 2020 within Actuals and copy again)

  2. We see now that the values under ForecastRevAft20Q1 have been updated.

  1. Under ForecastRevAft20Q1, under United States (all) > All Product Lines > First Person Star > Mercury, select the cell Q2 (2020) and enter -25% (minus 25%) and hit the return key.

  1. We can then see that this cells value, which was previously $20,771, has been reduced by 25% to $15,578. Subsequently the other highlighted cells have been adjusted too.

  1. Still under ForecastRevAft20Q1, and still for United States (all) go to cell Mercury > Q3 (2020) enter the value 0 (zero) and hit enter.

  2. Then go to the next cell Mercury > Q4 (2020) enter the value 0 (zero) and hit the return key.

  3. After entering the value 0 (zero) into the two cells, you will see the changes reflected in all the associated cells:

  1. Collapse First Person Star.

  1. Go to cell the cell All Product Lines > Q3(2020).

  1. Enter -10% (minus 10%) and hit the return key. The associated data values are automatically reduced by 10%.

  1. Right click on any cell in the same grid and select Table Functions, then select Value Lock Management.

  1. Select the Create Locks icon. Once it is selected, return to the grid table chart.

  1. Select the cell First Person Star > Q3(2020) (This selection will populate our Value Lock Management settings). Then select Done.

  1. Select the cell All Product Lines > Q3 (2020) enter -10% (minus 10%) and hit enter.

Note

All other cells in this column decreased by 10% except for the

  1. Re-open the Value Lock Management panel (right-click on a table cell > Table Functions > Value Lock Management).

  2. In the Value Lock Management panel select Clear all then Done.

  1. In cell All Product Lines > Q3 (2020) enter the value 78,883 and hit the return key.

Note: All values within this column get increased, even the cell we had locked earlier.

Distribution

Distribution Values are ways of allocating values in a table to one or more target cells. These features can help you quickly book new values and adjust existing values in a table.

The Distribute functionality is contained in a Planning Panel.

  1. Select the cell All Product lines > ForecastRevAft20Q1 > Q4 (2020)

  1. Select the More Actions (…) menu, choose Distribute Values. This will bring up the Planning Panel on the right.

Note

The Planning Panel is used to set the distribution of values. This now gives us a value of
  1. Open the Distribution Key drop-down and select Input Weights.

Note

Now we will make our own distribution of values.
  1. In the table, select the following cells within Column Q3(2020).

  1. This will generate text boxes in the Where to? section of the Planning Panel for First Person Star and Strategy.

  1. Enter the values from the two cells into their relative text box in the Planning Panel:
    • First Person Star - 46,236
    • Strategy - 32,647

  1. Selecting the preview button at the top of this section allows us to see the updated values within the table before we apply them.

  1. Select Apply to finish.

  1. The Q4 value of 82,131 is now distributed to the product categories within the Q3 column based on the Q3 trend. Your table should now look like this:

With the knowledge we gained from the Profitability Analysis, we can now create a new Forecast. We will reduce the sales of Venus product and make some other changes to adjust the future sales numbers.

  1. Select the Table which was created in the previous section.

  2. Under Tools, select the (…) More button, then Version Management.

  1. Move over to the Version Management settings panel on the right.

  2. In case Forecast doesn’t show as an available version with the Public Version management panel, please select Data Refresh.

  3. Select the Copy icon next to Forecast in the version management panel.

  1. Enter the Version Name ForecastRevAft20Q1.

Note

A version is a set of data from the database, viewed in a table. To control who can access a version, you make the versions public, private, or shared. Version management control allows you to use the existing categories in a table to create new private versions.
  1. Select OK.

  1. Select Close at the bottom of the Version Management panel.

  2. Refresh the story so all charts will have the new version available by clicking the Data Refresh icon and choosing Data Refresh.

  1. Select the Product Sales per Date, Forecast chart.

  1. In the Builder panel on the right-hand side, scroll down to the Color section.

  2. Select on +Add Version.

  1. Select our new version ForecastRevAft201Q1.

  1. Select the Show As options beside ForecastRevAft201Q1.

  2. Select the Triangle display option for the new forecast.

  1. The Product Sales per Date bar chart should now look like this:

  1. Select the PnL_AdminXXX table chart.

  1. In the Builder, under the Columns section, modify the Version filter by hovering and selecting the filter icon.

  1. De-select Forecast from the Available Members. This will leave just Actual and ForecastRevAft20Q1 selected. Then select OK.

  1. Save your story.

  2. Your charts should now look like this:

Modify the Forecast Version

  1. Select View to put story in View mode.

  1. Within our PnL_AdminXXX table chart, under Actual, expand United States (all) > 2020 (You may have to scroll to the right to see the content). Then select the first cell under Q1 (2020).

  1. Copy the cell using the Ctrl+C.

  2. Under ForecastRevAft20Q1 expand United States (all) > 2020 (you may have to scroll back to see the content).

  3. Go to the first cell of Q1 (2020) > All Product Lines.

  1. Paste the copied cell from Actuals Q1 (2020). (If you have lost your copied cell, go back to cell Q1 2020 within Actuals and copy again)

  2. We see now that the values under ForecastRevAft20Q1 have been updated.

  1. Under ForecastRevAft20Q1, under United States (all) > All Product Lines > First Person Star > Mercury, select the cell Q2 (2020) and enter -25% (minus 25%) and hit the return key.

  1. We can then see that this cells value, which was previously $20,771, has been reduced by 25% to $15,578. Subsequently the other highlighted cells have been adjusted too.

  1. Still under ForecastRevAft20Q1, and still for United States (all) go to cell Mercury > Q3 (2020) enter the value 0 (zero) and hit enter.

  2. Then go to the next cell Mercury > Q4 (2020) enter the value 0 (zero) and hit the return key.

  3. After entering the value 0 (zero) into the two cells, you will see the changes reflected in all the associated cells:

  1. Collapse First Person Star.

  1. Go to cell the cell All Product Lines > Q3(2020).

  1. Enter -10% (minus 10%) and hit the return key. The associated data values are automatically reduced by 10%.

  1. Right click on any cell in the same grid and select Table Functions, then select Value Lock Management.

  1. Select the Create Locks icon. Once it is selected, return to the grid table chart.

  1. Select the cell First Person Star > Q3(2020) (This selection will populate our Value Lock Management settings). Then select Done.

  1. Select the cell All Product Lines > Q3 (2020) enter -10% (minus 10%) and hit enter.

Note

All other cells in this column decreased by 10% except for the

  1. Re-open the Value Lock Management panel (right-click on a table cell > Table Functions > Value Lock Management).

  2. In the Value Lock Management panel select Clear all then Done.

  1. In cell All Product Lines > Q3 (2020) enter the value 78,883 and hit the return key.

Note: All values within this column get increased, even the cell we had locked earlier.

Distribution

Distribution Values are ways of allocating values in a table to one or more target cells. These features can help you quickly book new values and adjust existing values in a table.

The Distribute functionality is contained in a Planning Panel.

  1. Select the cell All Product lines > ForecastRevAft20Q1 > Q4 (2020)

  1. Select the More Actions (…) menu, choose Distribute Values. This will bring up the Planning Panel on the right.

Note

The Planning Panel is used to set the distribution of values. This now gives us a value of
  1. Open the Distribution Key drop-down and select Input Weights.

Note

Now we will make our own distribution of values.
  1. In the table, select the following cells within Column Q3(2020).

  1. This will generate text boxes in the Where to? section of the Planning Panel for First Person Star and Strategy.

  1. Enter the values from the two cells into their relative text box in the Planning Panel:
    • First Person Star - 46,236
    • Strategy - 32,647

  1. Selecting the preview button at the top of this section allows us to see the updated values within the table before we apply them.

  1. Select Apply to finish.

  1. The Q4 value of 82,131 is now distributed to the product categories within the Q3 column based on the Q3 trend. Your table should now look like this:

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