Beyond choosing a base model and toggling sales intelligence layers, demand planners have a full suite of tools for making adjustments to the demand plan at any level of granularity.
7.1 Types of Adjustments
Percentage adjustment — increase or decrease the forecast at any level by a percentage. For example, "plus 20% for the next 4 weeks at Kroger for this item based on an expected surge from a circular ad."
Fixed adjustment — add or subtract a specific quantity. For example, "add 500 cases to the UNFI East DC in week 12 for a special event."
Final override — replace the entire forecast for a specific node with a number you enter directly. Useful when you have very specific intelligence that overrides the model entirely.
7.1a How do I upload Final Overrides in bulk?
In Confido's Demand Planning workspace, you can enter a Final Override by hand in the Final Override line at any level of the hierarchy. When you need to override many products or customers, uploading a file of Final Overrides is faster than entering each override by hand. This applies to demand planners with edit access to the Demand Planning workspace.
In the Demand Planning workspace, select Upload Adjustment.
In the level dropdown, choose the level your file uses: Demand Planning Group, or Customer if one Demand Planning Group contains several customers that need different overrides.
Prepare a CSV file with the following columns: the level identifier (Demand Planning Group or Customer), Item, Month, Volume, and Type. Enter "Final Override" in the Type column on every row.
Upload the file.
After the upload, the Final Override line shows the uploaded volumes for each item and month in the file. If the Final Override line doesn't change, check that the level selected in the dropdown matches the first column of your file.
What happens to a Final Override when the month becomes actual?
A Final Override applies only while its month is still a forecast month. Once the month actualizes, Confido replaces the overridden forecast with actual volume, and the override for that month no longer shows. Final Overrides loaded for future months stay in place until you change them. Future months without a Final Override continue to use the baseline forecast or earlier adjustments. For example, if you load Final Overrides for September, October, and November, then after September closes, the September override is replaced by September actuals, while the October and November overrides remain.
Limitation: Final Overrides don't roll forward automatically. Workaround: Make uploading Final Overrides part of your monthly planning cycle, and load the next month's overrides each time a month actualizes.
7.2 Comments and Audit History
Every adjustment made in the Demand Planning workspace can be accompanied by a comment — right-click on any cell in the workspace to open the comment box. You can also tag team members in comments to notify them of a change or ask for input. All comments and adjustments are saved with a timestamp and the name of the person who made them. You can view the full adjustment history for any node in the hierarchy at any time. This is particularly useful for explaining forecast changes in S&OP meetings — you can always trace back exactly what changed, who made the change, and why.
Tip: Make it a habit to leave a comment on every material adjustment, especially ones that deviate significantly from the model or the sales forecast. This creates a searchable record of business decisions and makes handoffs to new team members much easier. |