Historical demand forms the foundation of every statistical forecast.

If historical demand contains unusual events, data errors, or temporary demand spikes, the resulting forecast may not accurately represent future demand.

Preparing historical demand helps ensure the Computer Forecast is based on meaningful demand patterns before business knowledge is applied during forecast refinement.

The objective is not to shape the future forecast, but to improve the quality of the historical data used to generate it.

Historical demand is organized into planning periods within the Planning table.

Each period can be expanded by clicking on it to display the individual history measures that contribute to the final demand history used for forecasting.

Expanding a period provides a more detailed view of how historical demand has been constructed, while collapsing it returns the table to a summarised view.

Together, these history measures combine to form the Final History used to generate the Computer Forecast.

History measures represent different types of historical demand information.

Some measures are populated automatically, while others allow planners to prepare historical demand before forecasting begins.

Each measure serves a specific purpose, helping planners distinguish between imported demand, exceptional events, business adjustments, and supporting information.

The Planning table displays the individual measures that contribute to historical demand, making it easier to see how Imported History, Outliers, Lost Sales, Promotions, Overrides, and applicable Reference Measures relate to one another.

Imported History represents the original historical demand imported into Demand Planning.

It provides the baseline against which historical demand is reviewed and prepared and cannot be edited within Demand Planning.

Outliers display the results of the outlier protection applied by the forecast engine.

Examples include:

This system-generated measure is provided for transparency and cannot be edited directly.

Lost Sales compensate for demand that may not have been fulfilled due to stock unavailability.

The Lost Sales calculation automatically increases sales history to account for demand that may have occurred during periods without available stock. This helps prevent the historical demand used for forecasting from being understated solely because sales could not be fulfilled.

Lost Sales is a system-generated, informational measure and cannot be edited directly.

Demand Planning provides editable history measures.

Each measure is designed for a specific purpose and affects historical demand differently.

Selecting the appropriate measure helps maintain a meaningful and explainable demand history.

Promotions are used for temporary, non-repeating changes in historical demand, such as promotional activity.

Promotion values are additive, allowing demand to be increased or reduced without replacing the existing historical demand.

Typical examples include:

Overrides replace the historical demand for a specific period.

When an Override is entered, it takes precedence over the other history measures for that period.

Overrides should generally be reserved for situations where historical demand needs to be explicitly defined.

Reference Measures provide additional business context alongside historical demand without directly changing forecast calculations. Common examples include budgets, sales targets, financial values, volume, weight, and other supporting business measures.

Demand Planning supports up to 20 Reference Measures. Active Reference Measures appear as additional rows beneath the standard measures and are identified by a book icon.

⚠️ Watchout: Demand Planning supports a maximum of 20 Reference Measures. If the Create option is unavailable, the maximum number of Reference Measures may already have been reached.

Editable Reference Measures can be updated directly in the Planning table. Read-only Reference Measures remain visible for analysis but cannot be changed.

Standard Measures and Reference Measures can also be displayed on the graph by selecting them from the graph options. Measures shown in gray are not currently displayed.

The Inventory Information pop-up provides inventory and order information for the current hierarchy selection.

Available information includes:

Select the information icon at the top of the Planning table to open the pop-up. The displayed metrics reflect the current view.

Final History represents the prepared historical demand after all applicable history measures have been considered.

It combines the relevant effects of:

Final History is displayed in the year row and provides the historical demand used to generate the Computer Forecast.

Historical demand can be adjusted within editable measures in the Planning table. Values can be changed individually or across multiple selected cells using the Adjustment Panel.

The effect of the change depends on the selected measure:

Editable cells contain a gray arrow. After a value is changed, the arrow becomes purple to indicate an unsaved change. Once the change is saved, the arrow returns to gray.

➜ For detailed instructions, read: How To: Adjust Values in Demand Planning

Historical demand can be adjusted at different levels of the hierarchy.

For example, a change may be made at a category, location, customer group, or individual product level, depending on where the most reliable historical insight is available.

When historical demand is adjusted at a higher hierarchy level, Demand Planning distributes the change proportionally across the more detailed levels beneath it. The change remains visible as the hierarchy is navigated.

This allows broader historical corrections to be made without editing every underlying item individually.

➜ Read: How To: Adjust Values in Demand Planning

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