This article reviews Forecasting within Smart Ops.



The Forecasting page provides all forecasting features in one place. Users with an Operational Year set up as 13-4 week periods, 4/4/5 periods, 4/5/4 periods, or 5/4/4 periods will find the Monthly Forecast advantageous in laying the foundation for their Monthly Sales outlook. The Daily Forecast will display the data for the past 12 weeks of the current year and the previous year, which will assist in creating a more accurate Sales forecast for each day. Daily Forecasts can be published and pushed to the Monthly Forecast and Hourly Forecast.


While the Monthly and Daily Forecasts provide valuable forecasts for your Organization, the biggest difference between the two is that the Daily Forecast excludes the highest and lowest days' Sales by default in its calculation. This helps to pinpoint a more relative average of Sales for each weekday, which can be further adjusted on the 'Daily Forecast' tab.


Once the Daily Forecast is set, Users can create the Hourly Forecast. The Hourly Forecast is only available when Smart Labor is enabled for your database. Hourly Forecasts are beneficial because they break down Daily Sales by the hour so that the exact number of Employees can be scheduled to work for each hour of each day. In order for the most accurate forecast to be made, first ensure that the Labor Matrix is setup correctly for your Organization.


The Hourly Forecast and Labor Matrix work in conjunction with each other to provide the most precise Labor forecast by the hour that can be used to schedule shifts. Both of these features are provided when Smart Labor is enabled for your database. Contact your CSM or R365 Support to learn how Smart Labor can enhance your R365 experience!


Note: This upgrade will be rolled out to all R365 databases over the course of 2022. Contact your Customer Success Manager to learn more.


Security


The Permissions listed here are associated with Forecasts. These Permissions can be added to Custom User Roles or single Users. Learn more about managing Permissions and Custom User Roles here.

 

Forecasts Permissions are found in the Permission Tree as follows:

  • Sales & Cash
    • Forecasts
      • Daily Forecasts
        • View Daily Forecasts
        • Edit/Publish Daily Forecasts
      • Hourly Forecasts
        • View Hourly Forecasts
        • Edit Hourly Forecasts
        • Approve/Publish Hourly Forecasts
        • Delete Hourly Forecasts
      • Monthly Forecasts
        • View Monthly Forecasts
        • Edit/Publish Monthly Forecasts
        • Import Monthly Forecasts

 

The Permission Access report can be used to determine which User Roles or Users already have these Permissions assigned.

 

Learn more about User Setup and Security here.


Navigation



To navigate to the Forecasting List, first navigate to Smart Ops. In the left navigation, click 'Forecasting' under 'Sales & Forecasting.'


Forecasting Tabs


The Forecasting Lists page includes three Forecasting tabs to assist in Forecasting Sales and Labor more accurately: