This article reviews the Weekly Forecasting feature within Smart Ops. If Weekly Forecasting has not been enabled for your organization, please refer to the Monthly/Daily/Hourly Forecasting documentation.
Note: Weekly Forecasting will be enabled for all customer throughout 2024. Please contact your CSM to learn more about migrating to the new experience.
Article Topics
Overview
The Weekly Forecasting feature allows users to create sales and labor forecasts for each location. Once these are published, they feed into other features of R365, including Scheduling, Suggested Ordering, Reports, and Dashboards. Learn more about publishing weekly forecasts here.
Each weekly forecast is for a full operational week. The start day of the forecast is determined by the operational calendar for the location.
While viewing and adjusting the weekly forecast is done on the Weekly Forecasting page, there are many other aspects of R365 that tie into Weekly Forecasting, including historical sales from the DSS, start of day time, Labor Matrix configurations, and day parts. Maintaining these areas of R365 will improve the experience of users managing the forecast.
The first time a user navigates to a forecast week, the sales and labor forecasts for that week will be automatically generated based on the default projection model and forecast metric.
- Note: The labor forecast is generated based on the sales forecast and Labor Matrix configurations.
Once generated, the projection model can be customized and forecast amounts can be manually adjusted. Learn more about creating and adjusting weekly forecasts here. Learn more about customizing projection dates here.
Projection Models
When a weekly forecast is first created, its sales forecast is generated using the default projection model for that location. The projection model determines how the system-generated sales projection will be calculated. Learn more about projection models and calculation definitions here.
All enabled projection models will be available when recalculating a forecast. When a user manually selects a different projection model, the system will use it to recalculate the week's forecast.
Once the sales forecast is generated using a projection model, each hour and/or day can be manually adjusted.
Forecast Metrics
The weekly forecast is calculated and displayed in a single forecast metric. This ensures that all adjustments are made using the same comparisons and units.
The forecast metric marked as the 'Default' will be the metric that the forecast is calculated and displayed in when initially generated. When a user manually selects a different forecast metric, the system will use it to recalculate the week's forecast. Learn more about forecast metrics here.
Forecasts for Days in the Past
For generated forecasts, days in the past cannot be adjusted or published. When the week is published, only days in the future will be updated. If a day has passed without its forecast being published, the forecast will not be available for scheduling, ordering, or reporting. When all days in the week have passed, the 'Publish' button is disabled.
If a forecast for a past week was never generated, it cannot be viewed, and a message will be displayed indicating that the forecast for the week was never generated.
If a forecast is generated after the week has started, days that have already passed will have a message displayed indicating that the forecast for the day was never generated. These days cannot be viewed or adjusted. When the forecast is published, only future days will be published.
| Best Practice: It is recommended to generate and publish a forecast for each week prior to the beginning of the week. The first time a user navigates to a forecast week, the sales and labor forecasts for that week will be automatically generated. When publishing a forecast, only days in the future will be published. Only published forecasts are useable for scheduling, ordering, and reporting. |
Forecasting Page
The Forecasting page is the main page for Weekly Forecasting, where users can view, adjust, and publish weekly forecasts. This page has both a week view and a day view. Weekly Forecasting settings can also be accessed here.
Week View
The week view displays the total sales forecast, labor forecast, and events for each day of the location's operational week.
This view allows users to view and edit the sales forecast, view the labor forecast, and add or edit events at the day level.
Day View
The day view displays the hourly totals for each hour of the selected day. Each day of the location's operational week is displayed separately.
Only users with the following permission will be able to navigate to the day view:
- Sales & Cash → Forecasts → Weekly Forecasting → Daily Forecasting → View By Hour
This view allows users to view and adjust both sales forecasts and labor forecasts, as well as add or edit events at the hourly level. This view also displays day parts.
Review Projection Dates
When a forecast is generated, the selected projection model will determine which days are used to calculate the sales projection. The Review Projection Dates page displays the dates included and excluded from the calculation. Users with the following permission can add or remove projection dates:
- Sales & Cash → Forecasts → Weekly Forecasting → Customize Projection Dates
Customizing projection dates allows users to manually define the dates that should be used to calculate a single day's sales projection. Dates that are outliers due to events or unusually high or low sales can be excluded. Additional dates that were not automatically identified by the system but that are similar to the date being forecasted can be added, such as dates where the same promotion was run or that fall on a different day of the week.
Sales Forecast
The sales forecast is automatically generated using the default projection model and default forecast metric for the location when a weekly forecast is first created.
Once generated, sales forecasts can be manually adjusted. Labor forecasts are based on the sales forecast, and adjusting the sales forecast will adjust the corresponding labor forecast. Learn more about creating and adjusting sales forecasts here.
Labor Forecast
The labor forecast is generated based on the forecasted sales per hour and Labor Matrix configurations.
- Note: If a supported Labor Matrix for variable labor is not configured, the labor forecast will not be generated.
The labor forecast is automatically updated when the sales forecast is edited. Labor forecasts can only be manually adjusted in the day view. Learn more about creating and adjusting labor forecasts here.
Events
Events are shared with Scheduling. Events created in Forecasting will appear in Scheduling, and events created on the Manager Tools page will appear in Forecasting.
- Note: The Events section is only displayed if Scheduling is enabled.
Events displayed in Forecasting can be referenced when making or reviewing forecast adjustments.
Details for events can be viewed and edited directly on the Forecasting page in the Events sidesheet. Learn more about events here.
Using and Viewing Forecasts
Forecasts can be used on their own for actual vs. forecasted reporting, as well as in conjunction with Purchase Orders and Scheduling.
- Note: While forecasts are saved when adjustments are made, only published forecasts will be used by or visible in other areas of R365.
Forecasts in Ordering
Sales forecasts are used when creating purchase orders to suggest purchase quantities. When the 'Suggest Qty' button is pressed, suggested quantities are based on the sales forecast for all consumption/buffer days for the week of the order. Learn more about creating purchase orders here.
Forecasts in Scheduling
Published sales forecasts are displayed for all future dates within Scheduling when 'Advanced Metrics' is enabled.
- Note: Once the DSS for a date is polled, the 'Sales' line displays actual metrics instead of the forecast.
Published labor hour forecasts for past, current, and future dates are displayed in the Labor Forecast section when 'Advanced Metrics' is enabled.
- Note: Once the DSS for a date is polled, the 'Total Staff +/-' line displays actual hours instead of the scheduled hours.
When a schedule is published, users will receive a 'Publish with Conflicts?' confirmation if the scheduled hours for a day exceed the forecasted labor for that day.
Learn more about labor forecasts in Scheduling here.
Forecasts in Reporting
| Report/Dashboard | Description |
| Forecast Report | Displays the current daily forecast for each day in the selected date range, along with weekly and period subtotals. |
| Forecast Download Report | Displays the current daily forecast for each day in the selected date range. By including current year and/or prior year actuals, this report can be used as an actual vs forecast report. |
| Daily Labor Review Report | Compares labor metrics across locations, including forecasted labor %, scheduled labor %, and actual labor %. |
| Operations Dashboard | The labor forecast is displayed as 'Suggested' hours when hovering over the Hourly Labor Analysis widget. |
| Labor Dashboard | The Forecasted vs. Actual widget compares the labor forecast for the week to the actual labor for the week. The Forecasted vs. Schedule widget compares the labor forecast for the week to the scheduled labor for the week. |
| Printing Schedules with Advanced Metrics | When schedules are printed with 'Advanced Metrics', published sales and labor dollar forecasts are included for future dates, and the labor hours forecast is included for all dates.  |
Setup and Related Areas
Forecast Configuration
The forecast configuration settings determine which projection models and forecast metrics are available for use at each location to generate the sales forecast.
Editing a forecast configuration group will adjust the settings for all locations assigned to it. By default, all locations are initially added to the 'Default Configuration' group. The 'Default Configuration' group can be adjusted. Learn more about forecast configuration settings here.
Start of Day
Forecasting uses R365 business days instead of calendar days when projecting sales and labor. The start of day time for a location will determine which hours are included in a single business day. By default, R365 start of business day time is 12:00 am. When a custom start of business day time is defined, it will be used as the point when the day changes. Typically, a location's start of day time is set to align with the POS's end of day time.
In the day view, the first hour displayed will be the first hour of the business day.
Day Parts
In the day view, day parts are displayed above the hours. Day parts are defined as part of Labor Matrix configurations or the Scheduling Calendar.
If day parts for the Labor Matrix/Scheduling Calendar are not defined, the day parts configured on the location's Location Record are displayed.
If day parts are not defined on the location's Location Record, the R365 defaults of 'Breakfast', 'Lunch', and 'Dinner' are displayed.
- Breakfast: 12:00 am - 10:00 am
- Lunch: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
- Dinner: 5:00pm - 12:00am
Labor Matrix
The labor hour forecast is generated based on the forecasted sales per hour and the location's configured Labor Matrix. If no Labor Matrix is configured, labor hours will not be forecasted.
When the forecasted sales for an hour reach the next threshold set in the Labor Matrix, the 'Employees' amount for that threshold will be used for the labor hour forecast.
If labor minimums are defined, the labor hour forecast will always be greater than or equal to the set 'Employees' amount, regardless of the forecasted sales for the hour.
Weekly Forecasting only supports Labor Matrixes with a 'General' structure that are configured to suggest hours 'By Sales'. Learn more about configuring the Labor Matrix here.
Location Weather Zip Code
The weather displayed for each location is determined by the 'Zip' field on the 'General' tab of the associated Location Record.
