CP SQL 8.3.9 - Forecast-driven replenishment feature

This new feature allows you to create seasonal forecasts for your items.

It more accurately estimates future demand based on historical sales, using proven forecasting methods. Once you have created a forecast, CounterPoint can use the forecast data to calculate and set the ideal minimum and maximum quantities for your items.  So this would be seen as a replacement for the custom "Min/Max Advice" utility that was available for previous CP SQL versions.

Additionally, you can generate purchasing advice based on the  updated minimum and maximum values to ensure that you  have the forecasted quantities on hand for each period or season.

This feature allows you to more easily evaluate your inventory needs, dynamically adjust minimum and maximum quantities, and automatically replenish your stock to meet an ever changing demand for your items.

This feature relies on the aggregated historical data that is generated by the CounterPoint Data Mart (Dashboard) Update task.  You can use the new "Forecast" window to define a forecast for a specific time period (calendar year, starting season, and from 1 to 12 seasons), for which you want to estimate demand.

You can use the new Purchasing Advice with "Dynamic Min/Max" window to calculate minimum and maximum quantities and generate purchase requests from a particular forecast.  CounterPoint calculates new minimum and maximum quantities for the items in the selected forecast, based on the Safety stock, Reorder point, and EOQ (i.e., economic order quantity) for each item. When these calculations are complete, you can select the items you want to update, and generate the Purchasing Advice report.

The Safety stock, Reorder point, and EOQ values for each item are determined by the Annual Holding Cost and Ordering cost. You specify these on the new Dynamic Min/Max tab of the Inventory window, along with the Lead time defined for item's primary vendor on the Vendors window.

After you upgrade to version 8.3.9, please contact the CCS  Retail Systems Support Department for assistance with getting the CounterPoint Data Mart configured and the Data Mart data tables updated.