Item Card
The figure below is called the Item Card and shows how historical data and future estimates are presented within the AGR system. This information can be seen graphically, in a grid, and all the extra details attached to each item. Historical data are to the left on the graph and future estimates are on the right.
Chart
The chart can be viewed in three different timescales:
- Months
- Weeks
- Days
To choose a timescale, go to the upper right corner and change the time setting. It is also possible to change how long period is shown for historical data and for the forecast by typing in the wanted period in the upper right corner. Note that this only changes the chart view and has no effect on how the forecast is calculated.
Number typed in for history and forecast will be shown to match the selected time scale, as seen below.
By checking Show Legend to the right of the graph, a list with short explanations will appear. By clicking the names on that list it is possible to hide/show different things on the chart. When pointing on the lines and bars on the graph information about units and dates appear.
Original Sale
The Original Sale appears as a burgundy diamond. This point cannot be adjusted within the graph and lets the user know if some adjustments have been made to the Sale Adjusted bars.
Adjusted Sale
The Adjusted Sale is represented by orange bars, with the number of sold units on the vertical axis and the dates on the horizontal axis. These bars are adjustable and can be moved to show a higher or lower sale amount.
Sale Forecast
The Sale Forecast for the next periods is represented by yellow coloured bars on the right of the graph. The best-fit forecasting engine automatically chooses among five classes of forecasting models to satisfy most business forecasting requirements. The most relevant forecasting method is chosen for the product, depending on the nature of the product sales history and the amount of historical data available.
Stock
The historical inventory levels (Stock) are represented by a blue shaded area on the left side of the graph. The stock history in units is shown on the vertical axis and the horizontal axis shows the dates for each value.
Estimated Stock
The Estimated Stock is represented through the light blue shaded area on the right of the graph. This area shows for how long current stock is estimated to last and when possible stock out can occur.
Safety Stock
The Safety Stock for the future orders appears as a blue dotted line in the sale forecast. The safety stock is based on the service level, variation in sale and how well fitted the chosen model is. The difference between the sale forecast and the forecast uncertainty is the calculated safety stock. This difference is also determined by how predictable the product is in sale. The system will calculate low safety stock levels for predictable products and high safety stock levels for unpredictable products with large variations in sale, if those variations cannot be described by seasonal effects or special events.
To learn more about safety stock and read common questions regarding safety stock, see Inventory: 2.1.2 Safety Stock Calculation.
Minimum Stock Level
The Minimum Stock Level is represented by a purple line in the graph and shows the minimum amount of stock level that must be available in the warehouse or store (instead of 0).
Selected Order
Once you have submitted an order for a particular product, you can view that product graphically in the Orders tab. The Selected Order is represented on the graph by a magenta bar and appears on the date that it is supposed to be delivered.
Undelivered
Undelivered are orders that have been sent to NAV and are not delivered yet from the supplier.
Stockout
If you do not purchase any more of this item, this is the estimated date that you will experience a stock out.
Purchase Plan Calculated/Demand from Stores
This is the purchase plan that is calculated from the night before. This needs to be turned on by your consultant in order to see this in the item card.
To learn more about this, see Inventory: 2.1.1 Working with the Forecast.
Minimum stock is different than Safety Stock. Minimum stock is the minimum stock level that the system will allow. In effect, by setting a minimum stock level you are defining a new 0 for that product. This is often used in retail to determine the minimum number of items for a shelf facing. Safety stock, in contrast, is a function derived from the forecast and is dynamic, while minimum stock number is static.
Grid
Next to the Chart button in the upper left corner is a tab called Grid. All information found there are the same as can be seen on the chart, including historical information about the sale, estimated stock and forecast, and more.
Details
Next to the Chart and Grid tabs is a tab called Details. Information about each product can be found by clicking the Details button for that product. The information is divided into five categories, shown below:
- Basic Info
- Additional Info
- Stock Info
- Forecast Settings
- Order Routes
- Undelivered Orders
It is possible to show pictures of the item within the Details tab, but it depends on your setup and how/where the pictures of your products are kept.
Basic Info
This section contains basic information about the product, serving both as information for the user and as an input into the order logic calculation. This information is taken directly from product information in the ERP system. Information about columns in AX and NAV can be found in the corresponding Standard AX Connector Manual and Standard NAV Connector Manual.
The following list includes short explanation for information found in basic info:
- Name: Name of the product.
- Item group: Group that the product is allocated to within ERP.
- Article no: Article number.
- ABC Grouping: The item’s ABC grouping, if applicable.
- Location: Selected location for that product.
Additional Info
- Description: Description of the product from ERP.
- Weight: Weight of the product.
- Volume: Volume of the product.
- Sale price: Sale price of the product.
- Additional lead-time: Users have the option to add additional days to the base lead-time registered in the system. This is to adjust for potential delays on product delivery.
- Order frequency: How often an order is placed for a specific item.
- Size: Size of the product, if appropriate.
- Color: Color of the product, if appropriate.
- Style: Style of the product, if appropriate.
Stock Info
- Stock: Total stock on hand for chosen product in that variant.
- Undelivered: Total for all open, undelivered orders for the specified product in the specified location.
- Wastage Days: Number of days, before expiring date, that stock should be excluded in inventory level.
- Min Stock: This can either be the min in store or reorder point in the min-max method. First, if we use this as min in store (for display models) or other location, then this number will become the minimum quantity of the product to be held in that location and added to the order calculation as extra safety stock to avoid empty shelfs. The number in this field will become the new zero and the inventory should not go below this number so on top of this min stock number we will calculate forecast and safety stock like normally. Secondly, if you will add value to max stock field, this min stock will become the reorder point in the min-max order method. This means that when your stock of a certain product reaches or is below this minimum, it’s time to reorder and we order the difference between current stock and max stock, so Order Qty = Max stock – current stock.
- Max Stock: The max stock is only used when min-max is turned on within the order logic under 2. Settings. If a number is inputted in both min stock and max stock, the system will automatically order up to max stock (target stock) when the stock reaches or is below the min stock, without considering anything else, like forecast or safety stock. The order quantity will be the difference between max stock and current stock but if order multiple (qty per unit) or MOQ is registered, then the final order qty might become higher than the max stock number (so this is not an upper cap on orders qty or inventory level). There can be cases where it is practical to use the min-max method like new or slow-moving products, but it can be difficult to both find and maintain optimal min stock and max stock values. If using min-max method for some products, we recommend an exception report for items with min and max stock values where these values are compared to resent sales values.
Forecast Settings
- Confidence Factor: The confidence factor of the item. This is set in the AGR system.
- Skip to forecast date: The date historical data starts from. This is used if it has been decided by user to ignore some historical data prior to that date. This is done in some extreme cases when sales history for some time period is not reliable to use.
- Forecast from date: The forecast period will start at this date.
- Forecast to date: The forecast period will end at this date.
- Event Model: The default event model considers the Easter holiday and how it does not fall on the same date every year, but rather adjusted the sales history to follow the model of the Easter timeline without focusing on the date. It is possible to create a new event model, for perhaps a similar holiday that doesn´t always fall on the same date, or to turn this default event model off if the Easter holiday in no way affects your business.
Order Routes
In the drop down, selection a different supplier can be chosen if they are defined in ERP. Information is taken directly from ERP and viewed in the AGR module.
For the chosen supplier, the following data is listed below:
- Primary Route: The vendor where the order is coming from
- Route Info: Will show you all the information about the Primary Route. Sometimes possible to toggle between two different routes.
- Min order: The minimum order quantity the supplier accepts (e.g. box, pallet).
- Cost price: Cost price of the product.
- Lead time days: Number of days it takes to get the product delivered. Days are counted from when supplier gets the order until the product arrives and can be counted as stock on hand.
- Qty. pr. unit: Quantity in the ordering unit (e.g. Box, pallet)
- Qty. pr. layer: How many units are per layer.
- Qty. on pallet: How many units are per pallet.
Undelivered
This is a list of all the undelivered of this item that is broken down by purchase order according to vendor.