Create product line plans in Product Line Plan Maintenance (20.1). You can also use the forecast-specific programs provided in this module to forecast shipments, sales orders, production, inventory, and backlog separately. Then use Product Line Plan Maintenance to reconcile differences between the separate forecasts, as needed. These forecast-specific programs also let you track individual plans by entering actual quantities as the year progresses.

Enter all product line forecasts in currency units of 1,000.

Use Shipments Plan Maintenance (20.5) to project how much of a product line you expect to ship per month from a given site and the cost of those shipments. You can use Shipments Plan Report (20.7 or the enhanced .NET UI version, 20.31) to view the plan by site, product line, and year.

The difference between shipments and costs is the gross margin for that product line. The system automatically calculates monthly gross margin amounts for the product line, then divides the gross margin quantity by the projected shipment quantity for each month to obtain the gross margin percentages.

Use Orders Plan Maintenance (20.9) to project how many sales orders will be booked each month for a product line at a given site. You can use Orders Plan Report (20.11 or the enhanced .NET UI version, 20.35) to view the plan by site, product line, and year.

Use Production Plan Maintenance (20.13) to project how much of a given product line you will produce each month at a given site. You can use Production Plan Report (20.15 or the enhanced .NET UI version, 20.39) to view the plan by site, product line, and year.

You can check the production plan against available resources using the Resource Plan module.

See Resource Plan.

Use Inventory Plan Maintenance (20.17) to project how much of a given product line you will have in inventory each month at a given site. You can use Inventory Plan Report (20.19 or the enhanced .NET UI version, 20.43) to view the plan by site, product line, and year.

Enter a beginning inventory level and click Next to have the system automatically calculate monthly inventory forecasts. These forecasts are based on the beginning inventory value plus the production plan forecast minus the cost of shipment forecast for that month.

The inventory value indicates the relationship between production and the cost of goods sold. Production increases inventory value, while the cost of goods sold reduces it.

Some companies plan their inventory levels in terms of the number of times per year it is completely replaced in total value. To calculate inventory turns, divide the average inventory value for the year by the total cost of sales.

Use Backlog Plan Maintenance (20.21) to project the number of open orders for a given product line at a given site in each month. You can use Backlog Plan Report (20.23 or the enhanced .NET UI version, 20.47) to view the plan by site, product line, and year.

Enter a beginning backlog value and click Next to have the system automatically calculate monthly backlog forecasts. These are based on the beginning backlog value plus the sales order forecast minus the shipment forecast for that month.