📊 Introduction to Demand Planning
The Demand Planning (DP) feature in SIMCEL is designed to help you forecast demand accurately, shape future demand proactively, and align operations with market needs. It integrates key planning elements into one workflow — from analyzing historical data to configuring new demand streams and measuring forecast accuracy.
🔍 Explore Actual
Analyze historical sales data to identify trends, outliers, and performance patterns. This foundational insight enables more reliable demand forecasting and highlights areas for refinement.
📋 Tactical Plan
Build detailed plans that align with your business strategies and operational capabilities.
🔄 Plan Initialization & Continuity
Ensure a smooth handover between planning cycles by initializing plans with historical data. This process maintains consistency and reduces disruptions.
✅ Committed Plan
Define the finalized demand plan — incorporating inputs from stakeholders and aligning with business objectives. This version serves as the baseline for execution.
📈 Forecast Algorithms
Leverage machine learning and statistical models to predict future demand. Choose and customize algorithms based on your specific needs for optimal forecast precision.
🌱 New Demand Stream
Plan for new sources of demand such as product launches or market expansions.
⚙️ NDS Logic
Ensure each new demand stream is treated consistently with your existing plans using structured rules and logic — maintaining planning integrity.
📊 Analytics
Use advanced tools to analyze your demand plan across scenarios, products, and customer segments. Identify gaps, validate assumptions, and optimize plans with data-backed insights.
🎯 Planning Accuracy
Measure how close your forecasted demand is to actual outcomes. Monitor errors and bias over time to continuously improve forecast precision and decision-making.
⚙️ Forecast Settings
Customize your forecasting approach:
- Define forecast horizons
- Choose aggregation levels
- Adapt parameters to fit planning requirements.
🧱 Set Base Demand
Establish a baseline forecast derived from historical trends and business knowledge. This base demand anchors the planning process and enables comparison with scenarios and event-based overlays.
🏷️ Trade Terms
Incorporate promotional and commercial agreements such as discounts or incentives into your forecast. This ensures demand projections reflect real-world pricing dynamics and customer behavior.
📅 Trade Terms – Events
Plan for specific promotional events (e.g., Flat Discounts, Bundles, Rebate Targets) that affect sales volume and financial metrics.
SIMCEL enables you to:
- Define event parameters by market segment
- Calculate their impact on Net Sales Value and Trade Expenses
- Evaluate campaign performance holistically.