2024 release of FASHIONBOARD Demand Planning
Content
Introduction
Welcome to the new and improved FASHIONBOARD Demand Planning platform! We have worked hard to update our system to make it even more user-friendly and efficient.
We have given FASHIONBOARD Demand Planning a new and fresh look. The planning pages and setting sections are now more intuitive and user-friendly.
To make it easier for you to understand and utilize the new features, we have added descriptions to each setting page. You can easily hide or display these descriptions as needed by using the ‘Hide explanations’ and ‘?’ buttons.
If you would like the documentation in PDF or for printing, you can download it using the button below.
Changes that are important to understand
Auto remove lost sales
Removing lost sales from the forecast provides an opportunity to influence inventory development and, consequently, procurement suggestions. The setting can be found under ‘Setup’ -> ’General planning settings’.
In the previous version, inventory development isnotcorrected for lost sales. That means the inventory development for an out-of-stock item/size will go more and more negative. That means, that upcoming procurement suggestions will be larger and cover both the negative inventory and the future requirements. It is an advantage if you assess that you won’t lose the sale, and the customer is willing to wait for the item, accepting that you deliver the desired sales orders when the item is back in stock.
The example above illustrates that the inventory goes more and more negative each week – the procurement suggestion covers boththe lost saleand the future demand. Thepurchase suggestion will be 568 units.
If one assesses, that the customer is unlikely to wait for,that the style will be on stock again andyou therebywill lose the sale , in the previous version, one had to manually adjust the purchase proposal to handle it. In the new version, it’s possible to automatically reduce the forecast for sold-out sizes, preventing the inventory from going negative. Consequently, the purchase proposals will not cover the lost sales but only the future needs.
The example above shows that all sales for sold-out sizes are lost when the item is out of stock. The purchase proposal only covers future needsand remains at 264 units.
It is possible to sethow many weeks one can be out of stock without losing sales. and therefore need to be replenished. If we assume , that customers have 4 weeks of inventory in stores, it may be that sales start to decline only when there are out-of-stock periods longer than 4 weeks.
The example above shows , that the latest 4 weeks are allowed to go into negative inventory – and those 4 weeks will thus be included in the purchase proposal, resulting in 456 units.
Change in forecast calculation
If in the previous version the automatic forecast was enabled, the automatic forecast would be written down every night in the line with the manual forecast. On Sundays, the line with the manual forecast would be emptied, and last week’s (manual) forecast would be displayed in the forecast line.
It is now changed so that the automatic forecast is always displayed and live-updated in the “Auto forecast” line. This allows for running with manual forecasts in selected weeks, for example, in connection with campaigns, or if you just want to use a different fixed forecast.
The manual forecast is no longer emptied and will thus remain valid until manually adjusted. The manual forecast is no longer emptied and will thus remain valid until manually adjusted.
The example above shows, that a manual adjustment has been made for two weeks, overriding the forecast.
Switch between planners via the drop-down menu
In the top right corner, next to the search field, you will now find a drop-down menu with all the planners who have associated styles. You will also be able to see any deleted planners if they still have styles associated with them. Switch to another user by clicking on the drop-down menu and selecting the planner you want to switch to.
Multiple planners can be selected by holding down the Ctrl key. It can also be considered whether to use the planner filter for an additional form of product grouping. It could be seasonal items, items that may be on clearance, or other relevant categorizations.
Updated menus
We have simplified the main menu and added some more items to the submenus.
The new dashboard is now at the top of the menu, everything related to new styles (Style Assignment and Style Activation) is grouped under one menu item, while all setup and configuration options are grouped under ‘setup’.
Dashboard
The FASHIONBOARD dashboard is your tool to maintain an overview, detect inappropriate settings, and gain insight into inventory development and availability.. Italso provides easy access to important KPIs: Items that should be purchased, postponed, or deleted. It provides an overview of the items that need to be addressed.
The purpose is to keep track of the most important information and, notably, to see where one is heading with their forecasts, inventory, and availability.
The overview can be seen for an individual planner, across the company, or down to a selected product group through the filters. See more details for the reports by clicking on the headers.
Stock development
The stock development graph shows the historical and expected development of the stock based on FASHIONBOARD’s suggestions. The blue line represents the stock value, while the red line shows the weighted availability. The dashed lines show the extrapolation from the current date.
In the example below, it can be seen that the moment FASHIONBOARD takes over (June 2024), the inventory value starts to decline, while the availability is maintained at around 99%.
The colored line at the bottom of the graph indicates, the extent to which it is possible to influence the inventory. The red area with the padlock covers the period up tothe shortest lead time.. After that, the styles with the shortest lead times that could be affected begin. Once the padlock is unlocked, changes can be made to all styles,andFASHIONBOARDs suggestions will take full effect.
Potential lost sales
The potential lost sales graph is an expression of what could have been sold based on FASHIONBOARD’s calculated forecast and out-of-stock situations.
The blue bars show per week, while the red line accumulates the value.
Stock value
The stock value graphshowstheinventory value distributed over weeks. The graph was introduced in the 2022 update and can be found in the inventory analysis.
The example above shows that there are 194 styleswithaweek cover of more than 2 years. They represent a total value of more than 19 million kr.
Outliers
The outliers function provides you with a quick overview of all unusually large sales orders across styles. You can see information about the order: Customer, order type, size, and date. Detailed information is available by hovering the mouse over the number of a specific outlier.
Evaluate in collaboration with the sales department whether the order is a one-time occurrence that is not expected in the future (remove) or if it should be included (keep) in the calculation of future forecasts.
By addressing outliers, you ensure that the forecast becomes more accurate going forward.
Under “Setup -> Admin -> Other settings,” you can adjust how much orders need to deviate to be considered outliers.
Purchase order recommendations
Get a quick overview of the purchase orders that require your attention. FASHIONBOARD analyzes the situationand provides specific recommendations to avoid inventory issues and optimize purchasing planning.
Click on the numbers to see a detailed list of the affected styles. Gain insight into FASHIONBOARD’s rationale for each recommendation. Click on the numbers to see a detailed list of the affected styles.
Create
FASHIONBOARD suggests to create newpurchaseorders toaddressanyfuture out of stock situations based onthe styles lead time and naturally takes into account what is feasible for each individual supplier..
Accelerate
For certain placedpurchaseorders, FASHIONBOARD recommends an earlier delivery toavoid outof stocksituationsforspecificsizes.
Postpone
Similarly, FASHIONBOARD canå at udskyde leveringen af indkpurchase ordersby 4-8 weeks if the need is not urgent.
Cancel
I situationer, hvor behovet ligger langt ude i fremtiden (mere end 8 uger) eller ikke ser ud til at blive nnecessary, FASHIONBOARD may recommend canceling the order. The purchaser can then decide on each order whether to keep or cancel it..
Checklist
Get a quick overview of the areas that require your attention to ensure efficient procurement processes. FASHIONBOARD highlights a number of points that need to be verified or corrected.
Click on an item to see a detailed list of affected styles or suppliers. Make the necessary corrections to your purchasing strategy.
Suppliers without closing periods
Identify suppliers lacking information on closing periods (e.g. Eid and Chinese new year). FASHIONBOARD can adjust purchase orders to avoid capacity issues during closing periods.
Size split error
Be aware of styles with invalid size splits (less than 100%). Correct the split to ensure optimal purchase of the right sizes.
Future purchase orders after agreed leadtime
Review orders placed further into the future than necessary (based on the supplier’s leadtime). Avoid unnecessary stock buildup and incorrect size splits by adjusting the orders.
Styles without leadtime
Specify leadtime for all styles toenablepurchaseproposalsfrom FASHIONBOARD.
Styles without MOQ
Define minimum order quantity (MOQ) for all styles to ensure compliance withsupplierrequirements.
Styles with no size split
Be aware ofstylesthat have one or more sizes without size split. This can occur, for example, ifnewsizesareintroduced.
Styles with order suggestions greater than 50% of last year’s sales
Be aware of purchase suggestions thatexceed 50% of the entire sales from last year, as it could potentially result in purchasing inventory for many weeks. Especially for new items, where large drops have been sent out initially and there is only a few weeks of history, the purchase suggestions can be very large –also see the section on the new feature “basis forecast for new styles”.
Styles with out-of-stock adjustments greater than 30% of the forecast
Keep an eye on styles withlarge out-of-stock adjustments. You can see very large adjustment suggestions for items that havebeenout of stockfor extended periods. It isparticularly important to thoroughly review the purchase proposalsif you have chosen to run with automatic forecast adjustment.
ABC
The ABC classification provides you with a quick overview of how your styles are distributed across the categories A, B and C. You can select one or more classifications (hold down ctrl to select multiple) to filter the other elements onthe dashboardet.
Style overview
Get a quick overview of styles that currently have the highest risk of lost sales. React quickly if a customer unexpectedly clears the inventory. Investigate the possibility of advancing or placing purchase orders to avoid lost sales.
If there is no opportunity to respond to the situation, the notification can be postponed so that the list always includes relevant items where action can be taken.
You can postpone the notification by hovering over the specific style and clicking on the clock icon to the right. Select how long the style should be hidden.
The postponed notification will appear at the bottom, and you can modify or cancel the postponement by clicking on it.
Hidden styles are displayed in a summary at the bottom of the Style Overview. You can expand it to see detailed information. If a hidden style needs to be displayed again, you can hover over the hidden style, click on the clock icon to the right, and select ‘remove’ from the list.
Save your filters for quicker access
If you often use the same filters, you can now save your selected filters for quicker access later. It is particularly useful in situations where you frequently apply the same filtering consisting of two or more filters.
Perform the desired filtering, enter a name for the filter in the ‘Filter collection name’ field, and then press the ‘Save’ button.
All styles
On the overview of all styles, you can choose how to sort the products:
- Master Sales Value is sorted by the sales value of the style (all colors for the style are kept together and sorted by the sales value of the colors).
- Option Sales Value represents the best-selling style options (colors) across the entire range.
- Week cover ranks by current week cover per style option.
- Lost sales shows the style options with the highest lost sales across the assortment.
- Purchase suggestions sorts style options by the size of the purchase suggestions.
- Forecast suggestions represent the distribution of forecast adjustment suggestions across style options.
Use the icon next to the dropdown menu to switch between ascending and descending sorting.
Planning view
The planning interface has undergone several improvements, providing a better overview (though it may require some adjustment for experienced users):
- New logical data partitioning
- Switchbetweenweekly, monthly, or period view
- Last minute changes to future purchase orders
- Summarized view of the trend graph.
Logical data categorization
Data is organized into four categories with a more logical structure:
- Sales: Historical sales for the style, which can be divided into pre- and re-sale for last and previous year, as well as season index.
- Forecast: FASHIONBOARD’s forecast for future sales.
- Inbound: Placed purchases and FASHIONBOARD’s suggestions for purchase orders.
- Stock: Current and future inventory.
Sales
If NOOS items are also part of the sales, you now have the option to split the sales into “re-sale” and “pre-sale” and at the same time choose to disregard pre-sales in the forecast calculation. Pre-sales will still be taken into account in inventory calculations and purchase suggestions, but it can be a significant advantage to keep them out of season profiles and ongoing forecasts.
You will find settings for managing pre-sales under ‘Admin -> Other Settings’
Forecast
It is now possible to choose for each style whether you want to add “Open Orders” and “Out of Stock Corrections” to the forecast. If the checkbox is displayed with a gray background (can be both blank and checked), it means that the style is using the general settings, which can be selected under “Admin – Other Settings”. If the checkbox does not have a gray background, it means that you have specifically chosen to override the general setting for the current style.
Lost sales can now be automatically removed from the forecast. You choose under ‘General planning settings’ whether you want “Lost sales” to be removed from the forecast. Also, choose how many weeks of negative stock you can have before it’s considered a lost sale. It will be in situations where the customer does not want the order to be resent when new inventory becomes available (thus also affecting generated purchase suggestions).
If you choose to create a manual forecast, it should be based on what you believe you could sell if you had full availability. In the new reporting model, lost sales will be detailed, allowing you to see your adjusted forecast accordingly.
Purchase orders
It is now possible to simulate what FASHIONBOARD would suggest if one or more purchase orders had not been placed.
If you click on the “Purchase Order” icon, FASHIONBOARD wil ingore all purchase orders and provide a potential suggestion. If you click on the “Purchase Order” icon, FASHIONBOARD wil ignore orders placed after the agreed delivery time and provide a potential suggestion accordingly.
Thisis a significant advantage if you have placed an order far into the future (as a form of capacity booking, as some use it – which means that FASHIONBOARD does notmake suggestionsuntil this time).
Last minute changes to a purchase order in the future: Optimization of size distribution.
FASHIONBOARD can now help you optimize the size distribution of your purchase orders, even after they have been placed (just before the orders go into production). It is often the case that the sales of individual sizes have changed slightly compared to the forecast before the purchase order has made. Therefore, FASHIONBOARD can provide suggestions on how the size split should look if the purchase order were placed today.
Press on a purchase order to view suggestions for an optimized size distribution. The total quantity of the order remains unchanged.
Info: We are working on a report that consolidates proposed changes for future purchase orders into a single report per supplier.
Stock
”Not available for delivery” correspondstothe“Lost sales” in the last version – it shows the quantity (in units) that cannot be delivered in the week the customer expects (according to) the forecast.
”Not available for delivery” will be visible when you have not activated the new version “Auto remove lost sales” andwill not reduce the forecast.. The stock goes into‘negative’if you have sold-out items, assumingthatyou can restock the items as soon as they become available. Purchase suggestions will therefore include additional purchases corresponding to the ‘negative’ inventory.
It is important to be aware of this, especially if you have items with longer periods of being sold
Switch between weekly, monthly, or period view.
Get an overview at either a weekly or monthly level. Press ‘Future 52 weeks’ at the top of the table and select the view. It may be advantageous to switch to monthly or period viewifif you have low irregular sales figures, making it difficult to spot sales trends, or perhaps just want a simpler overview.
Sales history & forecast comparison
The graph in the planning view has been simplified to provide a better overview. You can now compare the total sales for the last and previous years with FASHIONBOARD’s forecast for the next 52 weeks.
It provides a quicker comparison of the forecast with historical data, better assessment of forecast accuracy and potential, and the ability to identify deviations and adjust the forecast as needed.
Forecast for new styles
When introducing a new style, there is no historical sales data to base the forecast on. We often see a large sale (first drop) to customers when a new stylehits the shelves.. Therefore, this can resultin very high forecasts at the beginning of a product’s lifecycle.
To counteract this, you can easilysetafixed forecast for a selected period until there is sufficient sales data for a more accurate (automatic) forecast.
To set a fixed basis forecast for the style, click on the gear icon next to ‘Moving Average’ in the planning view. Enter the fixed forecast value in the “Value” field. Select the duration for which the fixed forecast should apply. The chosen base forecast will automatically be adjusted for a selected seasonal profile.
One can also choose to base the base forecast on an existing style by clicking on the magic wand icon and selecting a comparable product.
Select the style to base the base forecast on.
General Settings: Expanded features for optimal inventory management
FASHIONBOARDs general settings have been expanded with new features that give you even more control over your inventory management. These settings apply to all styles unless otherwise specified in a separateplanning profile. The new setting options can be found under ‘Setup’ – ‘General settings’ andare as follows:
Fill up strategy
Fill up strategy” defines how FASHIONBOARD suggests purchasing additional boxes to reach MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity): Choose between “Availability” and “Stock turnover.”
“Availability” prioritizes sizes that are likely to sell out first.
“Stock turnover” focuses on purchasing the boxes that sell the fastest.
Combine future suggestions
If you prefer to consolidate x number of weeks’ worth of purchase suggestions into one rather than having several smaller ones, you can specify how many weeks should be combined into one purchase suggestion.
Consolidate purchase suggestions for a specific number of weeks into one order. Specify the number of weeks to combine and simplify order management.
Auto remove lost sales from forecast after x weeks
Define a period after which lost sales are automatically removed from the forecast to prevent overestimation of inventory needs based on unattainable sales. (Refer to the beginning of the documentation for further details on this.)
Test changes
The new settings can be tested before they are confirmed. Select the desired settings and press ‘test changes’ to see the development of inventory and availability compared to the current settings. It provides an overview of whether changing the settings will have the desired effect in the long run.
The red and blue lines show the trend with the current settings, while the pink and green lines show the trend with the new settings being tested.
Seasonality profiles: Improved functionality and user-friendliness
FASHIONBOARD’s season profiles have been updated with new features and a more intuitive design, making it easier to create, manage, and fine-tune your profiles. Focusing on season profiles is important as they contribute to creating a more accurate forecast.
Creating a seasonality profile
Naming the profile with a concise description of its content is recommended.
Press “Add styles” to select styles that will form the basis of the seasonality profile. Use the filter to find relevant styles. For example, use the category “Thermal Jackets”. We recommend selecting AA products in the filter to focus on best-selling styles and form the basis of the seasonal profile from there.
Click on “Select all” to include all filtered styles in the profile.
The table shows how well each style matches the profile’s average. Remove styles with a “bad” score and consider styles with an “OK” score.
The graph shows the distribution of the profile over 52 weeks. Choose “4 weeks smoothing” to smooth out the graph and consider the profile’s peaks and troughs. By hovering over a style in the table, you can see the specific graph for that style(marked in red).
The horizontal table at the top shows the total sales of the selected styles, which are converted into anindex (season index).
Assigning a seasonality profile.
A seasonal profile can be assigned in four ways.
Option 1: Select ‘Styles using profile’ to see the styles already using the profile. Press ‘Add style’ to assign the profile to additional styles and choose from the list.
Option 2: Go to ‘All styles’ and then ‘List & settings’. Associate the seasonal profile at the supplier, style master, or style option level.
Option 3: Click on the ‘Adjust Forecast Model settings’ icon in the planning view to associate the seasonal profile with a single style.
Option 4: Click on ‘Edit master data’ in the planning view and assign the desired seasonal profile.
Actual or 4 week smoothing
Switch between viewing the graph week by week (actual) or with a 4-week smoothing. Default is 4 week smoothing
See the comparison of the same profile, but with actual (week by week) and 4-week smoothing on the profile below. By using 4-week smoothing, the graph will be smoothed out and obtain a more consistent index. Therefore, we always recommend using 4-week smoothing.
Optimization of container loading: Save money and protect the environment
FASHIONBOARD can now assist you in optimizing the filling of your containers regarding which styles should be supplemented, thus saving both money and the environment.
A container is filled by going to the cart and clicking on ‘Fill container’. Select the desired container size and type. Note that the dimensions of the boxes must be specified, otherwise the function will not work.
Clickon a week in the forecast to see the proposed container filling. See which styles, colors, and sizes FASHIONBOARD will fill the container with. You can accept the suggestion or adjust it manually.
Warehouse calendar: Improved planning
FASHIONBOARD can now also handle periods of lower staffing at your warehouse, allowing you to plan your purchases and inventory management more efficiently. For example, it could be 50% staffing during the summer.
Go to ’Setup’ -> ’Warehouse Calendar’ -> ’Add period’. Fill in the year, from and to weeks, as well as the reason for the reduced staffing. For periods spanning multiple years, you should specify the start year.
For example The warehouse has reduced staffing levels over the New Year from week 52, 2024 to week 1, 2025. Here you write the following.
The affected weeks are displayed with an orange curve in the planning view. By hovering over the curve, the explanation you entered during setup will be displayed.
Dark mode: New look
“Dark Mode” is now available in FASHIONBOARD! If you prefer a darker theme, you can easily switch to Dark Mode in the top right corner of the system. Dark modecan be more comfortable for your eyes, especially in low-light environments.
New report: Stock development
The new inventory report provides a detailed overview of your inventory’s development. This report allows you to track inventory development on a weekly basis and see how inventory availability and value change over time.
Use the filters to focus on a specific area of the assortment or to get a complete overview of the entire assortment.
New report: Customer low stock
If you receive inventory and sales data from your customers (or your own stores), you have the option to see on individual styles how many stores have the item in stock and how much they have sold. This way, you can track the actual sales of the item to end customers and at the same time see if stores are building up, reducing stock in stores, or are sold out.
We have created a new report that delves into customers’ sales and inventory data, showing where customers have insufficient stock as well as an estimate of potential lost sales.
The data is compared with the inventory at the central warehouse, making it easy to see where one is able to send goods and prevent customers from experiencing stockouts. Absolutely, it’s a powerful tool for engaging in discussions with customers and advising them on their needs.
New login method: Microsoft user
Now you can log in with your Microsoft account. It increases security and makes it easy for all users to log in. New employees automatically gain access to FASHIONBOARD when they are created in Microsoft and are automatically removed when they leave.
Using Microsoft Login, users from the same organization can go to the login page and request access. Afterwards, an administrator simply needs to go to “Admin -> Users” and approve the request.
