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Overview of the Forecast to plan business process areas

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Applies to: Dynamics 365 Commerce, Dynamics 365 Finance, Dynamics 365 Human Resources, Dynamics 365 Project Operations, Dynamics 365 Sales, Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, Microsoft Supply Chain Center

The forecast to plan process is broken down into business process areas for defining strategic and operational plans, establishing stocking and replenishment policies, forecasting supply and demand, forecasting and planning for intercompany trade, and planning supply and replenishment. The following sections further describe the business process areas.

Define strategic and operational plans

When you define strategic and operational plans in Dynamics 365, you must set goals and objectives for the organization as a whole, and then align those goals with specific departments such as purchasing, sales, production, human resources (HR), finance, and operations. This process involves creating a strategic plan that outlines the organization's long-term goals and objectives and an operational plan that defines the specific actions needed to achieve those goals.

In Dynamics 365, defining strategic and operational plans involves integrating data from different departments to ensure that goals are aligned and resources are allocated efficiently. For example, Dynamics 365 Human Resources includes capabilities to help you manage and plan your workforce, including forecasting positions, performing skill gap analysis, and recruiting your workforce. Dynamics 365 Finance includes several tools to help with cash flow forecasting, budgeting, and planning capital assets and leases. Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management includes capabilities to help you plan production capacity and maintenance capacity as a few examples. Dynamics 365 Project Operations also includes features to help you plan your project resource capacity.

By defining strategic and operational plans in Dynamics 365, organizations can ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals and that resources are being used effectively across departments. These plans can help improve overall efficiency, reduce costs, and improve customer satisfaction. Dynamics 365 provides tools for creating and monitoring strategic and operational plans, as well as for analyzing performance data to make informed decisions and adjust plans as needed.

Establish stocking and replenishment policies

For any organization, it's important to set guidelines for when and how inventory of an item or product will be replenished. In Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, you can establish the default order type for replenishment of an item (purchase, transfer, or production), minimum and maximum inventory levels, replenishment lead times, and other policies that will determine how the business will react to demand. You'll also define the strategies for how planning will occur, such as how frequently it will be done, how far into the future demand will be considered, and factoring in constraints around production and storage capacity.

By establishing stocking and replenishment policies, organizations can quickly react to customer demand and effectively communicate expected delivery dates for customer orders. Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management controls the major stocking and replenishment policies and monitors inventory levels in real time. The Supply and demand insights module in Microsoft Supply Chain Center provides organizations guidance on the current inventory trends and recommendations on how to improve stocking policies.

Learn more at Establish stocking and replenishment policies overview.

Forecast supply and demand

Forecasting demand means predicting how much a product or item customers will demand (or order) over a specific period. By forecasting demand, organizations can ensure that they have enough inventory on hand to meet customer needs without overstocking and tying up resources unnecessarily. In Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, demand forecasting involves analyzing historical sales data, market trends, and other factors to create a forecast of future demand for each item or product. This data is used to create a demand plan that includes expected demand, safety stock levels, and lead times for replenishment. Dynamics 365 also provides tools for monitoring actual demand in real-time and adjusting the demand plan as needed based on changes in customer behavior or market conditions. By accurately forecasting demand, organizations can optimize their inventory levels, reduce stockouts, and improve customer satisfaction while minimizing inventory carrying costs.

Forecasting supply means predicting how much of a product or item will be available from suppliers or within the organization over a specific period. By forecasting supply, organizations can ensure that they have enough inventory on hand to meet customer needs without overstocking or experiencing stockouts. In Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, supply forecasting involves analyzing historical data on supplier performance, lead times, and inventory levels to create a forecast of future supply for each item or product. This data is used to create a supply plan that includes expected supply, safety stock levels, and lead times for replenishment. Dynamics 365 also provides tools for monitoring actual supply in real-time and adjusting the supply plan as needed based on changes in supplier performance or market conditions. By accurately forecasting supply, organizations can optimize their inventory levels, reduce stockouts, and improve customer satisfaction while minimizing inventory carrying costs.

Learn more at Demand forecasting overview. It's an introduction to a business process that is part of the forecast supply and demand business process area.

Plan supply and replenishment

Planning supply and replenishment activities in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management involves using data on demand, supply forecasting, and inventory levels to create a supply plan that ensures orders are fulfilled on time and in full. This process includes using the previously defined stocking and replenishment policies to react to demand and any disruptions in the supply chain.

Planning optimization in Dynamics 365 uses the business-defined replenishment policies to determine how, when, and how much supply to procure or produce. DDMRP is a methodology for supply chain planning that uses demand data and other factors to recommend optimal inventory levels at each location. These tools enable organizations to respond quickly to changes in customer demand or supply chain conditions, reducing the risk of stockouts and improving customer satisfaction.

Overall, planning supply in Dynamics 365 involves defining the baseline plan, and constantly monitoring and adjusting the plan based on real-time data to ensure that inventory levels are optimized, lead times are minimized, and customer demand is met.

Learn more at Plan supply and replenishment overview.

Forecast and plan for intercompany trade

In many cases, organizations will act as their own supplier or customer for different business units. For example, a global organization may have multiple manufacturing companies that then sell materials to distribution companies in the organization. In these scenarios, businesses can use the intercompany planning tools in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management to incorporate downstream intercompany demand into their demand forecasts, and share inventory and capacity information across companies to support effective intercompany planning.

Learn more at Forecast demand for multiple companies.

Next steps

If you want to implement Dynamics 365 solutions to assist with your order to cash business processes, learn more at the following resources and steps.

  1. Forecast to plan introduction
  2. Forecast to plan end-to-end overview
  3. Learn about the business process catalog at About the business process catalog for Dynamics 365 apps and services

Use the following resources to learn more about the forecast to plan process in Dynamics 365.

Tip

Dynamics 365 Business Central also supports the forecast to plan end-to-end scenario but relies on third-party apps for the full capabilities. Learn more at Planning and Create a demand forecast.