Forecast Pro XE Version 5.1 and Forecast Pro Basic Version 5.1 – What’s New
We are pleased to announce the latest versions of Forecast Pro XE and Forecast Pro Basic—Version 5.1—which include several improvements and enhancements. Enhancements in Version 5.1 include outlier detection and correction, newly added “simple”—but often very useful—models, and compatibility with Microsoft Office Vista Edition.
Forecast Pro XE is a desktop analysis tool designed to satisfy both basic and advanced forecasting needs. In addition to time series methods, Forecast Pro XE offers promotional modeling, causal modeling (dynamic regression), the ability to define and reconcile hierarchies, and allows you to forecast up to 100 items at a time. Forecast Pro Basic is designed for those with very modest forecasting needs. It utilizes time series approaches and allows you to forecast up to 10 items (such as products or SKUs) at a time.
What’s New in Version 5.1
Outlier Detection and Correction – This entirely new functionality can be used to quickly and easily find and flag items that might need individual attention. In Forecast Pro XE v5.1 and Forecast Pro Basic v5.1, you specify the strategy for outlier handling, including setting the sensitivity level for detection and whether to treat outliers globally or at the individual item level.
Figure 1
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Figure 1: In Forecast Pro v5.1, you specify the strategy for outlier handling, including setting the sensitivity level for detection and whether to treat outliers globally or at the individual item level.
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Complex Hierarchy Support – Forecast Pro XE v5.1 and Forecast Pro Basic v5.1 now allow you to automatically define complex hierarchies using attribute fields. For example, by including fields for product category, customer and sub-category, Forecast Pro automatically built the hierarchy shown in Figure 1. The ability to include the attributes in the output files also allows you to easily create pivot tables in Excel and view the results along different dimensions.
“Simple” Models – With v5.1, we’ve added of a set of “simple”—but often very useful—models. This family of models includes:
- “same as last year” and “same as last year plus increment” which set the forecast equal to the previous year’s historical values or to the previous year’s values plus an increment you specify.
- “percentage growth” which sets the forecast equal to the previous year’s historical values plus/minus the percentage year-to-year growth/decline or alternatively the percentage growth/decline that you specify. (See Figure 2)
- “fixed forecast value” and “fixed value after” which allow you to specify a specific fixed value for the forecast or to set the forecast to a fixed value after a specific date. These models are particularly useful for bringing new products on line or phasing out discontinued products.
Figure 2
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Figure 2: This forecast was created using a same as last year plus 15% growth model.
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Vista Compliance – As Microsoft has updated its operating system and tools suite, Forecast Pro has been updated to be fully compliant with Vista and Microsoft Office 2007. You can both read and write data to the new Excel Vista format (.XLSX) in Forecast Pro XE v5.1 and Forecast Pro Basic v5.1.
Flexibility – We have provided numerous enhancements in v5.1 which make Forecast Pro more flexible including the following new features:
- percentiles for confidence limits can now be specified on an item-by-item basis.
- the seasonal indices for exponential smoothing models can now be outputted.
- generic date displays are now available to accommodate fiscal and custom calendars.
Find Out More about Version 5.1
Download the Forecast Pro Demo Pack which includes a guided tour through the entire Forecast Pro family of products.
Order your copy of under our Unconditional 30-Day Money-back Guarantee.
Upgrade from an earlier edition of Forecast Pro
1. If you have licensed Forecast Pro XE Version 5.0 or Forecast Pro Basic Version 5.0 within the last 12 months, your maintenance and support contract is current. You will be receiving notification about Version 5.1 automatically, and can upgrade to this new version free of charge.
2. If you have licensed Forecast Pro XE Version 5.0 or Forecast Pro Basic Version 5.0 and your maintenance and support contract is not current (or you are unsure if it is current), please contact BFS via phone (617) 484-5050 or email, for information on reinstating your support.
3. If you have Version 4 (or previous) of Forecast Pro XE, Basic or Standard, contact us for information about upgrading to Version 5.1. You can also click here to download an upgrade order form.
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