INVENTORY CONTROL > Reports > Inventory forecast
This report can be used to proactively forecast when items may need to be re-ordered in the future.
SpendMap calculates the suggested order date (the "Order On" column on the report) based on the amount in stock, the usage history (i.e. consumption rate) and the primary supplier’s lead-time for the item. If the "Order On" date is before the current date, immediate action should be taken to reduce the chance of a stock-out.
By forecasting when items will need to be re-ordered, you can better plan and may be able to take advantage of economies of scale, volume discounts, consolidate shipments to reduce freight charges, etc.
TIP: You can automatically build Purchase Orders or other documents for items that need to be re-ordered (i.e. the items that show on this report) using the Reorder Stock Utility, or the Item Requirements Staging Batch.
To generate a list of what needs to be re-ordered today, try the Inventory Reorder Report.
Noteworthy Questions & Options
•Consider on-order balances: Since items that you’ve already created orders for will eventually be received into stock, you may want to consider these open orders in determining whether or not an item needs to be re-ordered. The types of orders that you indicate here will be added to the in-stock quantity for the respective items, which might push them above their re-order levels, thereby omitting them from the report.
•Item or Location re-order level: If you keep stock in multiple stock locations, you can generate a list of items that need to be ordered at specific locations, as opposed to generating a list of items that have fallen below their re-order levels company-wide (i.e. across all locations).
| If you use location-specific reorder levels, SpendMap will compare the current stock at the specified location(s) to the re-order level for the item at each location (as indicated in the Location/Bin Details Screen). |
| If you use item reorder levels, SpendMap will compare the total stock that you have across all locations to the item’s overall re-order levels (as indicated in the Inventory/Locations Tab). This option is most commonly used where the individual locations are in fairly close proximity to one another and items can easily be transferred from location to location as stock is depleted. |
•Safety factor: This will add a "margin of error" by artificially increasing the re-order level for each item by the percentage that you enter. That is, the system will “pretend” that the re-order level is higher by a certain percent, thereby flagging items to be re-ordered sooner, even if they are not down to their actual re-order levels. This might be used during a busy season with higher than usual item demand and/or longer than usual delivery lead times from your suppliers.
•Extra lead time? You can add a "margin of error" by adding an additional lead time (e.g. extra time required to prepare orders, etc.), in addition to the lead time that may be specified for the primary supplier for each item. This will result in earlier recommended “Order On” dates. This might be used during a busy season, when procurement staff are busier than usual and/or when you have longer than usual delivery lead times from your suppliers.
•Include items with reorder level of ZERO? If you have not specified a reorder level for certain items, these items can be omitted from the report, otherwise they will be included (if their stock level has reached zero).
Update Control Center? If you change any of the options above, you will be prompted to use the new settings for the Low Inventory action item in the Control Center, which shows items that need to be reordered.
