RELEX Forecaster

RELEX Forecaster is a forecasting tool that offers a combination of advanced quantitative forecasting methods and extensive support for qualitative forecasting.

RELEX Forecaster contains several advanced quantitative forecasting methods, which enable accurate forecasting automatically based on historical sales data. Quantitative forecasting saves time and makes it possible for the forecaster to focus on products and situations that require special attention, such as new product introductions or changes in the market or the competitive landscape. RELEX Forecaster contains a wide range of sophisticated forecasting models that, among other things, take into account seasonal changes and trends in demand. The software also provides forecasting models for intermittent demand, which is typical for many spare parts.

RELEX Forecaster enables increased forecast accuracy, also in challenging situations. RELEX Forecaster’s optimization functionality automatically identifies and selects the forecasting model and related parameters that provide the best forecast accuracy for each individual product and customer. RELEX Forecaster’s advanced forecasting methods are able to identify and take into consideration seasonal variation in demand as well as to separate promotion-driven demand from regular sales. In addition, for a new product, the user can define a reference product which sales history is then used for forecasting the new product’s sales.

RELEX Forecaster also provides extensive support for qualitative forecasting. Sometimes, the forecaster has information on upcoming changes or events, such as assortment changes or changes in the market situation that will have an impact on the demand of a product. In these cases, expert judgment is likely to provide more accurate forecasts than forecasting models based on historical sales data. RELEX Forecaster’s graphical user interface makes qualitative forecasting easy and efficient.

RELEX Forecaster enables sharing of forecast information. RELEX Forecaster is based on web technology, which makes it easy to give external partners restricted access to part of the forecasting information.

Using RELEX Forecaster

RELEX Forecaster works together with the customer’s back-end system, typically an enterprise resource planning (ERP) or date warehouse (DW) system. Sales data, different kinds of product master data, and information on promotions and products to be discontinued are transmitted from the back-end system to RELEX Forecaster. Forecast information is transmitted from RELEX Forecaster to the back-end system. RELEX Forecaster can easily be integrated with most common ERP and DW systems. Examples of back-end systems which have been linked to RELEX’s software are: SAP R/3, Automaster, Proteus, Profix, and Microsoft Dynamics AX.

RELEX Forecaster is offered on a turnkey basis (ASP or SaaS) which means that the customer simply uses the software and we provide the required servers, take care of software and hardware maintenance, and take responsibility for back-ups and other necessary system precautions. However, if desired, the system can also be installed on the customer’s own server.

Increase your forecasting accuracy and efficiency!

By taking the RELEX Forecaster system into use, our customers have managed to significantly improve the accuracy and efficiency of forecasting. Among other things, our customers have managed to:

• Move from forecasting on the retail group level to more detailed forecasting on the retail chain level, without increasing forecasting resources,
• Produce more accurate forecasts using quantitative forecasting models than before when relying on expert judgment,
• Increase their forecast accuracy in challenging situations, such as during major seasons,
• Attain a month-level forecast error of less than 10 % and a week-level forecast error of less than 15 % using quantitative forecasting without manual corrections.

More information

For more detailed information, please request a presentation on RELEX Forecaster or ask us to contact you.