Exponential Smoothing - Twelve different Holt-Winters exponential smoothing models are provided to accommodate a wide range of data characteristics. The robustness of exponential smoothing makes it ideal when there are no leading indicators, and when the data are too short or volatile for Box-Jenkins. You can select the model and set the parameters yourself or let Forecast Pro do it automatically.

Seasonal Simplification - This is a useful technique if you are forecasting data with more than 12 observations per year. Seasonal Simplification reduces the number of seasonal indexes used to model the data and often substantially improves forecast accuracy.

Box-Jenkins - For stable data sets, Forecast Pro supports a multiplicative seasonal Box-Jenkins model. The model can be built completely automatically or interactively using a full range of screen-oriented diagnostics.

Low Volume Models - Croston's intermittent demand model and discrete data models are provided to accommodate low volume and "sparse" data (i.e., data where the demand is often zero).

Curve Fitting - Curve fitting provides a quick and easy way to identify the general form of the curve which your data are following. Forecast Pro supports four types of curves-straight line, quadratic, exponential and growth (S-curve).

Simple Methods - For very short or extremely volatile data, Forecast Pro includes moving average models.

Forecast Pro XE, our most popular edition, includes additional forecasting methodologies to satisfy advanced forecasting needs and

tackle larger-scale problems. If your forecast promoted items, or your sales are driven by other variables, or if you are forecasting more than 10 items, then you need Forecast Pro XE. Forecast Pro XE includes all of the forecasting methods found in the Forecast Pro Basic as well as:

Event models - Event models extend exponential smoothing by providing adjustments for special events like promotions, strikes or other irregular occurrences. You can adjust for events of several different types. These could be promotions of different sizes or types, or the effects of movable holidays like Easter and Rosh Hashanah. Event models are easy to build and adaptable to a variety of situations.

Multiple-level models - Multiple-level models allow you to aggregate data into groups that can be reconciled using a top-down or bottom-up approach to produce consistent forecasts at all levels of aggregation. There is no limitation on the number of levels; a maximum of 100 items (SKUs, in the example below) are supported in Forecast Pro XE. Seasonal and event indexes can be extracted from the higher-level aggregates and applied to lower-level data.

Batch forecasting - Forecast Pro XE's batch procedure allows you to forecast up to 100 items at a time. Forecast Pro automatically builds a model for each item and prepares the forecasts. You can tell the program which model to use or you can let the expert system decide. If you need to forecast more than 100 items you should consider
Forecast Pro Unlimited.

Add Your Business Knowledge

Forecast Pro lets you adjust your forecasts on a graph or in a spreadsheet-like display. You can adjust single points, ranges or totals, using percentages, increments or by simply entering new values. If you've defined a multiple level hierarchy, adjusting a value at any given level will automatically adjust all appropriate levels.

Make Convincing Presentations

With Forecast Pro, you can create dazzling, presentation-quality reports in seconds. Four professionally-designed standardized report formats are included as well as a custom reporting option for maximum flexibility. You can graph your results on a time series or year-over-year basis, and choose from several eye-catching formats including 3-D lines and 3-D columns.

Work With Your Existing Data

Forecast Pro imports data in a variety of flexible, easy-to-create formats including Excel and Lotus spreadsheets, text files and ODBC. These flexible formats allow you to easily import and export data from virtually any source. There is also an on-line editor to enter your data directly, or to modify and amend files.

Diagnose Your Models

Forecast Pro provides a standardized set of diagnostic screens to help you compare and evaluate models. You get graphs of the residuals and the error autocorrelation function, grid displays of the correlation matrix and covariance matrix, as well as key numeric statistics: Adjusted R-Square, MAPE, Sample Size, Mean, Schwartz BIC, Ljung-Box, RMSE, Standard Deviation, MAD, R-Square and Standard Forecast Error.

Evaluate Alternative Forecasts

If you define a holdout sample, Forecast Pro will automatically generate out-of-sample MAPE, MAD and GMRAE statistics to measure forecast performance. This handy feature allows you to quickly evaluate different models and answer questions like "How accurate would my forecasts have been had I used Forecast Pro last year?"

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