Sales/Demand Forecasts and Analysis

Click here for the full list of forecasting topics in this series.

When you are a firm producing goods and services, how do you know if you are producing enough to meet demand? More importantly, can you predict what your demand will be in the future? Hopefully this next series of posts will help you discover what the financial winds will bring in your future.
Forecasting is the art and science of predicting the future. Financial analysts, project managers, and operations staff may use them frequently to track projects and investments.

KINDS OF FORECASTS
There are three general kinds of forecasting: Economic, Tech, and Sales/Demand. Economic forecasting is a macro-level forecast about the financial direction of society, usually in terms of nation or state. Tech forecasts consider how rapidly new innovations and developments occurs. Sales forecasts focus on the demand for products and services, how much can be expected to be sold, and the supply of inputs needed to complete projects. This next series of blogs should focus on that last kind of forecasts: Sales/Demand Forecasts.

This is a rough outline of topics I intend to cover over the next series of blogs. As I finish future entries, I will come back to this entry and drop in links to those posts.

TOPICS WITHIN FORECASTING OF SALES & DEMAND

• The Importance and Use.
• Time Horizons of Forecasts
• Qualitative Methods of Forecasting
1. Jury of Executive Opinion
2. Delphi
3. Sales Force Composite
4. Market Survey


• Quantitative Methods of Forecasting
1. Introduction to Time Series
2. Naive Method
3. Moving Averages: Part I / Part II
4. Exponential Smoothing: Part I / Part II
5. Forecasting Error
6. Trend Projection
7. Linear Regression


• Forecast Tracking
• Summary of All Forecasting Topics

I will likely space out the posts regarding forecasting over the next several weeks, with other topics in between days. I hope you will stick with me while I attempt to learn the topic and teach you a bit about it. Hope to see you back here tomorrow.
---------Sincerely, Trevor Stasik.

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Much of the material from this series has been borrowed, modified, and adapted from "Operations Management" by Jay Heizer & Barry Render. Visit their website to learn more HERE. You may also purchase the book HERE.

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Forecasting, Financial Analysis, Project Manager, Forecasts