Goal Seeking with RoadMap TrailBlazer

In the fast-paced world of demand planning and forecasting, having the right tools can make all the difference. Roadmap Trailblazer introduces an innovative feature called Goal Seeking, designed to help demand planners, forecasters, and company management effortlessly align forecasts with business targets. Let's explore how Goal Seeking works and why it's a must-have for your team.

Bridging the Gap Between Forecasts and Targets

Imagine your team has compiled six months of solid historical sales data and six months of carefully calculated forecasts based on market trends and customer behavior. Yet, when you compare your forecasts to the company's sales targets, there's a noticeable gap—a gap that could mean missing strategic goals.

Enter Goal Seeking in Roadmap Trailblazer. This feature bridges the gap between your existing forecasts and your targets in an intuitive way. Instead of manually adjusting each forecast value—a time-consuming and error-prone process—Goal Seeking automatically recalculates the forecast figures to align the total with your desired target.

How Goal Seeking Works

Using Goal Seeking is straightforward:

1. Select Your Data: Choose the forecast values you want to adjust—perhaps the next six months of sales predictions.
2. Set Your Goal: Input the overall target you aim to achieve with the selected forecasts.
3. Run Goal Seeking: With a single click, Goal Seeking adjusts the forecast values proportionally. Each value is modified based on its original contribution to the total forecast, ensuring the new sum matches your goal.

This intelligent adjustment means that months already projected to have higher sales will receive a larger share of the increase, preserving the realistic patterns and seasonality in your forecasts.

Why Goal Seeking Is a Game-Changer

For demand planners and management alike, Goal Seeking offers several key benefits:

• Align Forecasts with Business Objectives: Ensure your forecasts actively support the company's strategic goals, not just reflect past data.
• Save Time and Reduce Complexity: Eliminate the tedious task of manually adjusting forecasts. Goal Seeking automates the process, reducing errors and freeing up time for strategic analysis.
• Maintain Forecast Integrity: Adjustments are made proportionally, maintaining the integrity of your original forecast patterns and seasonality.
• Support Informed Decision-Making: Provide management with immediate insights into what's needed to hit targets, facilitating proactive strategies rather than reactive measures.
• Multi-Row Goal Seeking: Select multiple products' forecasts and adjust values to meet your total goal across a portfolio of products. This allows for comprehensive adjustments that consider the performance of various products simultaneously, ensuring that portfolio goals are met efficiently.
• Historical Data Incorporation: While historical data remains unchanged, it plays a crucial role in determining how much forecast values need to be adjusted to meet management's goals. This ensures that adjustments are grounded in reality and consistent with past performance.

Blending Human Intelligence with Artificial Intelligence

When calculating forecasts, blending human intelligence with artificial intelligence becomes paramount. Roadmap Trailblazer combines advanced forecasting tools with human acumen and domain knowledge. This synergy allows teams to consider specific goals in a more elaborate and nuanced way, leveraging data-driven insights alongside expert judgment. The result is a more accurate and actionable forecast that aligns closely with strategic objectives.

Transforming Demand Planning

Goal Seeking in Roadmap Trailblazer is more than a feature—it's an empowerment tool. It enables demand planners to focus on strategic decision-making instead of manual data manipulation. It gives management a clear view of the path to achieving targets, fostering a more dynamic and proactive planning environment.

By leveraging Goal Seeking and the powerful combination of human and artificial intelligence, your team can seamlessly align forecasts with the company's vision. The next time you face a shortfall in your forecasts, remember that Roadmap Trailblazer's Goal Seeking feature can help you close the gap with precision and ease.

Ready to experience the transformative power of Goal Seeking in Roadmap Trailblazer? Try it today and take your demand planning to the next level @ labofdata.com/product/TrailBlazer