For a technical overview of Prophecy's architecture over SQL Server, please see our Demand Forecasting Technology briefing page.
Data Driven Product and Customer Selections
Run pre-written, fully customisable SQL queries to select the products or customers you want to see in your Prophecy report / update screen, based on any criteria (using SQL 'WHERE' syntax in the background SQL). The SQL runs in the background and the Prophecy selects the script they'd like to run via a simple dialog box:
Ad Hoc Versions
Standard Prophecy uses rolling sales forecast versions where each version represents a set of published forecasts. Say you issue a new forecast each month. Typically, your Prophecy database would contain the current forecast version (the set of forecasts your forecast team is currently working on) plus the previous 11 versions. Prophecy versioning allows you to track how your forecast has changed with each published version through time.
Ad Hoc versions add to this functionality. An unlimited number of forecast versions can be created and managed, and used to provide for (for example):
What If’s
Multiple Budgets (one Budget per Ad Hoc Version)
To allow 2 different separate groups of forecasters to concurrently forecast the same items without contention (such as Sales Managers and Finance).
Prophecy's versions selection dialog tool, showing standard and ad hoc versions available for selection into your Prophecy report / update screen.
Uses:
What If’s
Multiple Budgets (one Budget per Ad Hoc Version)
To allow 2 different groups of forecasters to concurrently forecast
SQL / Gannt Nuggets
Definition: a 'Nugget' is an additional window that is displayed in Prophecy, showing the result of a background SQL query as a table or, where appropriate, a Gannt chart.
The background SQL that powers a Nugget can be against the Prophecy database, or any SQL data source.
Here are some examples:
Pareto nugget to right of main window. Shows what's typically found with real-world forecasting data - that 80% of sales results from 20% of items.Gantt style nugget shows promotions for the items selected in the Prophecy report. The grid window to the right shows the details for the selected promotion in the gantt view.
History Override Management
Correct (override) sales history for out of stocks, outlier observations etc. and smooth out promotional effects in order to model 'standard' sales in the statistical and machine learning forecasting engines in Prophecy:
Enhanced Accuracy Measurement Reporting
In addition to standard, 'snapshot' accuracy measurement reports, SQL Server Prophecy also provides accuracy measurement reporting over multiple forecasts, as shown in these examples:
Alternate Calendars
Prophecy can convert forecasts for the default Prophecy time periods, such as Jan-Dec by month, into any other time periods.
It does this by disaggregating the sales forecast to daily forecasts and then summing tinto the new calendar grouping using background SQL calendar tables.
The benefit is that sales forecasters can recalenderise their forecasts to match their customers' selling calendars, fiscal years etc.. Within the Prophecy Client application, just choose the calendar you want to use:
Use this tool to choose a different calendar within the Prophecy Client application
Trade Promotions Planner
Prophecy's Trade Promotions Planning module is optional and can be implemented at any time.
The implementation and maintenance of typical Trade Promotions Planning software applications are hugely complex and demanding. Prophecy aims to deliver the best ‘bang per buck’ on what it provides versus complexity of implementation.
Prophecy Trade Promotions Planner supports:
Itemised Promotions by sku / customer.
Promotion start/stop dates exactly matched to sales-in / sales-out periods.
Full, customisable approval workflow, allowing progress from (for example) 'Proposed' to 'Customer Confirmed'.
Post promotional evaluation views to quantify uplifts.
Some screenshots:
Filter promotions by filling the search fields. Select a promotion to view or edit by clicking its Gantt bar.
SQL Access to Demand Forecast from Anywhere
Because the demand forecast is stored in standard SQL Server database tables and views, you can extract any relevant data in any required format using standard SQL from Excel/Power Query, SQL Server Management Studio, Microsoft Access or any tool which supports SQL Server database access.
Example of a Power Query SQL against Prophecy's SQL Server database. Example of querying Prophecy's database tables from Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.
