One of the key limitations of a purely shipment-based sales forecast is that it does not account for how much inventory the customer already has on hand. A distributor sitting on 12 weeks of stock is unlikely to order next week — even if your shipment forecast says they should. The Demand Planning module addresses this by bringing in customer inventory data where it is available.
6.1 Where Inventory Data Comes From
Confido connects to customer portals (the same portals used for the accounting deductions workflow) to pull weekly inventory data for supported retailers and distributors. Where customers make this data available — such as UNFI, KeHE, Target, Kroger, and Walmart — Confido ingests it daily or weekly at the DC and item level.
Note: Inventory data availability varies by customer. Not all retailers or distributors make this data available through their portals. For customers where inventory data is not available, the demand plan relies solely on the forecast models and sales intelligence. |
6.2 How Inventory Data Is Used
Customer inventory data appears in the Demand Planning workspace as a row above the base forecast, showing:
Current inventory on hand — units or cases the customer has in their DC right now based on the latest data pulls
Weeks on hand — current inventory divided by your forecasted shipment rate, giving a rolling view of how long their inventory will last
Target weeks on hand — you can configure a target for each customer or DC (e.g., “we want UNFI to always be at 2 weeks on hand”). The system will flag in red/yellow/green when they are above or below target. Go to Settings → Forecast Settings → Target Weeks on Hand.
Target weeks on hand: The target agreed upon (e.g., based on customer service levels)
Stockout risk: A visual indicator in the demand planning workspace that highlights stockout risk
Low inventory threshold: A visual in the demand planning workspace that indicates low inventory level
Overstock: Indicates inventory levels that are too high and should be avoided
This data is used as a gut-check on the near-term forecast. If UNFI is sitting at 12 weeks on hand and your forecast shows a large order arriving next week, that is a signal worth investigating. Conversely, if a customer is at 1 week on hand and you have a big promotion coming up, there may be a supply risk that the demand plan needs to flag. The suggested order line in Confido helps the demand planner assess whether additional quantities need to be added (to avoid stockout / reach target) or removed (to avoid overstock risk). In the workspace, this suggested order can then be separately accepted by the demand planner and added to the total forecast.