Overview
Running a consistent monthly cycle in Confido ensures your forecasts stay accurate, your trade spend is well-managed, and your team is always working from the same version of the truth. The steps below outline the recommended cadence — from data prep through lock.
Step 1: Refresh Your Data Before the Cycle Begins
Before anyone starts reviewing or adjusting, make sure all inputs are current. For consumption and depletions, update your POS or depletion data by uploading the latest file in the Actuals tab in Confido. If you're pulling data through Muffin, refresh the Muffin cache for consumption and depletion data to download the most recent data.
What to check: Once data is uploaded, confirm the last actualized period reflected in the forecast matches what you expect. This tells you whether the latest data was ingested correctly.
Step 2: Validate Forecast Recommendations
Confido generates forecast suggestions based on your historical data and configured planning groups. Before accepting them, the sales team should review each recommendation and confirm it reflects current field reality — upcoming promotions, distribution changes, or known demand shifts that the model may not yet have visibility into. Accept, adjust, or reject as needed.
Who owns this: Sales lead.
Step 3: Update Your Trade Calendar
Revise any promotions with the latest rates, dates, or deal structures. The trade calendar is always live, so updates reflect immediately across forecast projections. This step is especially important if promotions were added, extended, or cancelled after last month's lock.
What to check: new or modified events, rate accuracy, correct customer and product assignments
Step 5: Lock the Forecast Version
Once the team is pencils down and have made their updates, lock the forecast version in Confido. This preserves a clean snapshot of the month and enables accurate period-over-period comparisons. Locking also prevents unintentional edits after sign-off.
Best practice: align on a fixed lock date each month (e.g., the 3rd business day after month close) so the cadence is predictable across the team.
A Note on Cadence
The value of this process compounds over time. Teams that run a consistent monthly cycle see meaningfully better forecast accuracy, fewer surprise deductions, and cleaner period-over-period reporting.