Quick Summary: The extended planning horizon provides a full 24-month forecast, stock projection, and requirement view across all planning modules. Support long lead times, seasonal planning, and forward-looking purchasing decisions.
Why the Extended Planning Horizon Matters
Many planning challenges arise when a twelve-month view is too short. The extended planning horizon solves these challenges by providing a full twenty-four-month view everywhere forecasting and stock decisions are made.
Key challenges addressed by this feature
Suppliers are quoting longer lead times, making it difficult to plan replenishment confidently within a twelve-month window.
Seasonal items require early build-up, and planners need to see demand and coverage for upcoming and future seasons.
Some industries order stock many months (or a full year) in advance, requiring visibility far beyond the standard horizon.
Container consolidation and forward-looking planning (e.g. supplier shutdowns) often depend on understanding long range demand and projected receipts.
Raw materials and finished goods need alignment, especially when raw materials have significantly longer lead times than finished goods.
The extended 24-month planning horizon functionality has been designed to address these issues.
Forecasting
The forecast engine generates forecasts for twenty-four months. These values are visible at both the item and macro levels.
Item level
Twenty-four months of forecasts are displayed in the line chart and numeric table on the Forecast tab of the item Inquiry screen.
➜ For more on this topic, read: Understanding Forecast Adjustments & Freezing
Macro forecast level
Twenty-four months of forecasts appear in both the Summary and the Comparison views in the Forecast menu.
Both Adjust items and Adjust totals support modelling within the extended timeframe.
Adjust totals allows macro-level modelling and forecasting.
Adjust items, which is part of the advanced forecasting feature, allows multi-item forecast adjustments across the extended horizon.
➜ For more on this topic, read: Understanding Forecast Adjustments & Freezing
Item Stock Projection
The Projection tab on the item Inquiry screen shows projected stock levels across a full twenty-four-month period. This helps identify long-range seasonality, future risk, and the impact of upcoming orders or constraints.
➜ For more on this topic, read: Projection Tab Explained
Distribution Center
The extended horizon allows the central warehouse or distribution center to plan long lead time replenishment in a structured and forward-looking way.
The Distribution Center tab on the item Inquiry screen displays twenty-four months of planned distribution requirements.
Scrolling to the right displays the requirement totals for each downstream branch.
BOM – Raw Materials Planning
The extended planning horizon supports long-range raw material planning for extended lead times.
On the BOM tab on the item Inquiry screen, select the Table view to see twenty-four months of BOM-driven demand for the finished goods that consume the raw material.
This enables long-range commitment planning for materials whose supply cycles exceed standard planning windows.
➜ For more on this topic, read: How To: Interpret the BOM Tab
Projection Feature
The optional Stock Projection feature displays projected inventory composition, projected fill rates, projected replenishment values, and projected demand values over the twenty-four-month horizon.
Summary tab
All six panels display summary projections for the full twenty-four months.
➜ For more on this topic, read: Stock Projection Feature
Inventory tab
The following values are projected across the extended horizon:
Excess stock
Closing stock
OK stock
Projected receipts
Firm receipts
➜ For more on this topic, read: Stock Projection Feature
Supplier Performance Feature
The optional Supplier Performance feature displays future purchase order information across the extended horizon.
Select the Future tab to see the chart view. To see the details of the future orders, click on the table button.
Click on the down arrow to display the two report options. Users have the option of selecting to see the detail of the projected values by individual order, or summarised by month.
This is particularly useful for:
Negotiating supplier commitments
Managing annual purchasing cycles
Anticipating long lead time orders
Consolidating large future shipments
➜ For more on this topic, read: Supplier Performance Feature
⚠️ Watchouts
Consistent horizon use: Ensure that all planning areas use the twenty four month view to avoid mixing twelve month and twenty four month assumptions.
Lead time accuracy: Long-range planning relies heavily on accurate lead times. Revisit lead times periodically as supplier performance changes.
Feature access: This feature is available only to customers using advanced forecasting.
💡 Tips
Model early: Use Adjust totals for long-range uplift or reduction scenarios before these changes impact stock.
Plan raw materials proactively: Use the extended BOM horizon to secure long lead materials before risk appears.
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