Open to buy source data
Depending on the setup you can load the data to the module in three ways:
From Analytics module. To do this just select appropriate time period and click Load From Analytics.
From file upload. To do this select appropriate file connector and click Load External Data
Via API
Open to buy module depends on three sets of data: historical sales, current stock and current orders.
Historical sales data
Not strictly needed but having it helps you to build a demand forecast musch faster than without. To use data seeding or more advanced forecasting algortihms you need at minimum the data coverting the sales from year preceding the forecast. Since the model works with weeks you need to have the data from same weeks. The manual data import tools can convert dates to weeks automatically so daily sales are okay.
Current stock
This data set set contains up to date stock levels in units, cost and retail values (i.e. stock value as per current retail price tag).
On order
On order data represents the items that are not yet available in stock but scheduled to arrive in the future. This data will be included in the open to buy calculation. The data must include the units and cost. The retail value of the items is automatically calculated based on the current stock or pricing assumptions.
The files need to be set up before importing. You can access the file setup via Admin (the COG button) -> Data Source Maintenance -> <Your data source>.
All file sources are similar to the following table.
There are several data source definitions for the same data type. You need to set up the correct ones based on you module setup. There are two types of open to buy application:
With location
Without location (default)
"With location" model allows you to plan sales per location and additional "segment" dimension (typically customer perspective). In this case you will also need to prepare the sales data per location and segment dimensions.
Download templates for data import: