Summary
Custom Life Cycles are life cycles that are user-defined, rather than being auto-calculated from the history of items or hierarchy levels within the forecasting hierarchy.
They can be based on a table of values that you actually type in manually, or can be derived from a set of filters that you enter in the configuration screen.
It is accessible by going to Admin --> System Configuration --> Custom Life Cycles
Adding / Editing / Deleting
To add a new index, click the "Add" button at the top of the screen. You can click on an existing life cycle to edit it.
Attributes about the life cycle will load in the form at the right side of the screen.
A chart is shown in the bottom half of the screen along with a table for any 'Table' type life cycles, allowing you to visualize the life cycle shape.
Enter a name for your life cycle and any notes you want associated with it.
The most important setting in the custom life cycle is what type the cycle is: table-based or filter-based.
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Table- This type of life cycle is one where you manually enter a table of percentages that you've derived from your own analysis. The values you enter are percentages of the peak period usage, so all but one of your table values should be < 100%. For table-based cycles, you will see a small table where you can enter values next to the chart. The chart will update in realtime as you change your values so you can visualize your life cycle.
- NOTE: Enter your numbers as a percent of peak, e.g. 0.8 would be 80% of peak and so on.
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Filters - This type of cycle is used when you would like StockIQ to derive the life cycle for a given set of filters, such as "All items in category 'Audio' and customer group 'ECommerce'", or something similar. StockIQ will calculate the life cycle based on the filters you enter using the "Filters" button.To configure your filters for a filter-based life cycle, click the "Filters" button and enter your filters. Once you apply (or change) your filters, StockIQ will update the seasonality curve based on your options.
- IMPORTANT: Make sure you select the aggregation level for the life cycle calculation, e.g. do you want us to calculate the life cycle by looking at all matching item-sites, or all items, etc.
When you are done editing, click the "Save" button to save your index. It will now be available in Forecast Manager and the Life Cycle Settings Tab