With the default settings in place, StockIQ starts forecasting your item from the date that the first sale is made. Using the StockIQ Forecasting Algorithm's "Fast Start" mode, it will begin generating forecasts for that level of demand, even if the product may have existed for a long time, but is just now being sold. This is due to the fact that often a part number will be created far in advance of when it is actually stocked and available for sale, and we want the forecast to be responsive to new items and their new demand.
If this is not desireable, you can modify this behavior in one of two ways:
- Disable the StockIQ algorithm's "Fast Start" mode. We will ramp up more slowly using more typical smoothed behavior, starting from that first sale.
- Set a different Algorithm Start date in the Forecast Settings. You can instruct StockIQ to start from the Date of First Sale, Date First Stocked, Item Creation Date, or any other custom date that you specify.
Additionally, if this is simply a very old, slow-moving part, you can use an event to cause the algorithm to ignore this single (or few) sales. If this is expected to be the ongoing behavior of the part, then a good strategy would be to ensure the item has an order policy such as the Sporadic Sales or Buy To Order, since a forecast on such a sporadic item will be of low accuracy anyway.