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Overriding Forecasts

Synplex generates demand forecasts automatically each month. When you have specific knowledge that the forecast does not account for — a planned promotion, a known slow period, a new store opening — you can replace the machine forecast with your own figure. This is called an override.

Forecasted Quantity vs Planned Quantity​

Every demand plan record holds two separate quantities:

FieldWhat it is
Forecasted quantityThe machine-generated prediction. Written by the monthly forecast run. Never editable.
Planned quantityThe quantity used in all calculations. Equals the forecasted quantity by default. Becomes your override value when you edit it.

When you type a new value into a month cell and save it, you are setting the planned quantity. The forecasted quantity is untouched and remains visible in the cell as a reference line labelled Forecast.

This means you can always see what the machine predicted alongside what you have decided to plan, without one overwriting the other.

When to Override​

Override a forecast when you have a specific, concrete reason to expect demand to differ from the historical pattern. Good reasons include:

  • A planned promotion — a discount, flash sale, or bundle deal that will increase demand above the baseline for one or more months.
  • A known slow period — a planned price increase, a product going on allocation, or a category that always underperforms in a specific month for reasons the history does not capture well.
  • A competitor event — a direct competitor launching or discontinuing a product that will shift demand in your favour or against it.
  • A new sales channel or location — opening a new retail store or launching on a new platform that adds volume not present in the historical data.
  • A product approaching end of life — demand is expected to decline faster than the pattern suggests because you are winding the product down.

Do not override simply because last month came in lower or higher than forecast. One month of variance is not a trend. Let the next monthly forecast run incorporate the new data before deciding to act.

When Not to Override​

  • To match a sales target. The forecast should reflect expected reality, not internal goals. Inflating the planned quantity to match a revenue target leads to excess stock, not extra sales.
  • Based on a feeling. If you cannot name a specific event driving the change, the machine forecast is likely more reliable than intuition.
  • Repeatedly, on every product, every month. If you find yourself overriding most of your catalogue routinely, the underlying issue is usually the sales history quality or the products' seasonality not being captured. Consider whether the data import is complete and recent.

How Overrides Interact with the Monthly Forecast Run​

This is the most important behaviour to understand.

When the monthly forecast run executes on the 1st of the month, it updates the forecasted quantity on every demand plan record. For records you have manually overridden, the following happens:

  • The forecasted quantity is updated to the latest machine prediction.
  • The planned quantity — your override — is left unchanged.

Your override is never silently removed by a forecast run. It persists until you explicitly change or remove it.

This means:

  • An override you set in January will still be active after the February, March, and April forecast runs.
  • Each month, you will see the updated machine forecast below your override as a reference, but your figure continues to drive supply calculations.

Practical implication: review your active overrides after each monthly forecast run. If the machine forecast has converged toward your override value, or if the event you were planning for has passed, clear the override so the planned quantity returns to the machine forecast.

How to Override​

  1. Go to Demand Planning in the sidebar.
  2. Select a single location using the location filter. Editing is not available without a location selected.
  3. Find the product variant row you want to adjust.
  4. Click into the input field for the month you want to override.
  5. Type your planned quantity.
  6. Repeat for any other months or variants you want to adjust.
  7. Click Save in the save bar when done.

The cell will render with a purple highlight after saving to indicate it holds a user override rather than a machine forecast. The original forecasted quantity remains visible below the input field as the Forecast reference value.

Overriding Multiple Variants at Once​

If you need to reset overrides for several variants back to the machine forecast without editing each cell individually, use the Sync with forecast bulk action:

  1. Select a location.
  2. Tick the checkbox on each variant row you want to reset.
  3. Click Sync with forecast from the bulk action bar.

This sets the planned quantity for all future months of the selected variants back to the forecasted quantity. Past months are never affected. This is the fastest way to clean up overrides after a promotion ends or a planned event has passed.

What Happens After You Save an Override​

Saving an override does not just update the displayed value. The following happen automatically in the background:

  1. The demand plan record is updated with isOverwritten: true, marking it as a user override.
  2. The supply plan for the affected inventory level (that variant at that location) is recalculated using the new planned quantity.
  3. If the variant is a BOM parent product, the demand plans for its component variants at the same location and month are updated to reflect the new parent demand, and their supply plans recalculate in turn.

These steps happen without any further action on your part. There is no separate "refresh supply plan" button.

Reviewing Your Overrides​

There is no dedicated "overrides list" view. To audit which months are currently overridden for a given variant:

  • Select the relevant location.
  • Look for cells with the purple highlight in the current and future month columns — these indicate saved overrides.
  • The Forecast value shown below each cell is what the machine predicted. If the input value and the forecast value differ, that cell is overridden.

FAQ​

Q: If I override January and the February forecast runs, will my January override disappear?

No. Overrides are only removed when you explicitly change the value or use the Sync with forecast bulk action. The monthly forecast run never removes user overrides.

Q: Can I override past months?

No. Past month cells are read-only. Overrides can only be set on the current month and future months.

Q: Can I enter zero as an override?

Yes. Setting a planned quantity of zero is valid and will be treated as an override (the cell will be marked with isOverwritten: true). Use this if you are certain a product will have no sales in a given month — for example, during a planned out-of-stock period.

Q: Can I partially override — only some months, not all?

Yes. Each month cell is independent. You can override February and March while leaving January and April at the machine forecast. There is no requirement to override a contiguous range.

Q: What if I override a value and then the actual sales come in very different?

The actual sales data is recorded separately and does not affect the demand plan. Past month cells will show both the planned quantity you set and the actual quantity that was sold, so you can compare them directly. Use this comparison to inform your next set of overrides.