Forecast orders are often used to help create budgets for an event or to predict the revenue for an event. These orders are usually created well before the event occurs and captures what is needed for an event at that time such as equipment, AV, catering, etc.
Revised forecast orders are often used to track the adjustments made to the forecast orders for an event. Revised forecast orders are usually created after the forecast orders are reviewed and there are requests to make changes to the items or add more items.
Forecast orders and revised forecast orders do not create work orders, you cannot close or invoice them, or have payments processed against them. These orders are for informational purposes only and are used mostly for reporting and record-keeping.
You add items to forecast orders and revised forecast orders the same way you add them to service orders. The same price lists available for a service order are also available for forecast orders and revised forecast orders. When you add items to a forecast order, they are added at a Forecast item phase. When you add items to a revised forecast order, they are added at a Revised item phase.
This article includes the following:
- Add a Forecast/Revised Forecast Order
- View Forecast/Revised Forecast Orders
- View Forecast/Revised Forecast Order Items
- Create a Service Order From a Forecast/Revised Forecast Order
Add a Forecast/Revised Forecast Order
- Click the Events link from the Main Menu. The Events screen opens.
- Select the event for the forecast order or revised forecast order.
- Right-click and select Edit -> Edit. The Edit Event screen opens.
- Select the Service Orders tab.
- Click the arrow next to the Add button.
- Select Add Forecast Order or Add Revised Forecast Order. The Add Forecast Service Order or Add Revised Forecast Order screen opens.
- Select the Items tab.
- Enter the Units for the items to add.
- Click OK.
View Forecast/Revised Forecast Orders
You can view forecast and/or revised forecast orders on the Service Orders tab for the event or on the Service Orders screen. In both the Service Order tab and the Service Order screen, you can show the Order Phase column that indicates if an order is a Forecast Order, Revised Forecast Order or Service Order. In addition, the following columns are available for each of the order phases:
Forecast Orders
- Forecast Cost Total
- Forecast Margin
- Forecast Markup
- Forecast Net Due
- Forecast Tax
- Forecast Total
- Forecast Total Before Tax
Revised Forecast Orders
- Revised Cost Total
- Revised Margin
- Revised Markup
- Revised Net Due
- Revised Tax
- Revised Total
- Revised Total Before Tax
You can also use the Order Phase filter on the Service Orders screen to show only the orders with a phase(s) matching the selected phase(s) in the filter.
View Forecast/Revised Forecast Order Items
You can view forecast and/or revised forecast order items on the Service Order Items tab for the event or the Service Order Items screen. To view only the forecast or revised forecast items, use the Order Item Phase filter. In addition, you can also show the Order Item Phase column to view the item phase for each item.
Create a Service Order From a Forecast/Revised Forecast Order
Use the copy order process to create a:
- Service order from a forecast/revised forecast order
- Revised forecast order from a forecast order
Using the copy order process allows the original order to remain in tact while creating a new order at the desired order phase. To create a new order at a different (or same) order phase:
- Click on the Events link from the Main Menu. The Events screen opens.
- Select the event with the forecast and/or revised forecast orders.
- Right-click and select Edit -> Edit. The Edit Event screen opens.
- Select the Service Orders tab.
- Select the order you want turn into the new phase.
- Right-click and select Tools -> Copy. The Copy Order(s) screen opens.
- Locate the Order Item Phase drop-downs. The first drop-down defaults to the order phase of the order you are copying. You cannot change the first drop-down.
- Select the order phase of the new order from the second drop-down:
- Forecast - Creates a new forecast order with all items at the forecast order item phase.
- Revised Forecast - Creates a new revised forecast order with all items at the revised item phase.
- Ordered - Creates a new service order with all items at the ordered item phase.
- Click OK. After the order is copied, the Edit screen opens so you can add new items or update item quantities or rates.
The Order Item Phase drop-downs are only available when copying forecast and revised forecast orders. When coping a service order, these drop-downs are not available. Use the Copy Event process to copy service orders to forecast or revised forecast order phases.
To learn more about the other fields available on the Copy Order screen, see Copy Service Orders.
Comments
30 comments
When we add a new line to the booking if the dates are different why if we click yes on the Space Booking Function Question are the forecast orders been updated. I would have thought this only applied to the live orders not the forecast orders.
Please can you advise if there is a way around this please
Thanks
0 upvotes
Hi Jo Dadd - the system will prompt the user if there are any orders on the function when you are attempting to update the function's dates/times. This includes forecast orders as well; the thinking is all aspects of the function may be updated when a function gets updated. If you'd like to discuss further, or your specific business case, I'd recommend talking to a consultant. Thanks.
Mark F
0 upvotes
How can we Close or 'lock' a Forecast Order? Once the Forecast has been copied to the Service Order we want to lock it down so it can no longer be modified. When trying to close the order we get a message stating Forecast and Revised Forecast Orders cannot be closed.
0 upvotes
Mark
The reason for me using forecast orders is to create a forecast - I am using the forecast as a base figure which can be used to compare against the ordered and actual value of an event. If the order is being updated then the forecast is no longer as it was. Please can you recommend how to lock these orders so they are not updated
Thanks
Jo
0 upvotes
Sean - the only thing I can think of is using an existing access privilege for this. Perhaps Allow Access to Orders by Department and using a different order department for Forecast Orders. Probably not ideal, otherwise the system would need an enhancement to put a better solution in place. Thanks.
Mark F
0 upvotes
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the feed back but unfortunately this would not work as the order department on the forecast order needs to be consistent with the order department on the service order so the comparative reporting will work.
Just as forecast orders do not create work orders, they should be able to be closed without creating actuals. This seems like a very simple change to make:
Allow Forecast/Revised orders to be changed to a Status of Closed just as other orders are (with the exception that they do not create actuals)
Further enhancement: When copying a Forecast/Revised Order to Service Order, prompt the user if they would also like to close the Forecast/Revised Order after the copy.
These two changes will go that little bit further to make the feature actually usable in real world conditions.
Thanks.
0 upvotes
Are Forecast Orders supposed to total in the "Forecast Revenue" column in an events view? We've got forecast orders on almost all of our events but when adding the "Forecast Revenue" column to any events view it's all zeros. What am I missing?
0 upvotes
Hi Svend,
All of those fields on the event are for user input only. If you have the Ungerboeck Dashboard module you can create summary fields on the event to total up the value of the forecast orders.
Prior to this some people ran stored procedures on the database to fill those fields nightly.
0 upvotes
I am in the process of implementing forecast orders and would like to use the 'Add service order item' custom fields, however they do not appear to work for forecast orders. Is this something I need to request as an enhancement?
1 upvotes
Hi Theresa,
While you are there, can you also request the ability to 'keep original function' when copying Forecast Orders to Service Orders?
Currently, if you have a bunch of forecast orders on various functions, you must copy them to SO function by function as you have to select the destination function. Without this, if you do it in bulk, all orders get copied to the one function.
1 upvotes
Hi,
We don't get an option to add a Forecast order. We just get Add Service Order and Add Service Order (V19). Are there any access privileges you need to enable to show this.
Have tried searching for Forecast and also orders in the privileges but cannot see anything.
Thanks
David
0 upvotes
David, make sure it is ticked within your 'system features'
1 upvotes
Hi Theresa,
Thanks for that. It is working now.
0 upvotes
Hi There,
In forecast orders, space rental is not listed as an available resource item. It used to be. Could you assist me?
Thanks.
0 upvotes
Hi Sean,
Are you using the same price list? My first guess is that the space rental item isn't on the price list you are using for the forecast order. Give that a check. If it is on the price list, see if you can add it to a service order on the same event. That will help determine if it's something on the order item level or on the order level.
Thanks!
Maggie
0 upvotes
Hi Maggie,
Going in to the forecast order under the event I am working with, the space rentals are listed in the price list that is being used. However, they do not exist within service orders.
Sean
0 upvotes
Hi Sean,
It may be helpful to have some screenshots (blur out any confidential information) to better understand what is happening.
Thanks,
Maggie
0 upvotes
Hi Maggie,
Sorry for the delay in responding to you. Thanks for your help with this.
Sean
0 upvotes
This might be a separate matter, there is no tab to create 'forecast orders' in event profiles like there is in an event?
I was looking at adding these for purposes of scripting to an event quick and easy. Any thoughts ?
0 upvotes
Hello Missy,
The software does not currently support Forecast Orders on an event profile. I do have an entry for it on my backlog, but no immediate timeline as to when it will be done. A couple of quick questions though if you don't mind:
How heavily do you use forecast orders on an event?
How often do you use event profiles to script-out your events?
Let me know if you have any questions.
Jake Griesenauer
Product Manager - Orders & Operations
0 upvotes
Hi Jake,
Thank you for coming back to me. Please see below answers to your questions;
Good Question. We have been introduced to forecast orders as the data entry point for automating client proposals. I would imagine once the world returns to normal...... RFP will on the rise. For the time being I have created an event to use as the template ie. add functions and forecast orders.
Not often. Recently we looked at using event profiles v template event. We went with creating an event as template.
Let me know if you have any questions.
none at the moment
0 upvotes
Thanks Missy,
I appreciate the information. I'll discuss more in-depth with my development team to map out what it'd look like to add this functionality to event profiles.
Once I have a better indication on the level of effort and when we would expect to action this enhancement, i'll reach back out and let you know.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Jake Griesenauer
Product Manager - Orders & Operations
0 upvotes
@...
I am working to make forecast orders work for the purpose to generate a proposal .
Did you know that when you copy a function with a 'Forecast Order' there is only the option to copy the order as a 'service order' and not a forecast order. This is incorrect.
What is your position on this ?
0 upvotes
Hey Missy,
I discussed with my development team and including forecast orders in the 'copy function' process is not supported in code. This was not supported in v19 either.
However, the 'copy order' process supports forecast orders, so I would recommend in the near-term utilizing that functionality.
In addition, there is a new feature and module coming in the 30.97 release that I think could benefit you in this workflow:
Let me know if you have any questions.
Jake Griesenauer
Product Manager - Orders & Operations
0 upvotes
Hey @...
I feel there are awesome benefits to be able to copy function with forecast order. I get it wasn't available in V19 however, is development you saying its not possible to code? How many upvotes for UB consider this development?
Yes, I was aware of the copy order support forecast and is the current workflow process, although it is too clunky and time consuming. Hence, copy function copy forecast order is the best solution for any venue using forecast order. Would you agree ?
That's good news about forecast orders on Event Profiles. Would be the workaround to the points above. How far away is .97 ?
I note point 2. unfortunately we are now too far down the track with a UB designed custom report so for will keep going.
Jake, I appreciate your interest and assistance.
0 upvotes
Hey Missy,
My reference to development was that the inclusion of forecast orders in the 'copy function' process is not currently in the code. Therefore, this is not a bug and would need to be remedied via new enhancement. There isn't an exact number of "upvotes" within the support center to escalate this enhancement. It's in the backlog right now and will be considered as my team begins to plan out the next release.
Whether the 'Copy Order' or 'Copy Function' is most advantageous I believe is dependent on a venue's specific workflow and needs.
The .97 release is scheduled to be out to customers sometime in January 2021.
Jake Griesenauer
Product Manager - Orders & Operations
0 upvotes
Hello,
Along with the ability to copy function with forecast order is the ability to copy a booking order to be a forecast order.
We are trying to keep a copy of what the venue hire (booking order) was at same time as the forecast orders so we dont lose the information.
0 upvotes
Hey Missy,
Seems more like you're looking more for snapshot reporting than keeping a copy of the forecast order. Unfortunately we don't support that type of functionality out of the box currently, so anything at this point sounds like it'd be a work-around.
Retaining booking orders for a historical reference isn't a request I've heard before, so we'd have to dig quite a bit deeper into the business case and requirements needed for a future enhancement.
Jake Griesenauer
Product Management - Orders & Operations
0 upvotes
Can you add forecast orders from the function tab?
0 upvotes
Hello Gavin,
The Add Forecast Order action is not directly available on the Functions tab within the event. The quickest option is to use the event-level Add menu (Add > Orders > Add Forecast Order). Once the Add Forecast Order window displays you will be able to select the function(s) for the order.
Regards,
Sam
0 upvotes
Please sign in to leave a comment.