FoodPro’s Crystal Ball

*FORECASTING

*Why Forecast?

*Because my coordinator said I had to.*Because I have to put in my sales.*Because I have to check that the correct menus are on the proper days.*Because I need to plan for future Guests and Menu Items.

*Forecasting is the process by which FoodPro projects the number of patrons to serve for each meal through the end of the plan week based on reference history and applied trend. FoodPro then determines the appropriate quantity of each menu item needed to serve those Patrons, again based on history and trends.*We forecast 4 weeks out at Penn State. We

have 2 Span weeks.

*Prior to Forecasting, make all Menu Maintenance changes. Specific day changes are made in Service Needs before, during or after Forecasting is begun. When Menu Maintenance changes are made, the user is always asked if FoodPro should Reforecast the menu.

*If the answer is Yes, the system will automatically reforecast the Service Needs during next week’s forecast for the Span Weeks and the Plan week if the Patron Count or Menus falling within the previously forecasted weeks have undergone maintenance. You can go back into forecasting immediately. (Forecasting can be completed as many times as is necessary to make all of your corrections.) *Reforecasting will not occur for any meal where

Misc Additions have been added. Current Purchase Requirements will not be updated for the Production week and some of Span week 1. You must manually adjust these. If reforecasting does occur, other portion/Service needs changes will be lost and must be redone. *Reforecasting must be weighed against the

need to redo all other changes.

*If the answer is No, the changes will not occur until after the current plan week. More immediate corrections must be made in Service Needs.

*In order to begin forecasting, all Service Records must be complete. In the first screen the Service Record field must display “Entered”. If this field shows “Incomplete” you can go no further until Service Records are finished.

*The next field is Sales Dollars. Enter the dollar amount of sales for the past week. If the sales amount has not been calculated yet, enter $1.00 and continue. But remember to update this before the Production Run. When you go back to enter this figure, you must “Continue” through the entire Forecasting Program to properly complete it. Do not hit “Cancel” or X out. If you see the “Continue” button, you MUST click on it. Otherwise FoodPro does not record that you are finished forecasting.

*The Production Run cannot be started until all locations have completed forecasting.

*Next check the dates of the past week and plan week and contact your coordinator if they are not correct. Then make sure your Entitlements are accurate. Do not change Entitlements willy-nilly. This number should remain relatively constant throughout a semester. Your Entitlements number should be the most customers you could have at any given meal. Generally, this is the number of students at your campus or housing area plus staff. It should be higher than any meal served. FoodPro uses this number as a benchmark to which your forecasted counts are compared. It cannot be too high or your Acceptabilities will be too minute to help FoodPro generate good numbers for your forecast.

*The Reference Week is the week that you or your coordinator put into your calendar. This is changeable and should be changed if your patron counts have been off consistently or if your menu has changed greatly since this reference period. *Hit Continue

*There are 2 parts to Forecasting – Patron and Portion

*Patron Forecast - FoodPro will generate patron counts based on recent trend and patron history.

*The first week shown is your reference week. These Patron counts cannot be changed. If the Patron Counts are not acceptable, you can return to the initial screen to change the reference week.

*Once the counts are accepted by clicking on Continue, FoodPro applies the AFs of the menu items to the Patron Forecast to calculate the projected number of portions to serve for each menu item.*After Continuing to the next screen, all of

the current and future patron counts are available by tab for review and modification if necessary.

*Review portions for the plan week to prepare a precost.*Review portions for the production week

prior to the run, for more accurate production information including purchasing, food production orders, recipes, storeroom requisitions, transfers and service records.

*Review recipe history to see when and how many portions were served at previous meals by using the Recipe Served Report.

*Make changes to service needs for plan, production, next, or span weeks if desired.*Take advantage of various viewing options,

including the menu category selection.*Consolidate all service needs for review, or

separate the Cycle, Standard, ACI and Miscellaneous Additions on different tabs.*Make menu substitutions without exiting

service needs.

*Expected profit and cost per patron calculations recalculate with each modification.*Optional columns to display cost and

extended cost.*Change Menu Categories on Cycle, Standard,

or ACI Tabs at any time*Ability to Batch Recipes (and Storeroom

Requisitions) from within the program via the Options Menu or Right-Click Context Menu.

*Scale Portions option controls changes to portions when patron count is changed.

*Operations can check the number of portions sold while reviewing the Past Week Service Needs. Modifications to those portions can also be made, if necessary.

* "86" items listed as being served on a cycle or standard menu for a specified date and meal. This does not remove it from Menus on the Web due to web page issues.

*After Weekly Startup, users can maintain menus in the Past Week for the purpose of updating Menus on the Web.

*At Penn State we send out “Cheat Sheets” and emails to alert users to forecasting special events:*End of the month*End of the fiscal year*First fall forecast*Forecasts for Summer

* FORECASTING SCHEDULE SPRING AND SUMMER 2013* (36) BLUE CHIP BISTRO*  * Inventory Plan Week Production Week* (Taken) Forecast (Week Ending) Production Run (Sunday-Saturday)*  * Mon Apr 21 Tues Apr 22 May 19 Wed Apr 23 Apr 27 – May 03* Mon Apr 28 Tues Apr 29 May 26 Wed Apr 30 May 04 – May 10* Mon May 05 Tues May 06 Jun 02 Wed May 07 May 11 – May 17* Mon May 12 Tues May 13 Jun 09 Wed May 14 May 18 – May 24* Mon May 19 Tues May 20 Jun 16 Wed May 21 May 25 – May 31* Mon May 26 Tues May 27 Jun 23 Wed May 28 Jun 01 – Jun 07* Mon Jun 02 Tues Jun 03 Jun 30 Wed Jun 04 Jun 08 – Jun 14* Mon Jun 09 Tues Jun 10 Jul 07Wed Jun 11 Jun 15 – Jun 21* Mon Jun 16 Tues Jun 17 Jul 14Wed Jun 18 Jun 22 – Jun 28* Mon Jun 23 Tues Jun 24 Jul 21Wed Jun 25 Jun 29 – Jul 05* Mon Jun 30 Tues Jul 01 Jul 28Wed Jul 02 Jul 06 – Jul 12* Mon Jul 07 Tues Jul 08 Aug 04 Wed Jul 06 Jul 13 – Jul 19* Mon Jul 14 Tues Jul 15 Aug 11 Wed Jul 17 Jul 20 – Jul 26* Mon Jul 21 Tues Jul 22 Aug 18 Wed Jul 23 Jul 27 – Aug 02* Mon Jul 28 Tues Jul 29 Aug 25* Wed Jul 30 Aug 03 – Aug 09* Mon Aug 04 Tues Aug 05 Sep 01* Wed Aug 06 Aug 10 – Aug 16* Mon Aug 11 Tues Aug 12 Sep 08* Wed Aug 13 Aug 17 – Aug 23* Mon Aug 18 Tues Aug 19 Sep 15* Wed Aug 20 Aug 24 – Aug 30* Mon Aug 25 Tues Aug 26 Sep 22 Wed Aug 27 Aug 31 – Sep 06** * (NS) No Service Week* *First Four Weeks of Fall Semester*  *  *  *  *  * KJ * 03/29/13

Week Ending Inventory Procedure Forecast On: Forecast Procedure Plan Week(Week Ending)

Production Week (Sunday-Saturday)

Mon Mar 24 Inventory will be Rolled Tues Mar 25 Enter Zero Sales Apr 21 Mar 30 – Apr 05Mon Mar 31 MUST TAKE INVENTORY Tues Apr 01 Enter Sales from Week Ending Mar 3, Mar

10, Mar 17, Mar 24, Mar 31Apr 28 Apr 06 – Apr 12

Mon Apr 07 Inventory will be Rolled Tues Apr 08 Enter Zero Sales May 05 Apr 13 – Apr 19Mon Apr 14 Inventory will be Rolled Tues Apr 15 Enter Zero Sales May 12 (NS) Apr 20 – Apr 26Mon Apr 21 Inventory will be Rolled Tues Apr 22 Enter Zero Sales May 19 (NS) Apr 27 – May 03Mon Apr 28 MUST TAKE INVENTORY Tues Apr 29 Enter Sales from Week Ending Apr 7, Apr

14, Apr 21, Apr 28May 26 (NS) May 04 – May 10

Mon May 05 Inventory will be Rolled Tues May 06 Enter Zero Sales Jun 02 (NS) May 11 – May 17Mon May 12 Inventory will be Rolled Tues May 13 Enter Zero Sales Jun 09 (NS) May 18 – May 24Mon May 19 Inventory will be Rolled Tues May 20 Enter Zero Sales Jun 16 (NS) May 25 – May 31Mon May 26 Inventory will be Rolled Tues May 27 Enter Zero Sales Jun 23 (NS) Jun 01 – Jun 07Mon Jun 02 MUST TAKE INVENTORY Tues Jun 03 Enter Sales from Weeks Ending May 5,

May 12, May 19, May 26, Jun 02Jun 30 (NS) Jun 08 – Jun 14

Mon Jun 09 Inventory will be Rolled Tues Jun 10 Enter Zero Sales Jul 07 (NS) Jun 15 – Jun 21Mon Jun 16 Inventory will be Rolled Tues Jun 17 Enter Zero Sales Jul 14 (NS) Jun 22 – Jun 28Mon Jun 23 MUST TAKE INVENTORY Tues Jun 24 Enter Total Sales from Weeks Ending:

Jun 09, Jun 16, Jun 23Jul 21 (NS) Jun 29 – Jul 05

Mon Jun 30 Inventory will be Rolled Tues Jul 01 Enter Zero Sales Jul 28 (NS) Jul 06 – Jul 12Mon Jul 07 Inventory will be Rolled Tues Jul 08 Enter Zero Sales Aug 04 (NS) Jul 13 – Jul 19Mon Jul 14 Inventory will be Rolled Tues Jul 15 Enter Zero Sales Aug 11 (NS) Jul 20 – Jul 26Mon Jul 21 Inventory will be Rolled Tues Jul 22 Enter Zero Sales Aug 18 (NS) Jul 27 – Aug 02Mon Jul 28* MUST TAKE INVENTORY Tues Jul 29 Enter Total Sales from Weeks Ending:

Jun 30, Jul 07, Jul 14, Jul 21, Jul 28Aug 25 Aug 03 – Aug 09

Mon Aug 04* Inventory will be Rolled Tues Aug 05 Enter Zero Sales Sep 01 Aug 10 – Aug 16Mon Aug 11 Inventory will be Rolled Tues Aug 12 Enter Zero Sales Sep 08 Aug 17 – Aug 23Mon Aug 18 Inventory will be Rolled Tues Aug 19 Enter Zero Sales Sep 15 Aug 24 – Aug 30Mon Aug 25 Inventory will be Rolled Tues Aug 26 Enter Zero Sales Sep 23 Aug 31 – Sep 06

FORECASTING SCHEDULE SPRING AND SUMMER 2014(91) BJC CONCESSIONSand (92) BJC CATERING

*Questions?