Forecasting training courses with examples in excel

We deliver excellent forecasting training courses that can be carried out online or in person. They can take place at your UK office, our local centre or remotely.  Our forecasting training courses are enjoyable and highly effective with all courses led by a highly experienced trainer and consultant.

All of our courses are supported with worked examples using Excel, delegates being left with a number of working templates for some of the most popular and practical methods.

Our forecasting training courses are well established and suitable for companies across a wide range of business sectors.  We aim to tailor course content and level of detail as closely as possible to meet the needs of individual delegates and their companies.  A brief description of the courses is given below, or please feel free to use the links to individual course pages:

Our main courses:

• Introduction to Sales Forecasting (1 day / 7 hrs)

• Advanced Forecasting Course (1 day /7hrs)

• Demand Planning and Forecasting Workshop (2 days / 14 hrs)

 Prices 

For prices please complete a quotation request form giving the course(s) of interest and the expected number of delegates.

Before booking demand planning or forecasting training please be sure to read our terms and conditions.

A brief description of the main courses follows below or for a more detailed content please follow the links above.

Introduction to Sales Forecasting (1 day)

This introductory training starts with a description of the main approaches to demand forecasting.  Some practical methods for analysing and dealing with seasonality are described.  The course proceeds to give a working knowledge of some simple but effective forecasting techniques including curve fitting, moving averages and simple examples of exponential smoothing.  We also discuss the challenges of forecasting for new products and promotions.

Advanced Forecasting Course (1 day)

This forecasting training course is suitable as a follow-up to the Introduction to Sales Forecasting, or for those who have already had some other training or work experience.  It can cover causal analysis in greater detail if this is of potential interest and introduces a number of additional time-series forecasting methods.  Forecast model selection and optimisation is discussed and worked examples are provided using Excel.

If relevant for the delegates, the relatively new Data Sheet facility in Excel can be covered, together with worked examples using the forecast.ets function.  The advantages and disadvantages of this method can be explained.

Demand Planning and Forecasting Workshop (2 days)

In this course the basics of demand forecasting are covered as in the one-day introductory course described above, then some of the key areas are developed in greater detail.  Also included are forecast accuracy measurement, further forecasting methods and the approach needed for short-term forecasting as compared to medium term forecasting.

This demand planning course also dips into some aspects of supply planning.  The basics of stock policy are covered including some stock planning methods and the calculation of safety stocks for fast moving and slow moving items.  The steps in a typical S&OP process are described, with discussion on the vital role of demand planning.