Abstract: Aspects of the present invention include improvements to a management decision support system. Before improvement, the system includes a computer system having memory and resources, a retail demand forecasting program applying one or more forecasting approaches, running on the computer system and utilizing the output, said analysis programs generating at least one of (a) order of goods from a supplier-related data, (b) allocation of the goods to be shipped by the supplier-related data, or (c) distribution of goods to selling locations-related data. The improvements, according to one aspect of the invention, include a causal calendar utilized by the forecasting program to generate the output, the calendar including certain attributes for a plurality of events, and an analysis program to generate open to buy reports. Other aspects of the present invention are described in the specification, drawing and claims.

Abstract: Aspects of the present invention include improvements to a management decision support system. Before improvement, the system includes a computer system having memory and resources, a retail demand forecasting program applying one or more forecasting approaches, running on the computer system and utilizing the output, said analysis programs generating at least one of (a) order of goods from a supplier-related data, (b) allocation of the goods to be shipped by the supplier-related data, or (c) distribution of goods to selling locations-related data. The improvements, according to one aspect of the invention, include a causal calendar utilized by the forecasting program to generate the output, the calendar including certain attributes for a plurality of events, and an analysis program to generate open to buy reports. Other aspects of the present invention are described in the specification, drawing and claims.

Abstract: Disclosed are methods of and apparatus for analyzing projected future inventory against inventory budgets to determine open-to-buy inventory values. Inventory budgets are set, then demand is projected and some or all of notional deliveries, sales and inventory are simulated at the item level, capturing the interaction of inventory and sales. Analytic reports are generated that compare open to buy values and inventory budgets. The reports may indicate lost sales and may segregate saleable inventory from component inventory.

Abstract: Methods, systems and a machine readable memory are disclosed for adjusting projected demand items on an item-location basis. One environment in which the disclosed technology is useful is retail sales by companies with many items and numerous sales locations. Disruptive events and impact estimates can be calendared and applied to adjust both sales history quantities, which are used to project future demand, and to adjust future projected demand, directly. Impact estimates can be positive or negative, multiplicative or additive. Multiple disruptive events can be handled.

Abstract: One embodiment practicing aspects of the present invention provides a computer-implemented method for adjusting a reference selling profile for a reference product, comprising retrieving one or more reference selling profiles corresponding to daily or more frequent historical data for one or more reference products, and adjusting the reference selling profiles to correct for one or more promotions which impacted the historical data. Other embodiments and aspects provide for determining location distribution shares, projecting sales, determining distribution quantities, comparing alternative markdown scenarios, etc.

Abstract: Methods of and apparatus for simulating and projecting future sales, inventory and gross margin are described. Some methods provide bottom-up item-by-item, per location simulation of unit inventory and unit sales. Notional deliveries and other features of simulations and projections are reflected in the detailed description, accompanying figures and claims.