Preparing Forecast in SAP R/3

Question

Hi Gurus,
Good Morning.
I am trying to prepare a Forecast Plan for next 6 months based on the Sales History for Past 13 weeks.  The solution which i was thinking of is to prepare a Custom Sales Forecast report in SAP with the Sales History over the 13 weeks as the basis for the calculation , spread it out in monthly buckets and then upload it to the Planned Independent requirement table (MD61)
If at all if i dont use the above option , In the system if i extend the forecast view then we can  plan the Total Consumption over there , ther total Consumption does looks for all the Sales Order over that particular period? and also how can i get the data in the the forecasting to be transferred to the Planned Independent requirement table ? It would be great if you are able to provide some Configuration/Setup details.
Thanks in Advance..
Thanks
Balaji

Answer 1

Balaji,
It appears you are asking about R/3 forecasting, and not APO.  You don't have to write a custom report, SAP standard functionality provides your requirement.
Standard methods in R/3 to arrive at Planned independent Requirements through a forecast are Material Forecasting (which creates forecasts based on historical consumption) and Sales and Operations Planning (which can forecast based on anything you design).
Simplest to implement is material forecasting.  For most companies, FGs consumption data is more than adequate to provide realistic forecasts.
Once your forecast is done, using either Material forecasting or SOP, it can automatically be converted to Planned Independent requirements.
Material forecasting
http://help.sap.com/erp2005_ehp_04/helpdata/EN/7d/c27278454011d182b40000e829fbfe/frameset.htm
SOP
http://help.sap.com/erp2005_ehp_04/helpdata/EN/a5/63201843a211d189410000e829fbbd/frameset.htm
Creating PIRs
http://help.sap.com/erp2005_ehp_04/helpdata/EN/cb/7f949443b711d189410000e829fbbd/frameset.htm
Rgds,
DB49