Edit Arena
Introduction to Edit Arena
The Edit Arena is a powerful feature within ForesightAI designed for advanced inventory management. It allows users to manage virtually any product attribute, either for individual SKUs or by making bulk changes across groups of products.
Adjusting lead times and purchase order periods on a SKU level.
Setting expiration dates for fresh or perishable products.
Defining predecessors for new products that replace older models, allowing Foresight AI to utilize historical sales data from the old product for the new one.
Defining specific transfer and assembly rules.
Other customization possibilities for inventory parameters.
Changes made in the Edit Arena will take effect after the next daily data calculations.
Open Edit Arena
From the Purchases menu, open Smart Reorder.
Open Forecast and Settings.
From the user menu, open Edit Arena.
Use filters and show/hide fields to find SKUs.
Edit product attributes individuallyor in bulk.
Filters
Use filters to help you select specific SKUs or groups of products for editing. You can work with available filters in several ways:
Direct Pick from a List: Select products directly from a displayed list.
Full-text Search: Search for products by name, sales category, supplier, and more using full-text input.
Mathematical Operations: Apply filters using mathematical comparisons (e.g., greater than, less than).
Yes/No: Filter based on binary attributes (e.g., whether an item is visible or can be ordered).
Bulk Edit: After filtering, you can change a parameter for all selected SKUs simultaneously by inputting the desired value in the first row and confirming the change. You can also set an automatic rule for future edits with that SKU.
Show/Hide fields
There are a lot of fields that you can manage in the Edit Arena. You can show/hide different fields to make sure you view only the fields that matter to you.
Select Show/Hide to see all the fields you can add or remove from the Edit Arena.
You can then enable or disable the different fields.
Close the window to save your changes.
Bulk editing
You can edit products attributes for individual SKUs, or edit the top row and click For all to edit SKUs in bulk.
Product attributes
MOQ and packing
Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) is the smallest amount of this item you can buy from your supplier per order. For example, you have to buy at least 100 units from your supplier each order. If a replenishment recommendation is below the MOQ, Foresight AI will increase it to meet the minimum.
Packing can also define how products are ordered (e.g., cartons, boxes, pallets). Foresight AI will automatically round up purchase order proposals to be a multiple of this number. For example, you are ordering wine from a wine producer and in packing you have to have 6 bottles of wine, so ForesightAI would allow 30, but not 32.
If a product has both MOQ and Packing, the system will first ensure the order meets the MOQ.
After that, if the quantity isn't already a multiple of the packing size, the system will round the order up to the nearest multiple of the packing size that is at or above the MOQ.
Example: If MOQ is 4 and packing is 2, and the ideal recommendation is 5, the system will increase it to 6 (to meet both MOQ and packing requirements).
Expiration in days
Expiration in days is the shelf life of products with short expiration dates (e.g. dairy products). ForesightAI will adjust your replenishment suggestions to prevent goods expiring. This might mean more frequent purchase orders with less stock to prevent wastage.
ForesightAI tries to add a buffer or safety stock when managing optimal inventory levels. This extra stock helps account for uncertainties in sales and supplier lead times and helps prevent stockouts. However, products with Expiration in days can fall below the safety stock levels to ensure items are sold before they expire.
Purchase period
Purchase period is the time duration you intend for your ordered inventory to last, from the moment one purchase order is delivered to your warehouse until the next one is expected to arrive. It essentially defines the frequency of your ordering cycles.
It directly influences the quantity of goods you need to order in each replenishment cycle. A longer period means ordering more goods at once to cover that extended duration, while a shorter period allows for smaller, more frequent orders.
The purchase order period is often tied to transportation costs. For instance, ordering a full container from overseas might lead to a quarterly or monthly period, whereas sourcing from a local supplier might allow for weekly orders.
Generally, shorter purchase order periods are beneficial as they reduce the amount of inventory held, freeing up working capital and warehouse space.
ForesightAI uses the defined purchase order period to calculate the size of each replenishment proposal. It aims to ensure you have enough inventory to cover sales for the duration of the period until the next ordering opportunity.
If the purchase order period is increased (e.g., from one month to two months), the recommended quantity per order will increase to cover the longer duration, and the total number of purchase order recommendations for a given timeframe will decrease.
Purchase order periods for transfers are set in the Warehouse settings inside the ForesightAI application.
Similar to lead times, specific purchase order periods can be set for individual SKUs in the Edit Arena if they differ from the supplier-level settings.
Lead time
Lead time is the interval between placing an order at your supplier and its delivery to your warehouse.
It helps determine the exact date when a purchase order (PO) needs to be placed to avoid running out of stock.
Longer lead times necessitate ordering well in advance. If demand for those items decreases in the interim, they could become obsolete by the time they arrive, leading to deadstock.
Lead time accuracy is a critical factor in calculating safety stock. Since goods can be delayed in reality, even if a supplier's theoretical lead time is, for example, 14 days, the system must account for potential delays (e.g., 2 days, a week, or a month late) to prevent stockouts.
ForesightAI can dynamically calculate real lead times from historical purchase orders, including their variability.
This variability is then translated into buffer stock (safety stock), which acts as an extra layer of inventory to absorb uncertainties in delivery times.
Lead times are considered at various stages of the supply chain, including supplier deliveries, transfers between warehouses, and production processes. To generate correct POs, the system aggregates lead times across the entire chain from the point of sale back to the original supplier.
Lead times are set automatically based on supply history. Users can however overwrite them manually in the Suppliers setting tab inside the ForesightAI application. You can access the application by clicking on “Forecast and Settings” on the Smart Reorder page in Core.
Lead times for transfers are set in the Warehouse settings inside the ForesightAI application.
For specific products (SKUs), lead times can be adjusted in the Edit Arena if they differ from the overall supplier settings.
Order and visible
Order allows ForesightAI to suggest an optimum purchase quantity. If you would like to stop ordering just set Order to No. If you uncheck an item from Order, ForesightAI will not replenish it and will eventually forecast zero sales for it once it runs out.
Visible completely excludes items from Foresight AI. These items will not appear in lists, reports, forecasts, or purchase order proposals.
Predecessor
Predecessor links new products with no sales history to existing, similar products (predecessors) to allow ForesightAI to use the predecessor's sales history and create reliable forecasting from day one.
Minimum inventory
Minimum inventory sets a baseline inventory level you wish to maintain for a product, ensuring the stock never falls below this number (e.g. set as 1 to always keep a display item). This essentially redefines zero for that item's stock level.
Volume and weight
Weight and Volumedefine the weight in kilograms and volume in cubic meters (m3) per SKU. This prepares for future features allowing ForesightAI to create purchase orders that utilize containers efficiently.