Seasonality Groups

The system uses seasonality groups to identify the seasonal pattern that different planning objects have. You maintain seasonality groups on a higher level (for example, on the level of region or brand) than the forecasting level (for example, country, channel, SKU). You can use seasonality groups if you want to use seasonal forecast for planning objects without a recognizable seasonal pattern, or for new planning objects with insufficient history. In such cases, the system applies the seasonal pattern from the seasonality group level to the nonseasonal forecast it calculates on item level.

Prerequisites

If, on the SAP Easy Access screen, under Start of the navigation path Advanced Planning and Optimization Next navigation step Demand Planning Environment Maintain Forecast Profiles End of the navigation path , on the Univariate Profile, you select the Consider Group Seasonality checkbox, the system applies the seasonality pattern of a seasonality group to the characteristic value combination (CVC) if the following applies:

You are using a nonseasonal forecast model
You have defined a seasonality group and the CVC is assigned to this group
You can assign a CVC to a group either implicitly by defining a seasonality group in the SAP Easy Access screen, under Advanced Planning and Optimization Demand Planning Environment Demand Planning Worklist which includes this CVC as well.

You can also assign the CVC explicitly to a particular group on the SAP Easy Access screen, under Advanced Planning and Optimization Demand Planning Environment Assign Planning Objects to Seasonality Groups , or in the Seasonality Groups query of the Demand Planning Worklist, if the CVC is not otherwise included in any other group.
The characteristic value combination is assigned exactly to one group
In case the CVC belongs to multiple groups, the system displays a warning message and uses the first group's seasonal pattern.

In case all the above conditions are met, the system determines the seasonal pattern on the group level and applies this pattern to the CVC that is being forecasted. If, in the univariate forecast profile, in the Model Parameters screen area, in the Forecast Strategy field, you specify a forecast strategy, and in the Periods (Number of Periods per Seasonal Cycle) field, you specify the number of periods, the system takes that value for pattern calculation. Otherwise, it uses a default cycle length which is the number of periods in 1 year (for example, in the case of weekly forecasting, this is 52).

To use this function, you must activate the business function SCM-APO-FCS, Events and Outliers, Causals, ABC/XYZ Classification (SCM_APO_FORECASTING_1). For more information, see SCM-APO-FCS, Events and Outliers, Causals, ABC/XYZ Classification.

Process

The process of working with seasonality groups is the following:

You specify the level on which you want to use seasonality groups in forecasting. You also specify the characteristics that are relevant from the planning area for the definition of seasonality groups.
In Customizing for Advanced Planning and Optimization, choose Supply Chain Planning Demand Planning (DP) Basic Settings Seasonality Groups Maintain Settings for Seasonality Groups .
You create seasonality groups.
You can do this in the Seasonality Groups query of the Demand Planning Worklist. For more information, see Demand Planning Worklist.
You display the seasonality group assignment of planning objects, and change the assignments, if necessary, on the SAP Easy Access screen, under Advanced Planning and Optimization Demand Planning Environment Assign Planning Objects to Seasonality Groups . From here, you can also do the following:
- Create new seasonality groups
  To do this, choose the Create Seasonality Group pushbutton
- Edit existing seasonality groups
  To do this, choose the Edit Seasonality Group pushbutton
- Reset manually changed assignments of characteristic value combinations for the whole planning area
  To do this, choose the Reset Seasonality Groups pushbutton
  
  Caution
  If you choose this option, the system resets the assignments and unassignments of all seasonality groups in the planning area to their initial value.
  
  End of the caution.
You select the Consider Group Seasonality checkbox in the univariate forecast profile, so that forecasting considers seasonality groups.
You run forecasting.

Business Add-Ins for Seasonality

The following Business Add-Ins (BAdIs) are available for seasonality in Customizing for Advanced Planning and Optimization, under Start of the navigation path Supply Chain Planning Next navigation step Demand Planning (DP) Business Add-Ins (BAdIs) Seasonality Groups End of the navigation path :

BAdI: Use of Different Seasonal Indices for Seasonality Groups (/SAPAPO/BADI_DP_FCST_SEASON)
You can use this BAdI to assign your own seasonality pattern to a seasonality group. During forecasting, the system uses the seasonality pattern you define in the BAdI implementation for a specific seasonality group instead of the standard logic of calculating the seasonality indices from the total history of the characteristic value combinations (CVCs) that the group contains
BAdI: Change the Consideration of Seasonality Group Assignments (/SAPAPO/BADI_DP_FCST_CHGSEAGRP)
You can use this BAdI to override the default logic the system uses to consider manual seasonality group assignments. By default, the system does not consider the manually assigned or unassigned CVCs in the group history that is the basis for the calculation of the seasonal pattern of seasonality groups.
BAdI: Execution of Seasonal Test When Using Group Pattern
You can use this BAdI to override the result of the seasonal test that is executed on the seasonality group history. By default, if the seasonality group does not have a seasonal pattern according to the seasonal test, the system does not apply the pattern to the forecast. You can override this behavior with this BAdI.