Time settings

You must set up your model calendar to make forecasts.

Before you configure your model calendar, consider the:

• Type of data you have (examples: financial results, HR information, or inventory levels).
• Frequency of the forecast to run.

The model calendar type you select depends on if your source data is monthly, weekly, or daily. For more information about each calendar type, see Set the model calendar.

If your source data is monthly, use the Calendar Months/Quarters/Years calendar type. If you use custom months, you must follow the calendar/month convention.

You must set weekly data to start on Mondays. If your source data is weekly, use one of these calendar types:

• Weeks: 4-4-4, 4-5-4 or 5-4-4
• Weeks: General
  If your data uses a custom fiscal year, use the Weeks: General calendar type.
• Weeks: 13 4-week Periods

If your source data is daily, you can choose any of the Weeks calendar types.

For each line item in the historical and related data modules, make sure to set the Time Scale to Day.

Forecaster also supports a custom time dimension. Example: you might use custom time settings to account for longer or shorter historical data spans. The same frequencies, daily, weekly, or monthly apply. 

• The time dimension must be in the form of a list of timestamps, YYYY-MM-DD (supported separators: dash (-), forward slash (/), period (.), colon (:)). 
• Forecaster supports list subsets within custom time dimensions. If you use a custom list, be sure to include all future dates to cover the full length of the forecast horizon. 
• Use only one time dimension type throughout, either the Anaplan built-in time dimension, or a custom one.