This activity is used to define the number of periods into which you divide each year or to add additional periods to an existing year. There are 3 standard period versions from which to select. These are:
In addition to these standard periods, there is a user-defined period. Here you decide how many periods your year will contain. If you specify user-defined periods, you must edit the start and end dates for each period.
To create the period version for the first time, user needs to choose the period version type. Use Generate Periods command to generate period or add new periods. If the user has selected a cutom period version, the start date and end date for each period version can be edited.
Make sure to validate the period version once a change has been made.
Some descriptions on Demand Plan Server Setup, Period Version tab are as follows,
Start Year: The starting year for generating the periods. You cannot specify a start year prior to the current year.
End Year: The ending year for generating the periods. You cannot specify an end year prior to the current year.
Validate Dates: Indicates whether or not the dates in the child table conform with the validation rules. To test a modified period version run the Validate Dates RMB method.
Dates Valid: Indicates that the period version is valid.
The Change Period Group consists of:
Weekly: Activate this radio button to create weekly periods. (The year is divided into 52 periods.)
Monthly: Activate this radio button to create monthly periods. (The year is divided into 12 periods.)
Quarterly: Activate this radio button to create quarterly periods. (The year is divided into 4 periods.)
User Defined: Activate this radio button to specify the number of periods into which the year should be divided. If you choose this option, you must type each start date/end date for each period in the table below.
Periods Per Year: The number of periods into which the year is divided. This field is editable only when user-defined periods are chosen.
Create New Period Version: This button generates a new period, based on the parameters set. This option replaces the existing periods with the set you generate.
Description: The year and period number. This description is displayed on the legend of the x-axis in the forecasting client graph.
Start Date: The start date of the period.
End Date: The end date of the period.
Length (Days): The length in days of the period, read-only.
As a result of this activity, the created period version is the one which the server uses when it starts to aggregate historical demand and to make forecasts.