Data control at the lower level in Project | Forecast Studio

[TestingSAS]

Hi,

In forecast studio we have projects with hierarchy, and  how many years of  historical data will be used  is controled by selecting the date in the forecast settings,

wht i am looking for is the functionality to control the historical data  at the lower level of hierarchy, for some of the lower level i want to have  a differet set of historical data and for some a differnt set.

Can some one share that functinality with me? or is this functionalilty exists in Forecast studio?

[udo_sas]

Hello -

You may want to review Chapter 5 "Preparing an Input Data Set" of the SAS Forecast Studio 14.1User’s Guide again.

All data specific settings in a project apply accross a hierarchy, as you will not be able to tell SAS Forecast Studio which input table to use for a certain level - data is rolled up starting from the lowest level.

When using the SAS Forecast Server procedures you have more control over which table to use on which level, but you will be in charge for making sure that all data aligns accross hierarchies - which is typically the biggest challenge.

Thanks,

Udo

[TestingSAS]

thanks UDO

yes this is what my challenge is..

I have 7 level hierarchy , when i change the data its for entire project, i want to select historical data for few entries at level 6 ( 1 being the top) different then what is set at theproject level.

and i am unable to do it, now if i create multiple tables then it will be difficult to track, as this selection decesion will happen on the go after the forecast is generated.

[udo_sas]

Hello -

Many thanks for your update - having 7 levels in a modeling hierarchy sounds a bit suspicious to me, as personally I'd like to distinguish between hierarchy levels needed to improve your statistical forecasts (would a few typically - every level should introduce a pattern which you did not observe on the lowest level) and hierarchy levels needed for reporting (typically used for communicating results to the end consumer).

But back to your question - Forecast Studio currently does not support specification of different parameters for different levels of a hierarchy - most of these settings are project based. In the process of modernizing Forecast Studio (see our latest release of Forecast Server Client) we are investigating how to add more level based parameters to the user interface.

In the short term, switching to code will give you more flexibility of course - as you can define the options on each level of the hierarchy yourself. 

Thanks,

Udo

[rajib_nath]

There is no direct way you can control data for a level of hiererchy as Udo suggested.

However, you can have 2 (or any number of) projects for that matter. Each project can have different amount of data as you need. you can then compare the forecasts (or any other table) from multiple projects. You can run your custom reconciliation code on tables from multiple projects, of course if certain basic criteria are satisfied.