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Question

Frozen Period in Demand Planning to Prevent Forecast Changes in Fixed Planning Periods

  • Oct 29, 2026 2:50 PM UTC
  • 1 reply
  • 16 views
Sidekick (Customer)
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A. What is your idea?

1) Classification

Opportunity for improvement

2) Brief description

In Demand Planning, users with Evaluator or Collaborative access can currently modify the Adjusted Forecast, My Adjusted Forecast, and Events even for the current or immediately upcoming periods.

This can create an issue when production plans for these periods have already been fixed and can no longer be adjusted accordingly. For example, towards the end of the current period, a sales planner can still change the forecast for that same period, although production quantities have already been planned or produced based on the previously available forecast.

This may lead to discrepancies between the forecast visible in Demand Planning and the forecast that was actually available when production decisions were made. It can also create uncertainty regarding which forecast values were valid at the relevant planning cut-off.

We would therefore like to have a Frozen Period functionality directly in Demand Planning, preventing forecast changes within a configurable number of periods for users without Full Access.

B. Context and scope

1) Who is affected?

  • Internal users
  • Customers

2) Frequency

Frequently

C. Value and impact

1) What is the business outcome?

  • Improves productivity or efficiency
  • Reduces cost or manual effort
  • Enhances user experience
  • Supports compliance or reduces risk

2) Impact scale

3 — Cross-functional

3) Workaround

There is currently functionality related to forecast handling in Master Scheduling that can prevent forecasts from affecting the Master Schedule within certain periods.

However, this does not prevent a sales planner from subsequently modifying the forecast itself in Demand Planning. As a result, the forecast visible afterwards may differ from the forecast values that were available when production planning decisions were made.

Therefore, this does not fully address the requirement for a transparent and controlled planning cut-off directly in Demand Planning.

D. Evidence and examples

A typical scenario is the following:

Production planning for the current and/or next period has already been finalized based on the forecast available at the planning cut-off.

Afterwards, a sales planner with Evaluator or Collaborative access can still modify the Adjusted Forecast, My Adjusted Forecast, or Events for these periods.

The updated forecast is then visible in Demand Planning, although the production plan can no longer react to this change. This can lead to discussions about whether production followed the correct forecast, because Demand Planning no longer clearly reflects the forecast values that were available when the production plan was fixed.

Suggested functionality:

We suggest introducing a configurable Frozen Period in Demand Planning.

  • The number of frozen periods could be maintained in Advanced Server Settings.
  • Within the frozen period, users with Evaluator or Collaborative access would not be allowed to modify:
    • Adjusted Forecast
    • My Adjusted Forecast
    • Events
  • Users with Full Access would remain able to make changes when an exceptional correction is required.
  • The restriction should apply directly in the Demand Forecast window.
  • Once a period falls outside the defined frozen horizon, it would become editable according to the user's normal access rights.

For example, if the Frozen Period is set to 2 periods, the current period and the next period would be protected from changes by Evaluator and Collaborative users.

This would provide a clear and transparent planning cut-off directly in Demand Planning and ensure that all planners have the same understanding of which forecast periods are still open for modification.

E. Additional details

1) Enter support ticket ID reference

Not applicable

2) Would you like to participate in validation or early testing?

Yes

Daniela

1 reply

Richard Owen
Superhero (Employee)
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  • Richard Owen
  • Superhero (Employee)
  • Nov 2, 2026 7:20 AM UTC

Hi Daniela,

A potential way to address the planning cut-off is through a weekly or monthly forecast approval process using the existing locking controls, although this would not provide the period-specific protection you describe.

In standard Demand Planning, setting a forecast part to Locked means it can only be viewed and changed by users with Full Access.

This would prevent Evaluator and Collaborative users from making further changes after the planning cut-off.

However, the restriction covers the whole forecast part, including later periods, and those users would also lose visibility until it is released again.

(Setting the forecast to Reviewed would also not achieve the same result, as users retain the editing rights associated with their access level).

A practical process could therefore be:

  1. Agree a weekly or monthly deadline for sales forecast submissions.
  2. Review and approve the forecast before it is used for production planning.
  3. Set the relevant forecast parts to Locked at the agreed cut-off, with Full Access retained by the planners responsible for exceptional corrections.
  4. Return the parts to Released when the next forecast collaboration cycle begins.

Planners with Full Access can make exceptional changes to the Adjusted Forecast and Events while the forecast part is Locked, but Full Access does not allow them to change another user’s My Adjusted values.

There is also a Lock Server option, which makes the forecast read-only and prevents changes across the server. This could support a broader approval and planning cycle where all forecast updates stop after the cut-off. The server automatically unlocks when the next Create Forecast job runs, so the scheduling would need to align with the planning process.

I suppose the question is whether the business can accept closing the whole forecast part between planning cycles. If so, a process-based solution may be workable. If sales forecasters must retain visibility and continue updating later periods while only the current and next periods are protected, these controls do not provide that selective freeze, and your enhancement suggestion would address that requirement.

Regards,

Richard

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