Preparing Shipment Data for a Clean Handoff
Column formats, minimum history windows, and the three data gaps that most often delay a forecast pack by a week.
<p>The fastest forecast packs start with boring, well-labeled spreadsheets. Here is what our analysts need on day one.</p>
<h2>Minimum columns</h2>
<p>Each row should represent one SKU-week or one SKU-month aggregate — whichever matches your internal reporting. Required fields:</p>
<ul>
<li>SKU identifier (stable code, not display name alone)</li>
<li>Shipment date or week-ending date</li>
<li>Outbound case quantity</li>
<li>Destination region or partner type (convenience, hypermarket, other)</li>
</ul>
<p>Optional but valuable: returns quantity, promotional flag, and supplier lead time in days.</p>
<h2>History window</h2>
<p>Seasonal packs require at least eighteen months of continuous history. Gaps longer than four consecutive weeks trigger a reconciliation conversation — we can often fill short gaps, but long silences mean the variance bands will be wider than usual.</p>
<h2>The three delays we see most</h2>
<ol>
<li><strong>SKU renames mid-history</strong> — provide a mapping table from old codes to current codes.</li>
<li><strong>Mixed currencies or units</strong> — cases and eaches in the same column without a conversion factor.</li>
<li><strong>Promotional spikes unflagged</strong> — a single uncoded promotion can pull the peak week forward by mistake.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Secure transfer</h2>
<p>After scope confirmation, we provide a secure upload link. Email attachments work for smaller files under ten megabytes. For anything larger, use the link — it keeps your partner data off general inboxes.</p>
<p>Questions before you export? <a href="/contact/">Send a brief</a> and we will confirm column expectations for your category.</p>