Product demand forecasting

1. A system comprising:

a persistent storage system to store product data and group data;

a group profile generation module in communication with the persistent storage system, the group profile generation module to receive a set of products to be processed, to retrieve product data and group data from the persistent storage system corresponding to the set of products including a phase-in group indicator and production effective date (PED) for each product in the set of products, to filter group data for the set of products based on filtration parameters including a designated time period range, a designated number of time periods, a volume variation limit, a demand variation limit and a PED date, and to eliminate products that do not meet the filtration parameters to generate a group profile; and

a forecast module in communication with the persistent storage system and group profile generation module, the forecast module to determine a new product is assigned to the group profile, to retrieve the group profile for the new product, the group profile having a plurality of demand profiles based on similar products, each demand profile defining an average demand and demand volume that is calculated for each designated time period to a corresponding product PED, and to forecast by a computer system demand for the new product based on one of the plurality of demand profiles by copying the demand volume data and adjusting a designated time period to match a PED and an expected product time period of the new product.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

an interface to access forecast data.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the profile generation module filters product data based on minimum data requirements.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a communication device to enable access to the demand forecast from a remote location.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the forecast module is located on a central server, further comprising:

a local machine to execute a local interface to access the forecast module over a network.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a remote interface to access the group profile generation module over a network.

7. A method comprising:

receiving a set of products to be processed by a planning service management application;

retrieving product data and group data from a persistent storage system corresponding to the set of products including a phase-in group indicator and production effective date (PED) for each product in the set of products;

filtering group data for the set of products based on filtration parameters including a designated time period range, a designated number of time periods, a volume variation limit, a demand variation limit and a PED date;

eliminating products that do not meet the filtration parameters to generate a group profile;

determining a new product is assigned to the group profile;

retrieving lithe group profile for the new product, the group profile having a plurality of demand profiles based on similar products, each demand profile defining an average demand and demand volume that is calculated for each designated time period subsequent to a corresponding product PED; and

forecasting by a computer system demand for the new product based on one of the plurality of demand profiles by copying the demand volume data and adjusting a designated time period to match a PED and an expected production time period of the new product.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein forecasting comprises:

calculating a demand forecast range for a time period using a standard deviation in the group profile.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein forecasting comprises:

calculating a demand forecast for a period of time based on a category of the one of the demand profiles in the plurality of demand profile in the group profile.

10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

storing the demand forecast in a forecast profile.

11. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

receiving updated demand history data; and

updating forecasted demand based on updated demand history data.

12. A non-transitory machine readable medium having instruction stored therein which when executed cause a machine to perform a set of operations comprising:

receiving a set of products to be processed by a planning service management application;

retrieving product data and group data from a persistent storage system corresponding to the set of products including a phase-in group indicator and production effective date (PED) for each product in the set of products;

filtering group data for the set of products based on filtration parameters including a designated time period range, a designate number of time periods, a volume variation limit, a demand variation limit and a PED date;

eliminating products that do not meet the filtration parameters to generate a group profile;

determining a new product is assigned to the group profile;

retrieving the group profile for the new product, the group profile having a plurality of demand profiles based on similar products, each demand defining a average demand and demand volume that is calculated for each designated time period subsequent to a corresponding product PED; and

forecasting demand for the new product based on one of the plurality of demand profiles by copying the demand volume data and adjusting a designated time period to match a PED and an expected product time period of the new product.

13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12 , wherein forecasting comprises:

calculating a demand forecast range for a time period using a standard deviation in the group profile.

14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12 , wherein forecasting comprises:

calculating a demand forecast for a period of time based on one of a low demand, medium demand and high demand profile in the plurality of demand profiles.

15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12 , further comprising:

storing a demand forecast in a forecast profile.

16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12 , further comprising:

updating forecasted demand on a periodic basis with an updated group profile.