Export/Import Demand Forecast

App Installation and Prerequisites

Advanced Planning provides a dedicated tool to export and import Demand Forecast entries using Excel. This feature is designed to support collaborative forecasting, bulk updates, and extended planning horizons, while keeping full validation and control inside Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Typical usage scenarios

This feature is especially useful when you need to:

• Review and adjust demand forecasts with multiple stakeholders (sales, operations, supply chain) outside Business Central.
• Work with long term forecasts that exceed the standard matrix visibility (for example, multiple years).
• Apply bulk corrections or updates to large sets of forecast data.
• Replace or increment existing forecasts in a controlled and auditable way.
• Prepare demand data in Excel before importing it back into Business Central for planning.

Available actions

• Export Demand Forecast Export the current demand forecast to Excel, respecting the selected forecast, filters, and view settings.
• Import Demand Forecast Import an Excel file containing demand forecast data, with full validation and preview before committing changes.

These actions are available on:

• Demand Forecast List
• Demand Forecast Overview

Export Demand Forecast

When you select Export Demand Forecast, a request page opens allowing you to define the scope of the export.

The export feature respects the current context of the Demand Forecast Overview by default, including:

• Forecast Name
• Forecast Type (Sales Item, Component, or Both)
• Date filter
• Item, Location, and Variant filters
• Period view (Day, Week, Month, Quarter, Year, or Accounting Period)

Export Options

Export in Sales Unit of Measure

• Disabled: quantities are exported in Base Unit of Measure
• Enabled: quantities are exported in Sales Unit of Measure

This allows planners to work in the unit of measure most meaningful for forecasting discussions, while preserving conversions during import.

Excel File Structure

The exported file is structured to support reliable round trip editing.

Sheet 1 – Forecast Header

Contains contextual information about the export process:

• Forecast Name
• Forecast Type
• Date Filter
• Item / Location / Variant filters
• View By (period type)
• Unit of Measure settings

This sheet is used during import to validate context consistency.

Sheet 2 – Forecast Data

Contains the actual forecast quantities.

Each row represents a unique combination of:

• Forecast Name
• Item No.
• Variant Code (if applicable)
• Location Code (if applicable)
• Period (date or period start/end)
• Quantity
• Unit of Measure Code
• Entry Description (free text)

Import Demand Forecast

Import wizard

When selecting Import Demand Forecast, a guided Data Migration Wizard opens.

The wizard leads you through the following steps:

1. Select the Excel file previously exported (or formatted accordingly).
2. Analyze and validate the data.
3. Review detected errors or warnings.
4. Apply valid forecast entries to Business Central.

Import mode

On the Import Settings step, you must choose how the imported quantities should be applied:

• Update Mode (default): Replaces existing forecast quantities with the values from Excel for matching keys (same Forecast Name, Item, Location, Variant, Period).
• Add Mode: Adds the imported quantities on top of existing forecast quantities.

Validation rules

Before any data is committed, the system performs full validation, including:

• Forecast Name exists and matches the target forecast.
• Required columns are present and correctly formatted.
• Item, Location, Variant, and Units of Measure exist.
• Period dates align with valid planning periods.
  • When importing forecast data, the system validates that the import file contains no more than 32 periods
    • If the file contains forecast data for more than 32 periods, the import is blocked and an error is shown.
    • The user must split the data into multiple imports or reduce the period scope before retrying.
• Period type matches the current forecast view (e.g. monthly vs weekly).
• Quantities are numeric.
• No duplicate key rows exist in the import file.

All validation issues are displayed together, ensuring users can address them efficiently.

Handling validation issues

When errors are detected, users can:

• Fix: Edit the invalid row directly in the import buffer, then revalidate and apply it.
• Dismiss: Exclude the problematic row from the import. Dismissed rows are ignored and not imported.

You can also proceed with importing only the valid rows, while leaving invalid ones unresolved.