Forecasting

[Guest]

I have some data that I'd like to provide forecasting for, but it's in 2
levels when broken out into a pivot table, example:

DATE - BUSINESS - SALES
12/1/05 - BUSINESS1 - $5000
12/1/05 - BUSINESS2 - $6000
12/2/05 - BUSINESS1 - $3000
12/2/05 - BUSINESS2 - $8000

Unfortunately, my detail data comes to me in much the same form, by date, by
business, all in those 3 columns. Is there a way that I can still provide
forecasting on this data in this kind of setup?

 

[Guest]

Try forecasting based on the sum of the businesses. If you produce linear
forecasts for each business separately, in the end you will have to add them
anyway.

 

[Guest]

Sounds like a plan, except that what if the business wants these forecasts
out in detail? (i.e. they want to know the specific forecast of their "Major"
businesses, etc etc)