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Forecasting Techniques: Dr. C. Lightner Fayetteville State University 1
Forecasting Techniques: Dr. C. Lightner Fayetteville State University 1
Chapter 16
Qualitative Approaches to Forecasting
Quantitative Approaches to Forecasting
The Components of a Time Series
Using Smoothing Methods in Forecasting
Measures of Forecast Accuracy
Using Trend Projection in Forecasting
Using Regression Analysis in Forecasting
Dr. C. Lightner 1
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Forecasting Introduction
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Qualitative Approaches to Forecasting
Delphi Approach
– A panel of experts, each of whom is physically separated from
the others and is anonymous, is asked to respond to a
sequential series of questionnaires.
– After each questionnaire, the responses are tabulated and the
information and opinions of the entire group are made known to
each of the other panel members so that they may revise their
previous forecast response.
– The process continues until some degree of consensus is
achieved.
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Qualitative Approaches (continued)
Scenario Writing
– Scenario writing consists of developing a conceptual scenario
of the future based on a well defined set of assumptions.
– After several different scenarios have been developed, the
decision maker determines which is most likely to occur in the
future and makes decisions accordingly.
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Qualitative Approaches (continued)
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Quantitative Approaches to
Forecasting
Quantitative methods are based on an analysis of historical data
concerning one or more time series.
A time series is a set of observations measured at successive
points in time or over successive periods of time.
If the historical data used are restricted to past values of the
series that we are trying to forecast, the procedure is called a
time series method.
If the historical data used involve other time series that are
believed to be related to the time series that we are trying to
forecast, the procedure is called a causal method.
Quantitative approaches are generally preferred. In this chapter
we will focus on quantitative approaches to forecasting.
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Time Series Data
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Components of a Time Series
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Time Series Data
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Excel Instructions for Drawing a
Scatter Plot
1. Enter data in the Excel spreadsheet.
2. Click on Insert on the toolbar and then click on
the Chart tab. The Chart Wizard will appear. In
step 1 on select the XY (scatter) chart type and
then click next.
3. In step 2 specify the cells where your data is
located in the data range box.
4. In step 3 you can give your chart a title and
label your axes. In step 4 specify where you
want the chart to be placed.
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Example: Robert’s Drugs
During the past ten weeks, sales of cases of Comfort
brand headache medicine at Robert's Drugs have
been as follows:
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Plot Robert’s Drugs Example
120
115
I labeled 110
Sales as 105 I labeled
My Value (y) Week, t as
0 5 10 15
axis My Value (x)
Week, t axis
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Smoothing Methods
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Smoothing Methods: Moving Average
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Robert Drug’s Example: Moving
Average
Our scatter plot for Robert’s Drug Sales has no
significant trend, seasonal, or cyclical effects. Thus we
should employ a smoothing technique for forecasting
sales.
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Example: Robert’s Drugs: Moving Average
Robert's Drug
F4 (forecast for week 4)=116.7
Week (t )
1 F11 (forecast for week 11)=118.3
2
Dr. C. Lightner
Thus we would forecast the sales
for Week 11 to be 118.3
18
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Smoothing Methods: Weighted Moving
Average
Weighted Moving Average Method
The weighted moving average method consists of computing a
weighted average of the most recent n data values for the series
and using this weighted average for forecasting the value of the
time series for the next period. The more recent observations are
typically given more weight than older observations. For
convenience, the weights usually sum to 1.
The regular moving average gives equal weight to past data
values when computing a forecast for the next period. The
weighted moving average allows different weights to be allocated
to past data values.
There is no Excel command for computing this so you must do this
manually. You can either manually enter the formulas into excel
and apply to all periods or compute value by hand.
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Smoothing Methods: Weighted Moving
Average
Use a 3 period weighted moving average to forecast the
sales for week 11 giving a weight of 0.6 to the most recent
period, 0.3 to the second most recent period, and 0.1 to
the third most recent period.
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Smoothing Methods: Exponential
Smoothing
Exponential Smoothing
– Using exponential smoothing, the forecast for the next period is equal
to the forecast for the current period plus a proportion (α ) of the
forecast error in the current period.
– Using exponential smoothing, the forecast is calculated by:
Ft+1 =α Yt + (1- α )Ft
This is the same as
where: Ft+1 = Ft + α (Yt – Ft)
α is the smoothing constant (a number between 0
and 1)
Ft is the forecast for period t
Ft+1 is the forecast for period t+1
Yt is the actual data value for period t
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Robert’s Drugs: Exponential Smoothing
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Robert’s Drugs: Exponential Smoothing
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Robert’s Drugs: Exponential Smoothing
Robert's Drugs
α=0.1
Week (t ) Salest Ft
1 110 #N/A
2 115 110
3 125 110.5
4 120 111.95
5 125 112.755
6 120 113.9795
7 130 114.5816
8 115 116.1234
9 110 116.0111
10 130 115.4099
11
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Questions That You Should Be
Asking
For the Moving Average technique, how do I determine the best
value of n to use for forecasting?
For Exponential Smoothing, how do I determine the best value of α
to use?
If I realize that a smoothing technique should be employed, how do
you know which smoothing technique is best?
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Measures of Forecast Accuracy
Mean Squared Error (MSE)
The average of the squared forecast errors for the historical data is
calculated. The forecasting method or parameter(s) which minimize
this mean squared error is then selected.
You may choose either of the above criteria for evaluating the
accuracy of a method (or parameter).
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Selecting the best Smoothing Technique for
Robert’s Drugs
Determine the smoothing technique that is best for forecasting
Robert’s Drug sales: A two period moving average, a three period
moving average, exponential smoothing (α=0.1), or exponential
smoothing (α=0.2)
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Robert’s Drugs :Comparing Smoothing
Techniques
Double click on the Excel sheet below to enter actual Excel spreadsheet
that I created. Clicking on individual cells will provide the formulas that were
entered to compute the observed values.
Robert's Drug
Sales n=2 Error
2
Week (t ) Yt Ft (Yt - Ft) (Yt - Ft) MSE for MA2
1 110
2 115 #N/A
3 125 112.5 12.5 156.25
4 120 120 0 0
5 125 122.5 2.5 6.25
6 120 122.5 -2.5 6.25
7 130 122.5 7.5 56.25
8 115 125 -10 100
9 110 122.5 -12.5 156.25
10 130 112.5 17.5 306.25
11 120
MSE 98.4375
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Robert’s Drugs :Comparing Smoothing
Techniques
Robert's Drug
Sales n=3 Error
2
Week (t ) Yt Ft (Yt - Ft) (Yt - Ft)
1 110
2 115 #N/A
3 125 #N/A MSE for MA3
4 120 116.6667 3.333333 11.11111
5 125 120 5 25
6 120 123.3333 -3.33333 11.11111
7 130 121.6667 8.333333 69.44444
8 115 125 -10 100
9 110 121.6667 -11.6667 136.1111
10 130 118.3333 11.66667 136.1111
11 118.3333
MSE 69.84127
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Robert’s Drugs :Comparing Smoothing
Techniques
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Robert’s Drugs :Comparing Smoothing
Techniques
Sales α=0.2 Error
2
Week (t ) Yt Ft (Yt - Ft) (Yt - Ft)
1 110 #N/A
2 115 110 5 25
3 125 111 14 196
4 120 113.8 6.2 38.44
MSE for Exponential
5 125 115.04 9.96 99.2016 Smoothing α=0.2
6 120 117.032 2.968 8.809024
7 130 117.6256 12.3744 153.1258
8 115 120.1005 -5.10048 26.0149
9 110 119.0804 -9.08038 82.45337
10 130 117.2643 12.73569 162.1979
11
MSE 87.91584
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Robert’s Drugs :Comparing Smoothing
Techniques
Since the three period moving average technique
(MA3) provides to lowest MSE value, this is the best
smoothing technique to use for forecasting Robert’s
Drug Sales.
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Trend Projection
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Trend Projection
Using the method of least squares, the formula for the trend
projection is:
Yt = b0 + b1t.
b1 = nΣ tYt - Σ t Σ Yt b0 = Y − b1t
nΣ t 2 - (Σ t )2
where: Yt = observed value of the time series at time period t
t
Y
= average of the observed values for Yt
t
=t average time period for the n observations
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Example: Auger’s Plumbing Service
The number of plumbing repair jobs performed by Auger's
Plumbing Service in each of the last nine months are listed
below.
Month Jobs Month Jobs Month Jobs
March 353 June 374 September 399
April 387 July 396 October 412
May 342 August 409 November 408
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Auger’s Plumbing Service: Trend
Projection
Trend Projection
(month) t Yt tYt t 2
423.667
For December t=10 Dr. C. Lightner 37
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Auger’s Plumbing Service: Trend Line
in Excel
Excel Spreadsheet Showing Input Data
A B C
1 Auger's Plumbing Service
2
3 Month Calls
4 1 353
5 2 387
6 3 342
7 4 374
8 5 396
9 6 409
10 7 399
11 8 412
12 9 408
13
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Example: Auger’s Plumbing Service
Steps to Trend Projection Using Excel
Step 1: Select an empty cell (B13) in the worksheet.
Step 2: Select the Insert pull-down menu.
Step 3: Choose the Function option.
Step 4: When the Select Category dialog box appears:
Choose Statistical in Function Category box.
Choose Forecast in the Function Name box.
Select OK.
Step 5: When the Forecast dialog box appears:
Enter 10 in the x box (for month 10).
Enter B4:B12 in the Known y’s box.
Enter A4:A12 in the Known x’s box.
Select OK.
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Example: Auger’s Plumbing Service
Month Calls
1 353
2 387
3 342
4 374
5 396
6 409
7 399
8 412
9 408
10 423.667 Projected
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Roberts Drug Example
Suppose we neglected to plot Robert’s Drug example, and therefore we
do not know that a trend does not exist. Use trend analysis to forecast
the sales for month 11.
Week( t) Yt
1 110
2 115
3 125
4 120
5 125
6 120
7 130
8 115
9 110
10 130
11 124 Forecast
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Question????
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Causal Method: Regression Analysis
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Regression Equation
Using the method of least squares, the formula for the regression
line is:
Y = b0 + b1x.
b1 = nΣ XiYi - Σ Xi Σ Yi b0 = y − b1 x
nΣ Xi2 - (Σ Xi)2
where: Yt = observed value of the time series at time period t
t
Y
= average of the observed values for Yt
tt
= average time period for the n observations
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Regression Analysis in Excel
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THE END
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