ROLE OF FORECASTING IN PROCUREMENT PLANNING

Demand plays a crucial role in the management of every business. It helps an organization to reduce risks involved in business activities and make important business decisions. Apart from this, demand forecasting provides an insight into the organization‘s capital investment and expansion decisions.

The significance of demand forecasting is shown in the following points:

• Fulfilling objectives:
  Implies that every business unit starts with certain pre-decided objectives. Demand forecasting helps in fulfilling these objectives. An organization estimates the current demand for its products and services in the market and move forward to achieve the set goals. For example, an organization has set a target of selling 50, 000 units of its products. In such a case, the organization would perform demand forecasting for its products. If the demand for the organization‘s products is low, the organization would take corrective actions, so that the set objective can be achieved.
• Preparing the budget:
  Plays a crucial role in making budget by estimating costs and expected revenues. For instance, an organization has forecasted that the demand for its product, which is priced at Rs. 10, would be 10, 00, 00 units. In such a case, the total expected revenue would be 10* 100000 = Rs. 10, 00, 000. In this way, demand forecasting enables organizations to prepare their budget.
• Stabilizing employment and production:
  Helps an organization to control its production and recruitment activities. Producing according to the forecasted demand of products helps in avoiding the wastage of the resources of an organization. This further helps an organization to hire human resource according to requirement. For example, if an organization expects a rise in the demand for its products, it may opt for extra labor to fulfill the increased demand.
• Expanding organizations:
  Implies that demand forecasting helps in deciding about the expansion of the business of the organization. If the expected demand for products is higher, then the organization may plan to expand further. On the other hand, if the demand for products is expected to fall, the organization may cut down the investment in the business.
• Taking Management Decisions:
  Helps in making critical decisions, such as deciding the plant capacity, determining the requirement of raw material, and ensuring the availability of labor and capital.
• Evaluating Performance:
  Helps in making corrections. For example, if the demand for an organization‘s products is less, it may take corrective actions and improve the level of demand by enhancing the quality of its products or spending more on advertisements.
• Helping Government:
  Enables the government to coordinate import and export activities and plan international trade.