Forecasting Overview
The weekly forecasting workspace in UnitOps AI — create, adjust, and publish sales and labor forecasts
Overview
The Weekly Forecasting page is the primary workspace for creating and managing sales and labor forecasts. Each forecast covers a full operational week for a specific location.
When you first navigate to a forecast week, UnitOps automatically generates sales and labor projections using the configured projection model and labor matrix. You can then review, adjust, and publish the forecast.
Navigation
From the left sidebar, select Forecasting. The forecasting module includes:
- Forecast Overview — List of all weekly forecasts with status indicators
- Create/Edit Forecast — Weekly wizard for generating and adjusting forecasts
- Dashboard — Visual KPI dashboard with charts and trends
Weekly Forecast Lifecycle
Draft → In Review → Published → Archived| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Draft | Forecast has been generated but not yet reviewed. Can be freely edited. |
| In Review | Forecast is being reviewed by a manager or GM before publishing. |
| Published | Forecast is locked and serves as the operational plan for the week. |
| Archived | Week has passed; forecast is read-only for historical comparison. |
Creating a Forecast
- Navigate to Forecasting in the sidebar
- Click New Forecast or select a week from the forecast list
- Select the location and week start date
- Choose a projection model (or use the location's default)
- Review the generated daily sales projections
- Adjust individual days or day parts as needed
- Review the auto-generated labor forecast
- Click Publish to finalize
Forecast Components
Sales Forecast
The sales forecast provides daily projected revenue broken down by:
- Total Sales — Gross projected sales for the day
- Guest Count — Estimated covers/transactions
- Average Check — Projected average ticket size
Sales projections are calculated using the location's configured projection model.
Labor Forecast
The labor forecast is automatically derived from the sales forecast using the Labor Matrix configuration. It provides:
- Hours by Position — Suggested labor hours for each job role
- SPLH Target — Sales Per Labor Hour target for the day
- Labor Cost % — Projected labor cost as a percentage of sales
Event Adjustments
Forecast Events (holidays, promotions, weather events) can be applied to a forecast to adjust projections up or down by a configurable percentage.
Adjusting Forecasts
Authorized users (Admin, General Manager) can manually adjust forecast values:
- Override daily totals — Click any day's sales value to enter a manual amount
- Adjust by percentage — Apply a +/- percentage to selected days
- Recalculate — Switch projection models and regenerate from historical data
Manual adjustments are tracked in the audit log and can be reverted.
Publishing
Publishing a forecast:
- Locks the forecast from further edits
- Makes it visible to all users at that location
- Feeds projected hours into scheduling (when enabled)
- Enables variance tracking once actuals are recorded
Only users with Admin or General Manager roles can publish forecasts.
Draft Recovery
If you navigate away from an unpublished forecast, your changes are automatically saved as a draft. Return to the forecast to continue editing where you left off.