---
title: Customizing Forecasts for Individual Items
description: "Start the program, select New Project and click the Data Manager icon to call up the Data Manager. Click the Add drop-down on the Historic Data row, select Excel and select *ACME Hardware – Historic Data.xlsx* to add it to the Historic…"
url: "https://dev.forecastpro.com/documentation/forecast-pro-trac/customizing-forecasts/customizing-forecasts-for-individual-items/"
updated: "2024-12-17"
category: Forecasting Operations Tutorials / Customizing Forecasts
---

# Customizing Forecasts for Individual Items

Start the program, select New Project and click the Data Manager icon to call up the Data Manager. Click the Add drop-down on the Historic Data row, select Excel and select *ACME Hardware – Historic Data.xlsx* to add it to the Historic Data row.

Click the **Read & Forecast**button to read in the historic demand data and generate the statistical forecasts.

Click the **Exit**button to exit the Data Manager.

Fully expand the Navigator using the **Expand All** option on its context menu. Close the Override View and open the Forecast Report by clicking on the Forecast Report icon on the **Home** tab. Select *Total>USA>PG1-204-2*. Your display should now match the one shown below.

![](https://dev.forecastpro.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/tut-modifiers-1-1024x532.jpg)

If you do not instruct Forecast Pro to use a specific forecasting technique it will use expert selection to select the appropriate technique for each item forecasted. If you examine *Total>USA>PG1-204-2*’s Forecast Report, you’ll notice that it includes an Expert Analysis section, and that expert selection chose to forecast this item using a machine learning model.

Suppose we want to use a Winters exponential smoothing model for this item. Winters is a form of exponential smoothing which includes both a trend and a seasonal component.

Select the **Forecasting **tab. Click on the Exponential Smoothing drop-down and select Winters. Alternatively, you may right click on *Total>USA>PG1-204-2 *to bring up the Navigator’s context menu and then select **Model>Exponential Smoothing>Winters**.

![](https://dev.forecastpro.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/tut-modifiers-2-1024x532.jpg)

Notice that \\WINTERS now appears next to *Total>USA>PG1-204-2* on the Navigator. \\WINTERS is a forecast modifier. In this instance, it is used to indicate that you have opted to use a Winters exponential smoothing model for this item rather than expert selection.

Examine the Forecast Report to verify that the Winters model was used. You’ll notice that the Expert Analysis section is no longer present and that the Model Details section indicates that a “User Defined \\WINTERS” model was built.

Select *Total>USA>PG1-204-4* on the Navigator. On the **Forecasting **tab, open the drop-down on the Same as Last Year icon (in “Other”) and select “Plus Percent”. Specify the percentage as “10” and click OK.

Notice that \\SALYP=10 now appears next to *Total>USA>PG1-204-4* on the Navigator. This model will set the forecasts to equal the same values as the preceding year plus 10%.