A good forecast is not a guess at these future quantities, but a data and scenario driven calculated, statistical outcome where the best experience, knowledge, data and customer/market information drive cogent assumptions and plans for future states.
You need to know where you are going and then build a realistic forecast, based on data, acceptable from your management team, attainable and achieving the company’s P/L objectives.
Excel has powerful features, it’s easy to use and nearly ubiquitous. However, with those great features come some additional potential risks that growers may want to consider before staking their business operational data on only Excel**.