Measuring Forecast Accuracy in a Pharmacy

Read this article where forecasting approaches, along with a hybrid forecasting method are covered. What types of data can a company use in quantitative forecasts?

Results and Discussion

Sales Forecast using 2-Month Moving Average Method

The study used 2-month moving average method to be able to even out the peak and valley in the sales figures for two months which tends to generate better forecast as indicated in table 2. Also, the accuracy of the forecasting method was evaluated as represented in table 2.

Table 2. Actual and Forecasts using 2-Month Moving Average Method

Month (x) Actual sales (y) (million) Forecast IEI IEI2 E/Y x100
1 25 - - -
2 29 - - -
3 28 24.5 3.5 12.25 12.5
4 35 28.5 6.5 42.25 18.57
5 33 31.5 1.5 2.25 4.55
6 32 34 2 4 6.25
7 36 32.5 3.5 12.25 9.72
8 41 34 7 49 17.07
9 45 38.5 6.5 42.25 14.44
10 20 43 23 529 115
11 23 32.5 9.5 90.25 41.30
12 15 21.5 6.5 12.25 43.33


The forecast accuracy performance measures are:

\mathrm{MAD}=\Sigma / \mathrm{E} / / \mathrm{T}=69.5 / 12=5.79, \mathrm{MSE}=\Sigma / \mathrm{E} /{ }^{2} \mathrm{~T}=795.75 / 12=66.31

MAPE = (Absolute error / Actual Observed Value) × 1 00 = 282.73/12= 23.56.