Michael Gilliland is a longtime business forecasting practitioner and formerly a Product Marketing Manager for SAS Forecasting. He is on the Board of Directors of the International Institute of Forecasters, and is Associate Editor of their practitioner journal Foresight: The International Journal of Applied Forecasting. Mike is author of The Business Forecasting Deal (Wiley, 2010) and former editor of the free e-book Forecasting with SAS: Special Collection (SAS Press, 2020). He is principal editor of Business Forecasting: Practical Problems and Solutions (Wiley, 2015) and Business Forecasting: The Emerging Role of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (Wiley, 2021). In 2017 Mike received the Institute of Business Forecasting's Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2021 his paper "FVA: A Reality Check on Forecasting Practices" was inducted into the Foresight Hall of Fame. Mike initiated The Business Forecasting Deal blog in 2009 to help expose the seamy underbelly of forecasting practice, and to provide practical solutions to its most vexing problems.
The March 28 edition of APICS extra features an article by Fred Tolbert on "The Seven Deadly Sins of Sales Forecasting." Although I have some objection to his Deadly Sin #1: Using Shipment History (and will discuss the objection in a forthcoming guest-post on the Institute of Business Forecasting blog),
Even Rod Serling recognized that sometimes we can't forecast worth a darn. "The Rip Van Winkle Caper" is an episode from Season 2 of the television series, The Twilight Zone, and first aired in 1961. It involves four train robbers who steal a million dollars worth of gold bars, hide
There is something that 90% of us admit to doing, and the other 10% will lie about. That, of course, is Googling yourself. As an avid follower of myself, and everything I do, I look forward to a weekly Google Alert that tells me all about what I've been up to.
Apparently the prolonged use of OxyContin will give you a pompous and surley demeanor, and make you say a lot of really ignorant things. So I implore you, dear readers, to withhold your use of such a substance, preserve your good attitude and brain cells, and participate in a research study
Citing online job postings reviewed by talent data firm Wanted Analytics, and a Software Advice blog by Michael Koploy, APICS e-News reports that "Demand planning analysts" are hot -- one of the five hottest careers in logistics. (Free subscription to APICS e-News) Clearly, APICS means there are a lot of good jobs
Recently I complained about the stock art used on The BFD blog header. So I was foaming with excitement when Alison Bolen (who oversees the SAS blogging platform) kindly took notice, and enlisted Mr. Blackwell to come up with something more pleasing and appropriate. OMG Mr. Blackwell!!! As a huge fan of
I love dogs. Not to the extent that Rick Santorum has to be concerned. And not to the extent of actually having a dog as a pet. But man-dog love has become an issue in the 2012 US presidential campaign, and I thought The BFD readers should know my stance
History is easy to explain. We can always come up with some story for why this or that occurred. And, if the story sounds plausible enough, the explanation will be accepted as true. But can we ever know that the explanation is correct? How would we ever test it? If we
Some ideas sound great (combining chocolate with peanut butter) and turn out great (Reese's Peanut Butter Cup). Some ideas sound great (getting a face lift) but turn out bad (Kenny Rogers, Greta Van Susteren). Some ideas sound bad (a Run-DMC / Aerosmith duet) but turn out great ("Walk This Way"). Some ideas sound bad (letting
Have you noticed the annoying stock art they put on The BFD blog header? All I can think of is "If those idiots only used SAS Forecast Server, they wouldn't have to draw graphs all over their window panes just to do forecasting." It must really p.o. the housekeeping staff at that
