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INFO (FORECAST)

The INFO (FORECAST) function obtains information produced by a FORECAST statement and stored internally by Oracle OLAP. Through the use of keywords, INFO lets you extract specific pieces of information about the forecast you have calculated.


Note:

Before using INFO, familiarize yourself with FORECAST.REPORT that is a standard report of its results, which may give you all the information you need. INFO is useful primarily for creating customized reports or for performing further analysis on the results.

When you try to extract information without having calculated a forecast, INFO produces an error. You can use the keyword AVAILABLE to determine whether any results are currently available.

Return Value

The return value depends on the keyword you use, as described in the tables in this entry. INFO returns NA when you use an index that is out of range or for any choice that does not apply to the forecasting method last used. For example, when your forecast formula has two coefficients and you request the twelfth one, INFO returns NA.

Syntax

INFO(FORECAST choice [index])

Parameters

FORECAST

Indicates that you want to obtain information produced by a FORECAST statement.

choice

The specific information you want. The choices available for FORECAST are listed in Table: Choices for All Methods, Table: Choices for TREND and EXPONENTIAL Forecasts, and Table: Choices for WINTERS Forecasts. Choices marked as indexed require the index argument.

index

An INTEGER expression that specifies which result you want for a choice that can have several different results. For example, a trend equation might have several coefficients. You would use index to specify which coefficient you want information about. When you omit index for a choice that requires it, an error occurs.

Choices for All Methods

Keyword Type Indexed? Meaning

AVAILABLE

BOOL

No

Is there a computed forecast for which to obtain information?

DEPENDENT

TEXT

No

The variable or expression being forecast.

METHOD

TEXT

No

The forecast method.

MAPE

DEC

No

The mean absolute percent error (a measure of goodness of fit).

LENGTH

INT

No

The number of forecast periods calculated.

TIME

TEXT

No

The dimension along which forecasting is performed.

FCNAME

TEXT

No

The name of the variable that contains the fitted and forecasted values (NA when no forecasts were saved).


Choices for TREND and EXPONENTIAL Forecasts

Keyword Type Indexed? Meaning

FORMULA

TEXT

No

The text of the forecasting equation.

NUMCOEFS

INT

No

The number of coefficients.

COEFFICIENT

DEC

Yes

The specified coefficient in the forecasting equation; index specifies which one you want.


Choices for WINTERS Forecasts

Keyword Type Indexed? Meaning

PERIODICITY

INT

No

The number of periods in a seasonal cycle.

ALPHA

DEC

No

The smoothing constant for the smoothed data series.

BETA

DEC

No

The smoothing constant for the seasonal index series.

GAMMA

DEC

No

The smoothing constant for the trend series.

STSMOOTHED

DEC

No

The starting value of the smoothed data series.

STSEASONAL

DEC

Yes

The starting values for the seasonal index series; index specifies which one you want.

STTREND

DEC

No

The starting value for the trend series.

FCSMOOTHED

TEXT

No

The variable that holds the smoothed data series.

FCSEASONAL

TEXT

No

The variable that holds the seasonal index series.

FCTREND

TEXT

No

The variable that holds the trend series.


Examples

Getting Forecast Information

In this example, suppose you forecasted sales.

The following statements limit the dimensions of the sales variable, then obtain the formula for your forecast.

LIMIT product TO 'Sportswear'
LIMIT district TO 'Chicago'
LIMIT month TO 'Jan95' TO 'Dec96'
FORECAST LENGTH 12 METHOD EXPONENTIAL FCNAME fcst time -
month sales
SHOW INFO(FORECAST FORMULA)

These statements produce the following output.

87718.0009541865 * (1.005533834579 ** MONTH)

The next statement obtains the mean absolute percent error for your forecast.

SHOW INFO(FORECAST MAPE)

This statement produces the following output.

.17