Quick Start: Long Term Planning

Quick start guide for Long Term Planning — how to set up your first view, enter annual plans, use growth percentages, and understand reconciliation.

What You'll Learn

Long Term Planning lets you build demand plans that span multiple years — typically for budgets or quarterly estimates. After this guide, you'll be able to navigate to Long Term Planning, configure or select a view, enter plan data, and understand how growth percentages and reconciliation work.

Before You Begin

Your admin should have already:

• Set up Items, Customer Groups, and Item @ Customer Groups

• Configured at least one Sale Type for long-term planning (e.g., "LTP", "Budget")

• Created calendar definitions for the fiscal years you want to plan

If the module page is empty or you can't see any data, check with your admin that the setup is complete. See Setting Up Long Term Planning for what's required.

Step 1: Access Long Term Planning

Navigate to Sell > Long Term Planning in the left navigation menu.

Step 2: Select or Create a View

1. Click the view button in the top-right of the page

2. If workspace views are available, select one from the dropdown

3. If you need to create a personal view, click Configure and then Add to create a new view:

   • Give the view a name

   • Select the Customer Group hierarchy and the level you want to plan at

   • Select the Item hierarchy and the level you want to plan at

   • Add one or more Sale Type rows with their associated calendars

Naming and selecting hierarchies for a new Long Term Planning view

The hierarchy levels you choose in the view configuration determine what granularity you plan at. For example, choosing "Brand" for Items and "State" for Customer Groups means you'll enter plans at the Brand × State level.

Step 3: Understand the Grid Layout

The Long Term Planning grid shows:

• Left columns — the Customer Group and Item hierarchy levels you selected in the view, creating a matrix of combinations

• Data columns — one column per Sale Type/Calendar combination configured in the view, showing the annual total for each

• Growth % columns — if enabled, showing the percentage change between two Sale Type/Calendar combinations

Each row represents a unique combination of Item level and Customer Group level.

A Long Term Planning grid with hierarchy columns, Sale Type columns, and a Growth % column

Step 4: Enter Plan Data

If a Sale Type column is marked as editable in the view configuration:

1. Click on a cell to enter or update a value

2. Enter the annual quantity for that Item × Customer Group combination

3. The value saves automatically

You can enter data at whatever hierarchy level your view is configured for. Claret reconciles higher-level entries down to the Item @ Customer Group detail level automatically using the existing ratios.

Step 5: Use Growth Percentages (Optional)

Growth percentages let you compare two columns and quickly apply a percentage increase or decrease:

1. In the view configuration, enable Growth % on a Sale Type row and link it to another Sale Type/Calendar

2. The grid will show a growth % column that calculates the difference between the two

3. You can edit the growth % directly — Claret will calculate and update the target value based on the percentage you enter

This is useful for planning scenarios like "next year's budget is 5% above this year's actuals."

Updating the Growth % — Claret calculates the equivalent volume automatically

Understanding the Data

Column Type	What It Shows
Sale Type (e.g., History FY25)	The annual total for that sale type and calendar — may be read-only or editable
Editable Sale Type (e.g., LTP FY26)	A column where you can enter or update plan values
Growth %	The percentage change between two Sale Type columns

Common Questions

How is Long Term Planning different from Sales Collaboration?

Sales Collaboration works with monthly data within a single fiscal year and is typically used for short-to-medium term planning. Long Term Planning works with annual totals across multiple fiscal years and is designed for budgets and multi-year demand plans.

What happens to the data I enter?

Data entered at any hierarchy level is reconciled down to the lowest Item @ Customer Group level. This reconciled data flows into the Sales data and can be used by downstream modules like Make Planning.

Can I plan across multiple years in one view?

Yes. Add multiple Sale Type/Calendar rows to your view configuration — one for each fiscal year you want to plan. This lets you see and compare data across years side by side.