Business Consultant

---

Job description

**contractors will need their own laptops**

Business Consultant - Forecasting Center of Excellence

Location: remote

SUMMARY OF POSITION
Forecasting & Demand Planning
• Produce Analytical Documents in Excel & Power BI to support Forecasting/Rolling Estimate Process
• Lead meetings with Key Critical Stake-holders and communicate results to team
• Drive alignment through robust collaboration and analyses to provide the best demand signal for both financial forecast and supply chain planning.
• Ensure databases and systems have accurate volumes for the various internal routines such as Weekly Volume Call, Demand Consensus, Monthly Rolling Estimate, Supply Reviews, S&OP/S&OE, and Annual Business Planning.
• Leverage all available technologies (Anaplan, ORI, Power BI, etc.) to continuously improve effectiveness and efficiencies in our forecasting and demand planning processes. Look for opportunities to automate and digitize as much of the process as possible.

Cross-Functional Collaboration
• Drive the monthly Unit Case Forecast Alignment and Demand Consensus sessions with Brand, Finance, and RGM partners, with inputs from Franchise and Sales (NRS + AO) with the ultimate outcome of feeding the RE and supply chain planning processes.
• Provide clear insights and misses/beats to the BP, RE, Aligned Forecast and Demand Consensus volume in order to continuously improve the process and forecast accuracy/attainment across the organization.
• Actively collaborate with Product Commercialization, Sales and Marketing to capture brand initiatives and campaigns driving incremental volume vs. statistical baseline.
• Drive accountability by updating Puts & Calls and Risks & Opportunities as often as necessary (minimum monthly) in order to have the latest assumptions and resulting volume in the RE.

Analysis
• Analyze shipment and consumption/sell-through data to identify forecast variances and root causes to drive forecast process and accuracy improvement.
• Provide insights, volume risks and opportunities, and scenarios in order to drive aligned forecast for the downhill periods.
• Actively manage exceptions in the forecasting platform to identify and resolve high-error BPPs.

Continuous Improvement (Plan-Do-Check-Adjust Cycle)
• Track, analyze, and improve forecast performance by leveraging multiple data sources (shipments, orders, primary vs. secondary vs. consumption/sell-through sales, etc.).
• Track forecast attainment, bias, MAPE and WAPE to identify high-error exceptions and drive improvement through various methodologies.
• Improve stat forecasting model capabilities in Anaplan, as well as ORI and Power BI and other capabilities by continuous learning, testing, and experimenting.

INTERNAL REPORTING RELATIONSHIP(S)
Reports to: Sr Forecast Manager, FCOE

Direct Reports: None

Indirect Reports: collaborate closely with Commercial, Supply Chain, National Retail Sales, National Product Supply, Franchise Leadership and Brands, & Finance Directors

EDUCATION LEVEL REQUIRED
Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of experience and education

EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
• 2+ years' experience in Business Analytics

EXPERIENCE PREFERRED
• Finance, Procurement, Operations, Production Planning, or previous experience as a Demand Planning Manager.
• 2+ years of relevant or related industry experience.

TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
• Strong analytical skills
• Proficiencies with Excel/PowerPoint/Databases and forecasting and supply chain planning systems, such as Anaplan, SAP APO, & Power BI.