Hi,

I have a table as per the appended below table. Now I want to forecast what
I am going to be doing on sales rate for the 10th of May or for a later date
based on the data provided in the table.

Date Eligibles Sales Sales Rate
5/1/2009 3618 222 6.14%
5/2/2009 1981 97 4.90%
5/3/2009 2396 122 5.09%
5/4/2009 4719 291 6.17%
5/5/2009 3981 258 6.48%
5/6/2009 3644 281 7.71%
5/7/2009 3081 235 7.63%
5/8/2009 2316 139 6.00%

Which formula should I use and how do I go about it?

Thanks,
Sam.

Hi Sam - Before picking a formula I think you need a forecasting strategy.
For instance, if you think sales follow a trend you can use the TREND
function to extend the rates of the past n months of Eligibles and / or
Sales. Another option would be to simply sum all prior eligibles and sales
in order to compute a historical sales rate, then use that in your forecast.
But you'd still need to apply that rate against some expected number of
Eligibles, which could be forecasted using TREND. It all depends on your
premises.

Andy

"Sam" wrote:

Hi,

I have a table as per the appended below table. Now I want to forecast what
I am going to be doing on sales rate for the 10th of May or for a later date
based on the data provided in the table.

Date Eligibles Sales Sales Rate
5/1/2009 3618 222 6.14%
5/2/2009 1981 97 4.90%
5/3/2009 2396 122 5.09%
5/4/2009 4719 291 6.17%
5/5/2009 3981 258 6.48%
5/6/2009 3644 281 7.71%
5/7/2009 3081 235 7.63%
5/8/2009 2316 139 6.00%

Which formula should I use and how do I go about it?

Thanks,
Sam.