Note that the GAINS Calendar likely only needs to be initialized once and then possibly maintained once per year as future annual start dates and holidays are assigned within the organization. More details on the calendar types and day/week/month allocation logic used by the GAINS Calendar are available in the GAINS Reference Manual. 

GAINS Calendar

• GAINS Calendar
• Advanced GAINS Calendar Screen Overview
• Review and Set Annual Start Dates
• Calendar Types
• Aggregating Demand Transactions
• Weekly and Monthly Plan Period
• Daily Receiving Information
• Bulk Calendar Editor
  • Description of Fields within Bulk Calendar Editor

Advanced GAINS Calendar Screen Overview

To review the days/weeks in any month, click the month label on the left side to update the day/week grid in the center. To review other years, use the left and right arrows beside the year box. 
The following color indicators are used in the screen: a teal blue background is used to highlight the current planning month and planning week, and a date shown red font is not a receiving date.

Review and Set Annual Start Dates

One major purpose of the GAINS Calendar screen is to allow the review and definition of annual start dates, which can be defined according to the business needs of the organization.  Once the annual start dates have been assigned, the GAINS Calendar screen displays daily-level information for each date – which year, month, and week each date is allocated to according to the calendar type. 

To set the annual start date, click the “Calendar Configuration” icon in the on the right side of the screen. Locate the desired year to update, then click in the Start Date column. Scroll to the required annual start date, then click OK. Annual start dates must be within a week before or after January 1st. 

Calendar Configuration Access

Calendar Configuration Screen

Calendar Types

The Calendar Type option is also established in the Calendar Configuration popup. There are four possible weekly allocation structures available in GAINS.  They define the number of weekly units per month, each with a total of 52 weeks per year.  The four week-per-month patterns are:

• 4-4-5
• 4-5-4
• 5-4-4
• Gregorian

To select one of these weekly allocation structures, select it from the Calendar Type drop-down menu. 

Aggregating Demand Transactions

Monthly demand history totals calculated by GAINS based on demand transaction dates may be optionally determined according to the traditional (Gregorian) calendar instead of one of the calendar patterns described above. For example, this is necessary when a company's financial/accounting calendars use the 4-4-5 pattern but forecasting requires traditional months. In this situation, click the checkbox labeled “Aggregate historical demand transactions with the traditional calendar.” If the box is unchecked, the defined GAINS calendar is used to aggregate transactions. Note that changing this option is not retroactive, so past transactions would need to be reimported into GAINS to be reclassified to the correct months if necessary

Weekly and Monthly Plan Period

As noted previously, the current planning month and week are highlighted with a teal blue background. These values are typically set during nightly processing. However, they may also be manually updated via this screen. To update the monthly planning period, highlight the new month in the left table, then right click and select “Set as Plan Month.” To update the weekly planning period, ensure the correct month is active, then highlight the new week in the center table and select “Set as Plan Week.” 

Set as Plan Month

Set as Plan Week

Daily Receiving Information

Days that are not receiving days will not be recommended as Additional Replenishment Order scheduled dates (the ARO will be recommended for the previous receiving date). Non-receiving days are shown in red font. By default, Saturdays and Sundays are all set as non-receiving days. Other days, such as holidays, may also be designated as non-receiving days. To do so, ensure the required month is selected in the left table, then highlight the non-receiving date in the main table. Right click and uncheck the box labeled “Receivable Date.” The date will be shown in red.

Set non-receiving date

Bulk Calendar Editor

Additionally, there is a Bulk Calendar Editor pop-up in the GAINS Calendar Screen. This can be accessed on the right side by clicking the "Edit Ship, Receive, or Prod Dates in Bulk" button. The Bulk Calendar Editor allows users to select a day of the week and to set all of that day as shippable, receivable, releasable, etc. 

Accessing Bulk Calendar Editor Window

Bulk Calendar Editor Screen

Description of Fields within Bulk Calendar Editor