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Forecasting in Merac

Merac Forecasting Guide (Customer Version)

Forecasting in Merac helps you plan ahead and track your site’s performance. It gives you insight into how busy you’re likely to be, how much people are spending, and how that compares to previous years.

What You’re Looking At

The Forecast screen shows one year’s worth of data — broken down by day — including:

  • Projected footfall and sales
  • Actual results
  • How it compares to previous years
  • Suggested staffing band (from the rota)
  • Optional: Spend per Head (Per Cap)

You can view this data by Department, Sub-Department, and Year End, using the filters at the top.

This data is also visible day-by-day in the dashboard.

How to Update Your Forecast

  1. Go to the Forecasts window.
  2. Select the year before the one you want to update from the dropdown in the top-right.
    (e.g. To update 2024, select 2023.)
  3. If you see days highlighted in red (e.g. weekends), they are marked as Closedin the rota.
    • To include them in forecasts, go to the Staff Rota and change them to R.1 or another open band.
  4. Click Update Forecast (bottom right).
  5. Return to the current year — your data should now appear.

What Each Section Means

Date & Weekday

Shows the calendar date and the day of the week for each row.

Notes

This is an optional field where you can type reminders or labels like:

  • “Half Term”
  • “Event Day”
  • “Sunny / Rainy”

Per Cap Dpt

Per Cap (Spend per Head) is an estimate of how much each visitor is likely to spend.

  • The system fills this in automatically — unless you enter a value manually.
  • Dpt means you're viewing it by Department.
Tip: If you type in a Per Cap value yourself, it won't be overwritten when you update forecasts again.

Footfall

This section shows past, predicted, and current visitor numbers:

Column What it means
2022 / 2023 How many people visited on this date in previous years
Proj Projected footfall — based on a similar day two years ago
Act Actual footfall so far today
Var The difference between projected and actual footfall

Staff Rota

This shows the staffing band for that day — pulled from your rota (e.g. R.1, Closed).

  • If the day is marked as Closed, it won’t be used in the forecast.

Sales

This section mirrors the Footfall section, but for revenue:

Column What it means
2022 / 2023 Sales from the same date in previous years
Proj Projected revenue — based on Per Cap × Projected Footfall
Act Actual sales so far today
Var Difference between projected and actual sales

Summary Tips

  • Always update the previous year to fix forecasts in the current year.
  • Make sure Closed days are set to R.1 or similar in the Staff Rota.
  • You can manually enter Per Cap values to override system estimates.
  • If you haven't used Forecasts before then please contact Support to get you up to date.