The forecast is a snapshot

The Forecast & replenishment page shows the results of the last forecast run. It is a snapshot, not a live view, so a change you made a minute ago does not appear until the forecast is rebuilt.

If something on the page looks out of date, it usually is - and rebuilding it takes one click.

When the forecast rebuilds

Two things rebuild it:

• Automatically, once a day, overnight in your store's timezone.
• Whenever you press Run forecast on the Forecast & replenishment page.

There is no setting to change that schedule or increase the frequency. Run forecast is how you refresh on demand.

What the snapshot holds

More than the calculated numbers. When a forecast runs, each row keeps its own copy of:

• The quantities - available, incoming, committed, on hand and reserved
• The product details - title, vendor, tags, variant title and SKU
• The location it applies to
• The suppliers attached to that product
• The settings the calculation used

Nothing on the page is read live from Shopify. That one fact explains everything below.

What this explains

Every one of these is the snapshot behaving normally, not a fault:

• A product you have just ordered still shows as needing a reorder. The incoming quantity on the row is the one recorded at the last run, so a purchase order raised since is not counted yet.
• A supplier you have just created is missing from the By supplier tab. Supplier names are stored on each row when it is built, so a link made afterwards is not on it.
• Products you archived in Shopify are still listed. The row carries the product's details as they were, and nothing checks Shopify's current status in between runs.
• Stock you have just received is not reflected. The available quantity is the one recorded at the last run.
• A draft purchase order created yesterday does not include today's sales. Its quantities were copied from yesterday's snapshot when you created it, and a purchase order does not recalculate itself afterwards.

In each case, press Run forecast and the page catches up.

When your settings change

Change a setting - a lookback period, a lead time, a supplier's details - and the forecast on screen still reflects the settings that were in force when it last ran.

Stockie notices this and shows a banner reading Your forecast is out of date, with a Start new forecast action. That banner is the app telling you the snapshot and your settings no longer agree.

How long a run takes

It depends on how much there is to read. A small catalogue finishes in a few minutes. Very large catalogues take substantially longer, because Shopify limits how fast inventory and order data can be retrieved, and the run has to wait for it.

The page tells you a run is in progress while it works, and updates when it finishes. You do not need to stay on the page.

What else follows the same snapshot

Several reports are built from the forecast run, so they refresh when it does rather than continuously: Inventory value, Dead stock, Overstocked, Stockout and Stockout risk. One of these looking a day behind is showing you the same snapshot as the forecast.

Sales performance and ABC analysis are not among them - they read your sales directly and are current whenever you open them. See report freshness.

What is live

Not everything waits for a run:

• Stock quantities on the purchase order screens are read from Shopify when you open them.
• Notifications are triggered separately, by inventory changes or on their own schedule. A low stock email is not waiting on the forecast.