Problem: The ABC Floral Shop sold the following number of geraniums during the last 2 weeks:
Day 1 Demand 200 Day 8 Demand 150
Day 2 Demand 134 Day 9 Demand 182
Day 3 Demand 157 Day 10 Demand 197
Day 4 Demand 165 Day 11 Demand 136
Day 5 Demand 177 Day 12 Demand 163
Day 6 Demand 125 Day 13 Demand 157
Day 7 Demand 146 Day 14 Demand 169
Develop a spreadsheet to answer the following questions.
1. Calculate a forecast of the above demand using a 3- and 5-period moving average.
2. Graph these forecasts and the original data using Excel. What does the graph show?
3. Which of the above forecasts is best? Why?