# Flowlity Lite

Flowlity Lite is a self-serve, lightweight version of Flowlity designed to lower the barrier to entry for companies that want AI-powered demand forecasting and supply planning — without requiring a full ERP integration. Instead of connecting automatically to your systems, Flowlity Lite lets you **upload your data manually via CSV or XLS files** and generate forecasts and a supply plan with a single click. It is ideal for companies starting their supply chain optimisation journey, running a proof of concept, or operating without automated data pipelines.

### Lite vs. Enterprise

|                                               | Starter (Lite)                              | Enterprise                                                                     |
| --------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Data & Integration**                        | Manual CSV/XLS import                       | Customised ERP/WMS integration & APIs                                          |
| **Calculation & Updates**                     | Simpler AI models — on-demand recalculation | Probabilistic forecasting + external data sensing — daily automatic replanning |
| **Demand Planning** (promotions, NPI)         | ✓                                           | ✓ Advanced                                                                     |
| **Inventory Optimisation**                    | Option — Standard                           | ✓ Advanced (dynamic targets, inventory simulations)                            |
| **Supply Planning & Orders**                  | Option — Basic (MOQ, lot sizes)             | ✓ Multi-constraint optimiser — automatic daily orders                          |
| **Real-time S\&OP / tactical simulations**    | —                                           | ✓                                                                              |
| **Collaboration** (supplier/customer portals) | —                                           | ✓                                                                              |
| **Pricing & Promotion Management**            | —                                           | ✓                                                                              |
| **Capacity Planning**                         | —                                           | ✓                                                                              |
| **Automations**                               | —                                           | ✓                                                                              |
| **AI Agents**                                 | ✓                                           | ✓                                                                              |
| **Advanced Analytics & BI**                   | —                                           | ✓                                                                              |
| **Configuration & Horizon**                   | Standard setup — 12 months                  | Advanced configuration — multi-horizons                                        |
| **Support & Onboarding**                      | Self-service                                | Customer Success & SLA                                                         |

### Getting started

1. Receive your login credentials from your Flowlity account manager.
2. Log in and navigate to **Settings → Import Data**.
3. Upload your demand history file (and optionally stock, purchase orders, and supplier data).
4. Map your columns to Flowlity's expected fields.
5. Click **Generate Forecast** — within minutes, your products appear in the Demand module with AI-generated forecasts.

### Uploading your data

Flowlity Lite accepts **CSV and XLS files**. Download the standard templates below to make sure your files are correctly formatted before uploading.

{% hint style="info" %}
Download the data templates here: [Flowlity Lite — Data Templates](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lnf-F469ADFGqrkf3-rQyVvrNGJ6VpiFxDavtAGKbZI/edit?usp=sharing)
{% endhint %}

The following data types are supported:

**Required**

* **Demand history** — Past sales or consumption data. Each row should contain a date, a product identifier, and a quantity.

**Optional — needed for Planning**

* **Current stock levels** — Your current inventory positions per product and site.
* **Purchase orders** — Open purchase orders, with quantities and expected delivery dates.
* **Product–Supplier links** — Supplier-product mappings including lead times, minimum order quantities (MOQ), and lot sizes.

**Optional — Demand enrichment**

* **Promotions** — Promotional periods and expected uplift, to improve forecast accuracy.
* **External forecasts** — Your own forecast data to blend with Flowlity's AI forecast.

#### Column mapping

After uploading a file, Flowlity presents a mapping interface where you match your file's columns to the expected fields. For example:

* Your `SKU` column → **Product ID**
* Your `Sales Qty` column → **Quantity**
* Your `Ship Date` column → **Date**
* Your `Warehouse` column → **Tag category** (optional)

Flowlity suggests mappings automatically based on column names.

{% hint style="warning" %}
Dates must follow a consistent format throughout your file. Flowlity supports common formats (YYYY-MM-DD, DD/MM/YYYY, MM/DD/YYYY). The locale is configured at site level — contact your Flowlity project manager if you encounter date parsing issues.
{% endhint %}

### Generating forecasts and planning

Once your demand data is uploaded and mapped:

1. Click **Generate Forecast** — Flowlity runs its forecasting models. This typically takes a few minutes depending on the number of products.
2. Once complete, your products appear in the **Demand** module with AI-generated forecasts.
3. If you have uploaded stock, purchase orders, and supplier data, click **Generate Planning** to run the replenishment optimisation.
4. Your supply plan is available in the **Planning** and **Supply Orders** modules.

The app displays a status indicator (**In progress** / **Ready**) so you always know when a calculation is running.

{% hint style="info" %}
You can re-run the forecast or planning at any time — for example after uploading new demand data, adding forecast events, or adjusting the inventory strategy for a product.
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="info" %}
To set up Flowlity Lite for your company, contact your Flowlity account manager. Once your site is created, you can get started immediately with a CSV export from your ERP or spreadsheets.
{% endhint %}

### Learn more

* [Demand](/modules/demand.md) — Where your demand history and forecasts are visualised.
* [Planning](/modules/planning.md) — Where the supply plan and inventory strategy are managed.
* [Supply Orders](/modules/supply-orders.md) — Where purchase orders are reviewed and validated.
* [Inventory strategies](/concepts/inventory-strategies.md) — How to configure stock targets per product.
* [Supplier constraints and order management](/concepts/supplier-constraints.md) — Lead times, MOQ, and lot sizes.


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