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Why is it important to set up default monthly consumption values for products?

Successful logistics systems are all characterized by appropriate product availability in constantly changing circumstances. Data and information on the quantity of goods distributed or consumed by customers is important for supervisors to make logistics decisions. CommTrack provides the feature of automatic consumption calculation based on information including stock on hand and average monthly consumption. By definition, AMC is the average quantity of products dispensed to users in the most recent three months. That said, there is no way to get an AMC in the first three months of a CommTrack system. To solve the problem, we use the default monthly consumption value for each product as a proxy for average monthly consumption. Once the system receives data for more than three months, dynamic AMC would be available for automatic consumption calculation. 

If you do not want to use CommTrack automatic calculation, you can just estimate monthly consumption by using default monthly consumption data. Still, using consumption data from one month is risky as consumption fluctuates - might be risky to use as a reference for decision making. 

There are two ways to configure monthly consumption values:

Option 1

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What is Default Monthly Consumption and why is this useful?

If you are only interested in knowing the absolute number of stock available at different locations, you do not need to use Monthly Consumption values. However, often times in order to answer the question of "when will we run out?" and "how much should we order?", you will need some sense of the rate of consumption of different products. For example, two clinics may both have 1,000 boxes of aspirin in stock, but the one that is consuming 300 boxes a day is in a much more urgent situation than the one consuming 100 boxes a day.

CommCare Supply provides the feature of automatic consumption calculation based on the usage of products within a specified date range. 

Default Consumption Per Product

To provide default monthly consumption data per product:

1. Click 'Setup' and select 'Consumption'.
2. Fill in default consumption value for each product and Update consumption info.
 

Option 2

1) Navigate to upper right hand and click on your username, select Project Settings and go to CommTrack Settings, under Consumption Settings

Default Consumption Per Product Per Supply Point

1) Under Setup-> Advanced Settings, select 'Configure consumption defaults individually by supply point' and submitif your default consumption level varies by supply points. (See image below)

2) Click Then click the link 'bulk location import page' and download current location data: 'location.xslx'

3) Open the file and fill in default consumption values for each product at each supply point in columns with names formatted as 'PROGRAMNAME_PRODUCTNAME' (i.e. default_pp)

4) Save and upload the location file. Go to Setup and under Manage Locations, select any reporting facility you registered. Scroll down and you will see the unchangeable default consumption value for each product. 

What would happen if you do both?

CommTrack would default to the value inputs you put in the location data file. If you have filled in the default consumption value for every single product at every reporting facility, it would override the default consumption value for products that you have filled in under Setup. However, if there is any supply point location which has no consumption value input, the default consumption value associated with this supply point would default to the 'Setup' value.   

Automatic Monthly Consumption

CommCare Supply can also automatically calculate consumption rates per product based on historical behaviour within a specified date range. CommCare Supply needs the following data to calculate the dynamic monthly consumption. These can be found in the 'Advanced Settings' under Setup.

1. Select 'Use automatic consumption calculation'. 
2.  Set minimum transaction (count): e.g. 3
3. Set minimum window for calculation (days): e.g. 5
4.  Set optimal window for calculation (days): e.g. 15

In this scenario a mobile agent has to report at least 3 stock on hand reports over at least 5 days before CommCare Supply can calculate a monthly consumption automatically.  

You must always specific a Default Monthly Consumption

When 'use automatic consumption calculation' is not checked, CommCare Supply will use the default values provided.

Even when 'Use automatic consumption calculation' IS checked, it will take some time for CommCare Supply to have enough data to automatically calculate consumption values. It will use the default values provided until there is enough data to automatically calculate consumption.  

For more information on how the algorithm works: Automatic consumption calculation algorithm