We’ve been getting a lot of questions about the future of Microsoft Forecaster. All these questions basically boil down to 3:
So, I’d like to take some time to answer these questions and provide some clarity.
Is Forecaster going away?
No! In fact, we’ve extended the mainstream support for Forecaster until July 2014, with extended support through July of 2019. (Microsoft Product Lifecycle)
What’s the roadmap for Forecaster?
We released Forecaster SP4 at the end of June. We will continue to evaluate whether future service packs will be needed for Forecaster 7.0 moving forward.
Also, we are currently in the planning phases for Management Reporter V3 which will include strategic and operational budgeting and forecasting as well as budget reporting. We are researching and evaluating the core budgeting and planning scenarios and determining what Microsoft Forecaster features make sense to carry forward and what features could be improved to make the user experience better in Management Reporter V3.
Should we still invest in Forecaster now?
Yes! As I said earlier, mainstream support for Forecaster has been extended until 2014. Also, as of SP3, Forecaster is supported on 64-bit machines. You won’t need to hang on to old 32-bit machines just to use it.
As budgeting is evaluated for Management Reporter, you will be able to assess the functionality and determine the best point to transition for your company. When you decided to make the move, there will be a mechanism provided to allow you to migrate your budgets. All the hard work you put in to create your budgets in Forecaster won’t be lost!
Hopefully this cleared up some confusion around the future of Forecaster. If you have any questions, please let me know!