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TS Forecast Tool Icon TS Forecast Tool

One Tool Example

TS Forecast has a One Tool Example. Visit Sample Workflows to learn how to access this and many other examples directly in Alteryx Designer.

The TS Forecast tool provides forecasts from a model created with either the ARIMA tool or ETS tool for a user-specified number of future periods. In addition, upper and lower confidence interval bounds are provided for two different (user-specified) percentage confidence levels. For each confidence level, the expected probability that the true value will fall within the provided bounds corresponds to the confidence level percentage.

This tool uses the R tool. Go to Options > Download Predictive Tools and sign in to the Alteryx Downloads and Licenses portal to install R and the packages used by the R tool. Visit Download and Use Predictive Tools.

Connect an Input

The TS Forecast tool requires a data stream that is the output stream from either an ARIMA or ETS tool.

Configure the Tool

Configuration Tab

Use the Configuration tab to set the controls for the time series forecast.

  • The field name for the point forecast: The field name for the point forecasts in the output data stream. This name is also used as a prefix to the confidence bounds.

  • The percentage value of the larger confidence interval: Set a value between 1 to 99. Commonly used values for this range are 95 or 99 percent.

  • The percentage value of the smaller confidence interval: Set a value between 1 to 99. Commonly used values for this range are 80 or 90 percent.

  • The number of periods into the future to forecast: Both the point forecasts and the confidence bounds will be available for the specified number of future periods.

Graphic Options Tab

Use the Graphics Options tab to set the controls for the output plot.

  • Plot size: Select inches or centimeters for the size of the graph.

  • Graph resolution: Select the resolution of the graph in dots per inch: 1x (96 dpi), 2x (192 dpi), or 3x (288 dpi).

    • Lower resolution creates a smaller file and is best for viewing on a monitor.

    • Higher resolution creates a larger file with better print quality.

  • Base font size (points): Select the size of the font in the graph.

View the Output

Connect a Browse tool to each output anchor to view results.

  • O anchor: Contains a data stream of the forecast values and confidence bounds.

  • R anchor: Consists of the report snippets of a table with the forecast values and confidence bounds and a forecast plot that shows both the historical values of the time series and forecast values with error bounds.

  • I anchor: An interactive HTML dashboard consisting of plots and metrics. Select different graphical elements to interact with the visualizations to reveal more information, values, metrics, and analytics.