Using Ford's Reports and Guides to Build a Winning Inventory Strategy

Inventory managers at Ford dealerships need to have a plan to most effectively address each part of the scheduling process. Without taking full advantage of the resources made available by Ford, dealerships are losing out on desirable configurations and shrinking their bottom line.

From what we’ve seen in helping more than 300+ dealerships optimize their inventory strategy, very few are leveraging the available resources to their fullest extent. Those who do see better units, more sales, and sustained growth.

In this article, we’re going to provide an overview of the available reports and tools, an overview of the monthly scheduling process, and a week-by-week guide to best practices.

Ford’s Reports and Tools

Ford provides two reports that every dealership should be using on a regular basis.

• VIN Details Report—Gives configuration-level visibility into incoming, on-ground, and sold units

• Fast Turn Report—Provides configuration-level sales performance on a market and regional scale

These reports can be used to develop an inventory strategy that’s informed by real-world data and not gut feelings. Click here to learn more about using Ford’s market data.

In addition to the reports, Ford provides information in the following guides:

• Wholesale Commodity Guide—Shows monthly regional build restrictions and availability of trims, engines, and options

• Order Guide—Details available equipment, options, and configuration requirements for each vehicle line

Ford also posts scheduling notes, updates on configuration availability, and other information in the MESSAGES section of the WBDO Dashboard.

Ford’s Monthly Scheduling Process

Ford divides the scheduling process into the last four weeks of the month. Each week is a critical part of the process, particularly for OTD vehicle lines. Non-OTD vehicle lines schedule weekly throughout the whole month. Learn more about the difference between OTD and Non-OTD vehicle lines here.

• Week 1— Wholesale & MAP offerings open

• Week 2—OTD body code selection period

• Week 3—OTD & MAP dressing period

• Week 4—OTD clean up

For an in-depth explanation of Ford’s Monthly Scheduling Cycle, click here.

Best Practices Week-by-Week

Week 1— Wholesale & MAP Offerings

Four Weeks Back from the Last Wednesday of the Month

Knowing how much allocation to accept in Wholesale and how many MAP units to take is a guessing game without a plan. Mismanaging wholesale directly affects your ability to grow and earn more allocation in the future.

That’s why creating a Wholesale Forecast is critical. Using your sales rate, target days supply, and average production-to-delivery times, you can know exactly how many units to accept to ensure you always have on-ground and incoming stock.

For a step-by-step guide to the Wholesale Forecast Calculation, click here. PIM provides our partner dealerships with the Wholesale Forecast Report every Wholesale opening, making sure our partners have the most up-to-date information. Click here to learn more about the Wholesale Guide Report.

Week 2— OTD Body Code Selection

Three Weeks Back from the Last Wednesday of the Month

OTD body code selections are a crucial part of the scheduling process. Creating and following a Target Mix, as outlined in our article How to Use Ford's Market Data, will make the most important configuration decision easy.

Week 3—OTD & MAP Dressing

Two Weeks Back from the Last Wednesday of the Month

Like the week prior, dress your OTD SIMS, following your Target Mix—from powertrain and PEP packages to paint color and free-standing options. Vary your new units to those incoming or on the lot using the VIN Detail Report. If you’re not sure how to build a unit, check the VIN Detail Report for configurations that sold quickly in the past.

Use the Target Mix calculation to alter MAPS units as well.

Ford loads OTD SIMS into WBDO dressed by default. To make it quicker to dress these units, you can change them to be loaded as the most basic configurations available. Learn more about this WBDO OTD setting here.

Week 4—OTD Dressing Continued

One Week Back from the Last Wednesday of the Month

The deadline for OTD dressing is this week, so If OTD orders were dressed in prior weeks, you’re done.

Non-OTD Scheduling

Non-OTD vehicle lines schedule weekly throughout the month. Similar to the OTD vehicle lines, you can use the Fast Turn Report to create a Target Mix to align your inventory with current market demand. Then you can use the VIN Details Report to avoid duplicates.

New non-OTD allocation is loaded into WBDO as SIMS or recommended orders. These orders typically aren’t a good fit for your lot. Unaltered SIMS should never schedule. To ensure they don’t, get in the habit of “dirtying” SIMS by making them ineligible for scheduling. Learn more about keeping a clean order bank by clicking here.

Conclusion

Becoming an expert in Ford's monthly scheduling cycle isn't optional if you want the best units on your lot—it's the difference between guessing at allocation and building a data-backed strategy. From the VIN Details Report and Fast Turn Report to the Wholesale Commodity Guide and Order Guide, Ford gives dealers everything they need to hit each week's deadlines with configurations that sell. The dealerships that use these tools consistently are the ones seeing faster turns and stronger growth.

Managing all of this manually—reports, guides, weekly deadlines, and Target Mix calculations—takes real time and expertise. Precision Inventory Management does this for 300+ dealerships every month, so your allocation schedules, your builds turn fast, and nothing slips through the cracks. Book a demo today to see how we can take ordering off of your plate.