1. A method for generating a product forecast notification in a data processing system, the method comprising the steps of: providing a data structure comprising a product forecast notification message entity, a message header package, and a product forecast package, the message header package comprising a message header entity that further comprises a sender party entity and a recipient party entity, the product forecast package comprising a product forecast entity, a party package, and a product forecast item package, the party package comprising a buyer party entity and a vendor party entity, the product forecast item package comprising a product forecast item entity, a location package, and a product information package, the location package comprising a ship from location entity and a ship to location entity, the product information package comprising a product entity; receiving values for the fields in the data structure; and storing the values into the data structure to generate the product forecast notification.