Key Features of the QAD Demand Management
- Works with all versions of QAD Enterprise Applications
- Easy to implement, learn and use
- Strong demand management planning core with expanded capabilities
- Sales/Marketing/Finance/Operations all contribute to a single baseline forecast
- Better demand visibility and inventory management
- Synchronized inventory replenishment
- Real-time access via the QAD Collaborative Portal
- Robust reporting via back-end data mart
- Simpler planning for product introductions and retirements
- On-line and off-line forecast updates
- High-level capacity planning for key resources such as: manpower, machinery, capital and vendor capabilities
- Rough Cut load and capacity analysis, for both planned and actual work loads
QAD Demand Management is comprised of four key components: Demand Management Engine, Collaborative Portal, Inventory Optimization, and Rough-Cut Capacity Planning. Features of each are explained below.
Demand Management Engine
- Manage different data streams, such as EDI and point-of-sale data
- Manage plans from customers, suppliers and internal departments
- View and adjust synchronized forecasts in daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual time buckets, seamlessly switching from one forecast to another
- Allocate changes using top-down, bottom-up, and middle-out methodologies
- Filters and exceptions allow all relevant data, plan adjustments and feedback to be reconciled quickly
- Improves sales forecasting and planning with an intuitive, easy-to-use GUI that captures events and promotions and customer’s intent
- Powerful reporting with visibility into any layer of the business
Build more accurate forecasts through collaboration with sales, customers or other functional team members
Collaborative Portal
- Facilitates information sharing with external participants, such as sales representatives, customers and suppliers
- Automatic notification of exceptions to key supply chain members to ensure that potential issues are addressed quickly
- Enables users to record promotions, manage by exception, do ad-hoc reporting and view data in user-defined levels of detail
Hierarchies can be dynamically created to facilitate top-down or bottom-up forecast creation
Inventory Optimization
- Automatically calculates inventory replenishment and manufacturing orders based on lead time, customer service level and inventory optimization parameters
- Provides automatic or user-approved purchase or manufacturing order releases based on revenue, cost and margin
- Enables planned inventory replenishment — monthly, weekly or daily — using synchronized time segments
- Manages multi-level distribution and inventory replenishment plans by creating dynamic hierarchies
- Optimizes safety stocks, service levels, reorder points, periods of coverage and lead times to ensure peak inventory management performance
- Automatically calculates economic order quantities, lead times and inventory levels using the intelligent planning advisor and user-defined business rules for inventory optimization
Vary service level, desired coverage or cost to determine safety stock levels
Rough Cut Capacity Planning
- Determines the higher-level capacity needed for key resources such as; manpower, machinery, subcontracting or capital
- Allows, via intuitive graphical interface, fine-tuning of capacity and improved visibility over factory resources
- Includes filters to allow highly focused data searches
- Analytical reports for quick ad-hoc analysis
- Exception management reports to constrained issue immediately
- Analyzes load and capacity for both planned and actual work loads
- What-if analysis for fast decision making
- Conversion factors that will allow for capacity to be done over by any unit of measure
Drag and drop mid-term load between key resources
QAD Demand Management - Implementation Services
Plan
Business Process Review involves a review of your processes for formulating a demand plan (forecast), with emphasis on special situations such as introducing new products, the type of promotional activity common in your business and others.
Process Measurement Review involves a review of various key measurements related to the demand management process, such as forecast accuracy, recommended safety stock levels and trend analysis. This will also include industry best practices to help you determine if new measurements would be valuable to your organization.
Plan Development includes a definition of scope (business requirements), the assignment of a complete project team with roles and responsibilities, technical requirements, integration needs, detailed budgets and project risks with appropriate mitigation.
Design
Super-User Training introduces your key IT and operations personnel to all key functionality. Your IT staff will also be introduced to the underlying database structure so that they have an understanding of how your data will interact with the application.
Application Configuration involves configuring the following Demand Management Engine and Collaborative Portal applications to work best in your environment:
- Installing QAD DM and setting up the prototype environment
- Creating the Living Master scenario and any required helper scenarios
- Loading historical data used in the formulation of a statistical forecast
- Configuration of all data attributes, opinion lines, required filters and exceptions
- Creation of report templates to enable process measurements
Batch Processing involves performing certain tasks on regular intervals such as data loading, forecast export to QAD Enterprise Applications, etc. The Batch Scheduler will be configured to automate regular tasks or execution of a series of tasks.
Interface Development involves the development of interfaces to systems other than QAD Enterprise Applications.
Customized Add-Ons involves the addition of custom programs that don’t require reprogramming the application or prevent you from taking advantage of future upgrades. Using the “custom tasks” features, you have the ability to:
- Introduce custom calculations into your business process
- Manipulate data based on your business rules
- Format custom data sets/report structures to be used by external parties
Implement
Final Rollout involves management of the final cutover process. We will help you create the rollout plan for introducing QAD DM into the business process and will help manage all tasks to their completion. This will include detailed status reporting with clear escalation paths defined to resolve time critical issues.
Final Configuration/Technical Setup involves fine-tuning the configuration and/or technical setup of QAD DM based on feedback obtained during the “Design” (pilot/prototype) stage of the project.
Final Data Conversion involves the full data load of all data required to enable the process (as opposed to a subset of data used during a pilot/prototype environment).
System and Compliance Testing involves the development of a complete, business- and industry-specific test plan that also includes executing and documenting the tests.
End User Training involves training your end users based on your learning preferences. While your super-user(s) received training early in the project, this is an opportunity to train all users on QAD DM just prior to rollout of the application.
Manage
Value Audit involves evaluating the level of benefits that you have achieved. Your consultant may also identify other areas of opportunity for your organization.
Application Management Services (optional) provide help desk support, development services, performance tuning and software administration to keep your system up to date and running optimally on an ongoing basis. Once QAD DM is implemented, QAD can help manage, maintain and monitor the system to ensure high availability and continued usage.
Typical Implementation Plan for One Site
