Planning Utilities
Planning Prophet is a component based application with a configurable workflow. Our goal is to make each merchandise planning business process an effective and productive cycle for each of your business users. There are a number of notable capabilities within our solution that are the basis for these capabilities. Listed below are just a few examples. Give us a call to learn more.
Flexible Data Model: Our solution is based on Microsoft SQL Server and Analysis Services, a powerful and scalable combination for multi dimensionally oriented solutions. Naturally we handle all of the capabilities you would expect in a Planning Solution, such as alternate hierarchies, and extremely flexible attribute management. We offer a rich set of data elements and calculations, but of course we have no trouble at all extending our model to support your unique needs. Rather than writing our own data management capabilities for Planning Prophet, we leverage the capabilities built into the Microsoft Platform. This means that we have no trouble at all supporting any special requirements you may have so that your Planning Prophet solution truly reflects the dynamics of your particular company organization.
Calculation Engines: Again we utilize the built in capabilities within Microsoft Analysis Services to support much of the “retail math” required for a planning solution. We did add our own “special sauce” in terms of our planning specific calculation engines. Planning Prophet features “smart calculations” that help support planning productively. Clever multidimensional calculations can be based on conditional logic that helps insure an accurate result. For the planner this means more time perfecting the plan, and significantly less time preparing it.
Data Seeding Engine: Using our smart selection wizard gives flexible capability to initialize plan values based on your choice of historic metrics. Perhaps sales plan should be based on 2 years ago actuals (plus a percentage). Perhaps plans should be initialized based on the current periods actualized plan version. With our data seeding engine you can select the plan basis that makes sense for your products when you start your planning, not based on the methodology set up when the system was installed.
Data Mining Engines: We make heavy use of data mining engines such as forecasting, or clustering where needed in the Planning Workflows. Data Mining to us is not a separately purchased, separately installed application, it is a planning engine to be utilized where appropriate in the planning cycle. The heavy lifting for these Data Mining Engines comes to us with the Microsoft Platform, which includes a number of significantly powerful capabilities. We “wrap” these engines in a business context and embed them as a natural part of a planning workflow, again offering needed functional sophistication to the planner, without complexity.
Olap Browser: Our multidimensional planning interface truly lives up to our motto of no compromise functionality. As a web based solution there is nothing to install on any desktop, so you can involve anyone-anywhere that you need in the planning cycle. Our Olap browser was built for planners though offering a myriad of methods to set up your planning views and insure high productivity during your planning sessions.
These utilities are just a small sampling of the kinds of planning specific capabilities that we have built into Planning Prophet. We could add many more paragraphs explaining the various capabilities we bring to the planners. Seeing is believing though, so please contact us to set up your own personal review of the fundamental capabilities of Planning Prophet.
