Oracle EBS Release content document

ORACLE E-BUSINESS SUITE
RELEASE CONTENT DOCUMENT

Value Chain Planning
Releases 12.1 and 12.2 (inclusive of 12.0.2 – 12.0.7)

Prepared by the VCP Product Management and Strategy Teams

Last Updated: April 5, 2011
Version: 1.0

Copyright © 2011 Oracle Corporation
All Rights Reserved

Table of Contents

1. Disclaimer 1
2. Introduction 2
2.1. Purpose of Document 2
3. New and Changed Features in Value Chain Planning 3
3.1. Collections 3
3.1.1. Release 12.1.1 3
3.1.1.1. Backward Compatibility to 11i10 3
3.2. Oracle Advanced Planning Command Center 3
3.2.1. Product Overview 3
3.2.2. Release 12.1.1 4
3.2.2.1. Sales and Operations Planning Dashboard 4
3.2.2.2. Supply Chain Analyst Dashboard 5
3.2.2.3. Analytical Framework 6
3.2.2.4. Scenario Management 7
3.2.2.5. Supply Chain Planning Web Services 7
3.2.2.6. Seeded BPEL Processes 7
3.2.2.7. Process Automation 8
3.2.2.8. Activity Management 8
3.2.3. Release 12.1.2 8
3.2.3.1. Compatibility with 11.5.10 Planning Server 8
3.2.3.2. Integration to Third Party Planning Systems 9
3.2.3.3. Ability to Run APCC Standalone 9
3.2.3.4. Rich User Interface Enhancements 10
3.2.4. Release 12.1.3 10
3.2.4.1. Analysis of Inventory and Service Levels 10
3.2.4.2. Analysis of Excess and Obsolescence 10
3.2.4.3. Enhanced Sales and Operations Planning Dashboard 10
3.2.4.4. Supply Chain Risk Management Dashboard 11
3.2.4.5. Revenue Gap Analysis 12
3.2.4.6. Collaboration Workspaces for Unstructured Collaboration 12
3.2.4.7. Enhanced Exceptions Analysis 12
3.2.4.8. Integration with Rapid Planning 13
3.2.4.9. Plan Versus Collected Data Comparison 13
3.2.5. Release 12.1.3.2 13
3.2.5.1. New Dimension – End Item 13
3.2.5.2. New Dimension – Parent Model 14
3.2.6. Release 12.2 14
3.2.6.1. Plan-specific Forecasting Measures 14
3.2.6.2. Custom Series from Demantra DM and RT S&OP 14
3.2.6.3. Support for Custom Demantra Product Hierarchy 15
3.2.6.4. Integration with Distribution Planning 15
3.3. Oracle Advanced Supply Chain Planning 16

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document ii

3.3.1. Release 12.1.1 16
3.3.1.1. Oracle Transportation Management Integration 16
3.3.1.2. Optimization Enhancements 16
3.3.1.3. Contiguous Processing 16
3.3.1.4. Minimum Remaining Shelf Life 17
3.3.1.5. Distribution Planning Scalability Enhancements 17
3.3.1.6. End Item Substitution Enhancements 17
3.3.1.7. Production Schedules as Inputs 18
3.3.1.8. Safety Lead Time 18
3.3.1.9. Customization of Horizontal Plan 18
3.3.1.10. Supply Tolerancing Enhancements 18
3.3.1.11. Buy Order Processing Lead Time Backward Compatibility 19
3.3.2. Release 12.1.2 19
3.3.2.1. Release Recommendations for Internal Requisitions 19
3.3.2.2. Turn Off Planned Order Creation 19
3.3.2.3. Consume Purchase Orders in First In, First Out Sequence 20
3.3.3. Release 12.1.3 20
3.3.3.1. Forecast Spreading Based on Shipping Calendar 20
3.3.3.1. Excluding Planned Orders from Supply Tolerancing 21
3.3.3.2. Maximize Use-Up of Substitute Components 22
3.3.3.3. Distribution Planning Enhanced Order Modifier Support 23
3.3.4. Release 12.1.3.2 23
3.3.4.1. Forecast Explosion Enhancements 23
3.3.5. Release 12.2 24
3.3.5.1. Supplier Capacity Consumption Enhancement 24
3.3.5.2. Enhanced Exception Management 25
3.4. Oracle Collaborative Planning 25
3.4.1. Release 12.1.1 25
3.4.1.1. Export Exception Details 25
3.4.1.2. Detailed Supply Commit Based on ASCP Pegging 25
3.4.1.3. Search Exceptions by Buyer and Planner 25
3.4.2. Release 12.1.2 26
3.4.2.1. Rich User Interface Enhancements 26
3.4.3. Release 12.1.3 26
3.4.4. Release 12.2 26
3.5. Oracle Demand Planning 26
3.5.1. Release 12.1.1 26
3.5.1.1. Clear Data in Worksheets 26
3.5.1.2. Default Even Allocation Over Time 26
3.5.1.3. Plan Security by Responsibility and Organization 26
3.5.1.4. Sort by Product in Planning Percentages Worksheet 27
3.5.1.5. Data Selection Tools for Region Copy Selector 27
3.5.1.6. Prevent Planners from Editing Measures in View Scope 27
3.5.2. Release 12.1.2 27
3.5.3. Release 12.1.3 27
3.5.4. Release 12.2 27
3.6. Oracle Demand Signal Repository 27
3.6.2. Release 12.1.1 28
3.6.2.1. Customer Organization Hierarchy 28
3.6.2.2. Multiple Calendar Support 28
3.6.2.3. Customer Item Hierarchy 28
3.6.2.4. Manufacturer Item Hierarchy 29
3.6.2.5. Multiple Currency Support 29
3.6.2.6. Alternate Units of Measure 29
3.6.2.7. Authorized Distribution 29
3.6.2.8. Sales Allocation 30

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document iii

3.6.2.9. Sales Facts 30
3.6.2.10. Shipments 30
3.6.2.11. Orders 30
3.6.2.12. Inventory 30
3.6.2.13. Sales Forecasts 30
3.6.2.14. Promotion Plans 31
3.6.2.15. Category Sales Analysis Dashboard 31
3.6.2.16. Product to Category Coverage Reports 31
3.6.2.17. Category Growth Analysis Reports 31
3.6.2.18. Category Sales by Type Reports 32
3.6.2.19. Average Price Analysis Report 32
3.6.2.20. Top and Bottom Performers Reports 32
3.6.2.21. Ad-Hoc Reporting 32
3.6.2.22. Sales Scorecard 33
3.6.2.23. Supply Chain Scorecard 33
3.6.2.24. Operations Scorecard 33
3.6.2.25. Demantra Demand Management Integration 33
3.6.2.26. Retail Merchandising System (RMS) Integration 34
3.6.2.27. Web Services Integration 34
3.6.3. Release 12.1.2 34
3.6.3.1. Exception Management Dashboard 34
3.6.3.2. All Commodity Volume (ACV) / External Measures 35
3.6.3.3. TDLinx Store/Outlet Adapter 35
3.6.3.4. Scorecard Enhancements (Goals & Thresholds) 36
3.6.3.5. Store Clusters 37
3.6.3.6. Item Clusters 37
3.6.3.7. Replenishment Rules 38
3.6.3.8. Allocation Rules 39
3.6.4. Release 12.1.3 39
3.6.4.1. Manufacturer Promotions 39
3.6.4.2. Manufacturer Shipments 40
3.6.4.3. Customer Shipment Facts 40
3.6.4.4. Third Party Distributors 40
3.6.4.5. Alternate Organization Hierarchy 41
3.6.4.6. Forecast Type and Purpose Code 43
3.6.4.7. User Defined Fields 43
3.6.4.8. Type 2 Slowly Changing Dimensions 44
3.6.5. Release 12.2 44
3.7. Oracle Demantra – All Products 44
3.7.1. Release 12.2 44
3.7.1.1. Calendar Month Support in Weekly System 44
3.7.1.2. Import from Excel 45
3.7.1.3. Engine Performance Improvements 45
3.7.1.4. General Engine Enhancements 45
3.7.1.5. Analytical Engine on Solaris 10 45
3.7.1.6. Improved Multi-Language Support 45
3.7.1.7. Technology Stack 46
3.7.1.8. Demand Variability Definition 46
3.7.1.9. Configure Rolling Profile Groups 46
3.7.1.10. Integration Data Profile Hints 46
3.7.1.11. Database Performance Improvements 46
3.7.1.12. Asynchronous Workflow Support 47
3.8. Oracle Demantra Demand Management 47
3.8.1. Release 12.2 47
3.8.1.1. Enhanced Integration with Advanced Planning Command Center 47
3.9. Oracle Demantra Real-time Sales and Operations Planning 47
3.9.1. Release 12.2 47

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document iv

3.9.1.1. Improved Cost Modeling 47
3.9.1.2. Enhanced Integration with Advanced Planning Command Center 48
3.10. Oracle Demantra Predictive Trade Planning 48
3.10.1. Release 12.2 48
3.10.1.1. Enabling ‘Dynamic Open Link’ capabilities and Demantra Anywhere 48
3.11. Oracle Demantra Trade Promotion Optimization 48
3.11.1. Release 12.2 48
3.11.1.1. Enabling Nodal Tuning 48
3.11.1.2. Enhancements to Optimization 49
3.12. Oracle Global Order Promising 49
3.12.1. Release 12.1.1 49
3.12.2. Release 12.1.2 49
3.12.3. Release 12.1.3 49
3.12.3.1. Enhanced Forward ATP 49
3.12.4. Release 12.2 50
3.13. Oracle Inventory Optimization 50
3.13.1. Release 12.1.1 50
3.13.1.1. Support for Intermittent Demands 50
3.13.2. Release 12.1.2 50
3.13.3. Release 12.1.3 50
3.13.3.1. Enhanced Budget Constraints 50
3.13.4. Release 12.2 50
3.14. Oracle Production Scheduling 51
3.14.1. Release 12.1.1 51
3.14.1.1. Units of Measure on Items 51
3.14.1.2. Enhanced Alerts 51
3.14.1.3. Work Order Centric KPI Comparisons 52
3.14.1.4. Access Operation and Routings from Operation Instances 53
3.14.1.5. Auto-create Work Orders Directly from Demands 53
3.14.1.6. Find Functionality for Model Objects 54
3.14.1.7. Visibility to Demand Fulfilled via Starting Inventory 55
3.14.1.8. Automatic Reconciliation of Schedule Backlog 55
3.14.1.9. Batchable Resources 56
3.14.1.10. Consistent Resource Assignment within a Portion of a Routing 57
3.14.1.11. Resource-specific Cycle Times for Campaign Run Optimization 59
3.14.1.12. Minimize Work Order Schedule Infeasibilities 60
3.14.1.13. Disable Units of Effort for Setup and Cleanup Operations 61
3.14.1.14. Resource “All of” Sets 62
3.14.1.15. Hard Links Between Work Orders 65
3.14.1.16. Dynamic Throughput Rates on Resources 67
3.14.1.17. PS Data Connector Port to Sun, HP and AIX 69
3.14.1.18. Export Selected Model Data During Schedule Publish 69
3.14.1.19. PS XML Model – Unique Extension 70
3.14.1.20. Enhanced Auto-generated Routings 70
3.14.1.21. Selective Work Order Release to Production 71
3.14.2. Release 12.1.2 72
3.14.2.1. Resource Business Objectives 72
3.14.2.2. Production Scheduling as a Web Service Call 73
3.14.2.3. Undo Functionality for Manual Scheduling 73
3.14.2.4. Attribute Based Sequence Dependent Setups 75
3.14.2.5. Visualization of Campaign Run Optimization Cycle Boundaries 76
3.14.2.6. New Alert Type and Drilldowns 77
3.14.2.7. Drilldowns from the Work Order Editor to the Gantt Charts 78
3.14.2.8. Mass Change on Items and Resources 79
3.14.3. Release 12.1.3 80
3.14.3.1. Maintenance Work Order Scheduling 80

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document v

3.14.3.2. Disable Multiple Release from the Same Plan for the Same Order 84
3.14.3.3. User Defined Ideal Sequence 86
3.14.3.4. Supply Tolerancing 88
3.14.3.5. Control Application of Purchase Item Order Multiples Beyond Lead Time 89
3.14.3.6. Improved Operation Status Logic in OPM integration 91
3.14.3.7. Advanced Work Order Filtering 91
3.14.4. Release 12.2 93
3.15. Oracle Rapid Planning 93
3.15.2. Release 12.1.3 94
3.15.2.1. Fast Simulation 94
3.15.2.2. Flexible User Interface 94
3.15.2.3. Simulation Sets 94
3.15.2.4. Mass Edits 95
3.15.2.5. Plan Comparisons 95
3.15.2.6. Aggregate, Editable Material Horizontal View 95
3.15.2.7. All-in-one Supply/Demand View 96
3.15.2.8. Integration with Advanced Planning Command Center 96
3.15.2.9. Unconstrained Planning 96
3.15.2.10. Constrained Planning 96
3.15.2.11. Demand Forecasts 97
3.15.2.12. Respect Demand Priority Rules 97
3.15.2.13. Demand and Supply Pegging 97
3.15.2.14. Supply Chain Sourcing 97
3.15.2.15. Supplier Capacity 98
3.15.2.16. Bills of Material and BOM Effectivity 98
3.15.2.17. By-products and Co-products 98
3.15.2.18. Routing Operation and Resource Scheduling 98
3.15.2.19. End Item Substitution 99
3.15.2.20. Lead Times and Planning Time Fence 99
3.15.2.21. Order Modifiers 99
3.15.2.22. Safety Stock Lead Time 100
3.15.2.23. Shipping, Receiving and Carrier Calendars 100
3.15.2.24. Planner Action: Firm Existing Supplies 100
3.15.2.25. Planner Action: Firm Planned Supplies 100
3.15.2.26. Release New Planned Orders and Reschedule Recommendations 100
3.15.2.27. Exceptions 101
3.15.2.28. Embedded Analytics 102
3.15.2.29. Late Demand Diagnosis 102
3.15.2.30. Global Forecasting 103
3.15.2.31. Configure to Order 103
3.15.2.32. Default Order Sizing 104
3.15.2.33. Inventory Reservations 105
3.15.2.34. Clear to Build 105
3.15.2.35. Rapid Planning – Sales and Operations Planning Integration 105
3.15.2.36. Rapid Planning – Global Order Promising Integration 106
3.15.2.37. Order Comparison 106
3.15.2.38. Multi-Planner Collaboration 106
3.15.2.39. Functional and Data Security 106
3.15.3. Release 12.1.3.3 107
3.15.3.1. Demand Pull-In and Upside Processing 107
3.15.3.2. Favorite Lists 108
3.15.3.3. Safety Stock Enhancements 109
3.15.3.4. Simulation Edits of Additional Item Attributes 110
3.15.3.5. Simulation Edits of Approved Supplier Lists and Supplier Capacity 110
3.15.3.6. Simulation Edits of Processes 111
3.15.3.7. Mass Update Enhancements for Resource Availability 111
3.15.3.8. Mass Update Enhancements for Firm Date on Demands and Supplies 111
3.15.3.9. Scheduling Rapid Planning Runs in Batch Mode 112

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document vi

3.15.3.10. Enhanced Search Capability 112
3.15.3.11. Material Plan Display Order 112
3.15.3.12. Display of Decimal Precision 112
3.15.3.13. Last Saved Information for Plan Options 113
3.15.3.14. Blow Through Phantom Items in Clear to Build 113
3.15.3.15. Global Forecasting Display in the Material Plan 113
3.15.3.16. Auto-release of Planning Recommendations 113
3.15.3.17. Natural Time Fence 114
3.15.4. Release 12.2 114
3.16. Oracle Service Parts Planning 114
3.16.2. Release 12.1.1 114
3.16.2.1. Integrated Demand and Supply Planning 114
3.16.2.2. Service Parts Planning Workbench 114
3.16.2.3. Integration to Spares Management for External Repairs 115
3.16.2.4. Integration to Depot Repair for Internal Repairs 115
3.16.2.5. Support for Part Condition 115
3.16.2.6. Criticality Matrix 115
3.16.2.7. Support for Supersessions 116
3.16.2.8. Returns Forecasts 116
3.16.2.9. Minimize New Buys 116
3.16.2.10. Life Time Buys 116
3.16.2.11. Planner Work Lists 116
3.16.2.12. Integration with Collaborative Planning 116
3.16.2.13. Supersession Chain-Specific Replanning 116
3.16.2.14. Execution Net Change Planning 117
3.16.3. Release 12.1.2 117
3.16.3.1. Multi-process Inline Forecasting 117
3.16.3.2. Intermittent Demand Flag 117
3.16.3.3. Planner Worklist Enhancement 118
3.16.4. Release 12.1.3 118
3.16.4.1. Re-order Point-based Parts Planning 118
3.16.4.2. Import into a Simulation Set 119
3.16.4.3. Integration with Advanced Supply Chain Planning 119
3.16.4.4. Integration with APCC - Service Parts Planner Dashboard 119
3.16.5. Release 12.1.3.2 120
3.16.5.1. Fair Share 120
3.16.5.2. Query-based Auto-release 121
3.16.5.3. Collect Installed Base under Contract 121
3.16.5.4. Collect Field Replaceable Unit Bills of Material 121
3.16.5.5. Supersession Notes 122
3.16.6. Release 12.2 122
3.16.6.1. Support Multiple Move-in / Move-out Lines for a Repair Order 122
3.17. Oracle Strategic Network Optimization 122
3.17.1. Release 12.1.1 122
3.17.1.1. Supply Chain Risk Management 122
3.17.1.2. Alerts 123
3.17.1.3. Key Performance Indicators 125
3.17.1.4. Usability Enhancements 128
3.17.2. Release 12.1.2 129
3.17.2.1. Aggregate Assignment Set and Lane Definition 129
3.17.3. Release 12.1.3 130
3.17.4. Release 12.2 130
3.17.4.1. Specify Scenario File in the Plan Options 130
3.17.4.2. Solver Upgrade 131

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document vii

1. Disclaimer
This Release Content Document (RCD) describes product features that are proposed for
the specified release of the Oracle E-Business Suite. This document describes new or
changed functionality only. Existing functionality from prior releases is not described. It
is intended solely to help you assess the business benefits of upgrading to the specified
release of the Oracle E-Business Suite.
This document in any form, software or printed matter, contains proprietary information
that is the exclusive property of Oracle. Your access to and use of this confidential
material is subject to the terms and conditions of your Oracle Software License and
Service Agreement, which has been executed and with which you agree to comply. This
document and information contained herein may not be disclosed, copied, reproduced or
distributed to anyone outside Oracle without prior written consent of Oracle. This
document is not part of your license agreement nor can it be incorporated into any
contractual agreement with Oracle or its subsidiaries or affiliates.

This document is for informational purposes only and is intended solely to assist you in
planning for the implementation and upgrade of the product features described. It is not
a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied
upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, and timing of any
features or functionality described in this document remains at the sole discretion of
Oracle.

Due to the nature of the product architecture, it may not be possible to safely include all
features described in this document without risking significant destabilization of the
code.

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document Purpose of Document 1

2. Introduction

2.1. Purpose of Document
This Release Content Document (RCD) communicates information about new or
changed functionality introduced in Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2, and
in subsequent Release Update Packs (RUPs) and off-cycle patches. For your
convenience, it also includes new or changed functionality introduced in the RUPs for
Release 12, including 12.0.2 through 12.0.7.

The features and enhancements described in this document are grouped by product, and
then by the release in which they first became available, for example, “Release 12.1.1”.
Features released in an off-cycle patch have a special designation – for example, a
feature released after 12.1.1, but before 12.1.2, is designated as “Release 12.1.1+”.

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document Purpose of Document 2

3. New and Changed Features in Value Chain Planning

3.1. Collections
3.1.1. Release 12.1.1

3.1.1.1. Backward Compatibility to 11i10
Oracle Advanced Planning Release 12.1.1 supports, through a Collections backward
compatibility patch, the configuration where the source is E-Business Suite 11i10, and
the destination (planning server) is Release 12.1.1. This backward compatibility applies
to Advanced Supply Chain Planning, Distribution Planning (see exclusion below), Real-
Time Sales and Operations Planning, Demand Management, Demand Planning,
Inventory Optimization, Global Order Promising, Collaborative Planning, Advanced
Planning Command Center, and Service Parts Planning.

Specific capabilities not supported in this configuration are:
• Advanced Supply Chain Planning − Oracle Transportation Management
Integration
• Distribution Planning − release of cancel requisition recommendations
• Service Parts Planning − integration to Spares Management
• Service Parts Planning − integration to Depot Repair

3.2. Oracle Advanced Planning Command Center
3.2.1. Product Overview

Most supply chain planning processes, considered in their entirety, consist of multiple
decision-making sub-processes often performed by different groups that are chained
together. For example, a typical sales and operations planning cycle consists of
forecasting performed by different lines of business such as sales, marketing, finance and
manufacturing and distribution, a consensus demand review, inventory planning and
review, supply planning and review, and executive review. These sub-processes may be
supported by different underlying supply chain planning applications (Demand
Management, Inventory Optimization, Strategic Network Optimization, Service Parts
Planning and Advanced Supply Chain Planning.) The overall planning processes are
difficult to orchestrate because the planning data required are buried in multiple
underlying supply chain planning applications and because the human stakeholders come
from multiple organizations.

Oracle Advanced Planning Command Center is a new product that pulls together
planning outputs from multiple E-Business Suite supply chain planning applications and
makes them available for reporting and analysis within a unified user interface based on
Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE). The planning outputs are
viewable via seeded role-based dashboards, and are also accessible to custom OBIEE
reports and dashboards constructed by the user. Seeded dashboards support the Sales and
Operations Planning and Supply Chain Plan Analysis business processes.

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document Collections 3

Oracle Advanced Planning Command Center offers an extensive list of web services that
decompose Oracle Advanced Planning capabilities into atomic functional pieces (for
example, run collections, generate a statistical forecast, run a supply chain plan, archive
a plan.) These web services are leveraged by seeded Oracle Business Process Execution
Language (BPEL) processes that can be used out of the box to automate Sales and
Operations Planning and Forecast, Inventory and Supply Planning business flows. Users
can also create an infinite variety of custom BPEL processes to automate and orchestrate
their specific in-house planning flows (for example, hub and spoke planning).

Oracle Advanced Planning Command Center provides extensive plan and scenario
comparison capabilities. It also allows you to assign manual activities required for the
evaluation and execution of alternative business scenarios and monitor and orchestrate
the completion of those activities.

Oracle Advanced Planning Command Center provides:

• a robust reporting and analysis framework for supply chain planning;

• the ability to automate, orchestrate, monitor and review the result of complex,
inter-organizational and inter-disciplinary planning processes that span multiple
supply chain planning applications (including external applications).

3.2.2. Release 12.1.1

3.2.2.1. Sales and Operations Planning Dashboard
The Sales and Operations Planning Dashboard included with Advanced Planning
Command Center provides all participants in the Sales and Operations Planning process
with interactive access to summary and detailed data required when executing the
demand review, supply review and executive review phases of an S&OP cycle.

The Demand Review page answers questions such as:
• How have my sales, marketing, manufacturing/distribution, financial, and
consensus forecasts changed over time?
• Is our backlog increasing?
• How are we tracking to forecast?
The Supply Review page answers questions such as:
• Are we supply constrained?
• Where are our resource constraints?
• Are we producing to plan?
The Executive Review page answers questions such as:
• Are we on plan financially?
• For which product categories are we revenue targets?
Dashboard level reports provide easy comparison of S&OP scenarios.

Reports in the Sales and Operations Planning Dashboard drill directly into underlying
Demantra Real-Time Sales and Operations Planning worksheets, Advanced Supply
Chain Planning (ASCP) plans and Strategic Network Optimization (SNO) plans for
seamless extended analysis.

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document Oracle Advanced Planning Command Center 4

The following reports are available at the page level in the Sales and Operations
Planning Dashboard:

Executive Review
• Executive Summary
• Consolidated Analysis
• Profit and Loss
• Constrained Forecast Comparison
• Cumulative Budget Tracking
• Key Performance Indicators
• Forecast Accuracy
• Customer Service
• Inventory and Production KPI
• Top Difference - Operating Plan and Budget by Category
• Profitability KPI
• Cost Breakdown KPI
Demand Review
• Forecast Comparison
• Forecast Accuracy
• Projected Backlog
• Top Forecast Attainment by Category
• Forecast – Scenario Comparison
• Top Abs Diff – Consensus Forecast and Budget by Category
• Consensus Forecast Difference by Customer
• Consensus Forecast Difference by Customer
Supply Review
• Consolidated Analysis
• Demand Fill
• Production to Plan by Organization
• Production Plan
• Top Resource Utilization
• Top Supplier Capacity Utilization
• Consolidated Analysis – Scenario Comparison
• Bottom Demand Fill % by Customer
• Supply Change by Category
• Production Plan Comparison by Organization

3.2.2.2. Supply Chain Analyst Dashboard
The Supply Chain Analyst (SCA) Dashboard included with Advanced Planning
Command Center provides easy access to summary and trend data for Advanced Supply
Chain Planning and Strategic Network Optimization plans. It enables easy comparisons
between plans.

The SCA Dashboard has the following pages and reports:

Plan Health
• shipment and production trends
• demand and supply summary
• resource summary


• exceptions summary
Demand and Supply
• demand and supply summary
• demand change by customer
• supply change by category
• demand and supply trends
• demand by customer
• supply by category
Resources
• resource summary
• most utilized resources
• least utilized resources
• resources with most change in utilization
• resource utilization trend
Exceptions
• demand exceptions summary
• inventory exceptions summary
• alternate exceptions summary
• reschedule exceptions summary
• resource exceptions summary
• exceptions summary by category
• exceptions summary by organization
Historical Performance
• key supply chain performance metrics (shipments to plan, production to plan,
resource utilization, inventory value, days of cover)
• supply chain metrics trend
Scenario Analysis

• This page is similar to the Plan Health page. It allows you to compare demand
and supply summary information, resource information, and exceptions across
scenarios instead of across plans. (A scenario is a grouping of plans whose
results should be added together and viewed as a whole.)

3.2.2.3. Analytical Framework
APCC provides a central Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE)-based
repository that automatically pulls plan data from a wide cross-section of Advanced
Planning applications (Demand Management, Real-Time Sales and Operations Planning,
Advanced Supply Chain Planning, Inventory Optimization and Strategic Network
Optimization), as well as execution data (orders, shipments, inventory, WIP completions,
etc.) from Oracle E-Business Suite. APCC contains more than 200 measures (both stored
measures that are read into APCC and measures such as costed inventory that are
derived), rationalized against a consistent set of dimensions. More than 20 dimensions
are seeded.

The APCC analytical framework repository allows completely user-configurable
reporting against Advanced Planning data, serves as the foundation for the seeded Sales
and Operations Planning and Supply Chain Analyst Dashboards, and allows you to view


data from multiple underlying Advanced Planning applications simultaneously in a
unified interface.

3.2.2.4. Scenario Management
You can group multiple plans of different types together into a scenario, and then use
that scenario to group and filter data in APCC dashboards and reports. Typical scenarios
might be: a Demantra Demand Management consensus forecast, an Inventory
Optimization plan, and an Advanced Supply Chain Planning plan that together evaluate a
sales and operations planning scenario; or one "hub" and a number of "spoke" ASCP
plans whose outputs need to be fused together to provide visibility to planning results for
the entire supply chain.

Scenario Sets are groupings of related scenarios (for example, alternate supply/demand
scenarios being evaluated within a particular sales and operations planning cycle). You
can also use scenario sets to group and filter data in APCC dashboards and reports.

3.2.2.5. Supply Chain Planning Web Services
Many key Advanced Planning functions have now been made accessible via web
services. These web services are callable from user-defined Business Process Execution
Language (BPEL) flows, and therefore permit limitless automation of supply chain
planning business flows.

The specific web services that have been enabled are:
• Check concurrent program status
• Launch ASCP and Demantra batch collections
• Global Order Promising
• Launch plan management batch processes such as copy/purge plans
• Launch Strategic Network Optimization batch processes
• Manage planning process scenarios
• Launch Service Parts Planning batch processes
• Launch Inventory Optimization batch processes
• Launch Distribution Planning batch processes
• Launch Advanced Supply Chain Planning batch processes
• Upload external data into APS (forecasts, safety stock, planned supply)
• Launch Demantra process (launch Demantra workflow, assign alternative name
to Demantra scenario in planning server)

3.2.2.6. Seeded BPEL Processes
Two seeded BPEL processes take leverage the supply chain planning web services
offered by APCC to automate and orchestrate key supply chain planning flows.

The Forecast, Inventory, and Supply Planning BPEL process automates a sequence of
running collections, generating a forecast in Demantra Demand Management (DM),
running an Inventory Optimization (IO) plan utilizing the DM output as input, running an
Advanced Supply Chain Planning plan using the DM and IO plan outputs as input.

The Sales and Operations Planning BPEL process runs collections, creates financial
forecast review, sales forecast review, marketing forecast review, and demand forecast
review activities and assigns them to key stakeholders, uploads the consensus forecast
from Demantra Real-Time Sales & Operations Planning (RT S&OP) to the planning


server, runs a Strategic Network Optimization (SNO) plan with the RT S&OP consensus
forecast as input, pulls the SNO constrained forecast/production plan output back into
RT S&OP, then creates consensus demand review and executive review activities and
assigns them to the appropriate stakeholders.

3.2.2.7. Process Automation
You can create planning processes and attach to them seeded or custom BPEL processes.
Planning processes allow you to launch or halt associated BPEL processes, to enable
completely flexible planning automation. The Planning Process user interface allows you
to specify input parameters such as plan names to the underlying BPEL processes, see
the key steps of the underlying BPEL process, assign process steps to owners, and
monitor the progress of the BPEL process as it runs.

3.2.2.8. Activity Management
Process automation steps can be assigned to individuals using the Planning Process user
interface. Such assignments become system activities with owning individuals. You can
also assign arbitrary manual activities to individuals, optionally tied to a scenario or
scenario set. Activities support file attachments, to allow more complete descriptions of
required steps or inclusion of supplemental information. Assigned activities can be
updated with progress status by the assignees and can be flexibly queried within the
APCC Activities screen for monitoring purposes. Planners working with APCC
dashboards and reports benefit from an iBot that informs them of open activities assigned
to them. They can drill from a display of activities in the APCC reporting layer directly
into the APCC Activities screen for further detail. APCC thus provides a comprehensive
way to stay on top of all the system and manual activities needed to complete complex
supply chain planning processes and scenario evaluations.

3.2.3. Release 12.1.2

3.2.3.1. Compatibility with 11.5.10 Planning Server
Oracle Advanced Planning Command Center Release 12.1.2 supports, through a
Collections backward compatibility patch, the configuration where the Planning Server
(where all the other APS modules are on) is 11.5.10, the source Oracle eBusiness Suite is
also on 11.5.10 and only the Advanced Planning Command Center is on 12.1.2.) The
deployment configuration is as shown below.


APS Operational Data Store
11.5.10

APS 11.5.10
Oracle Demantra 7.1/7.2

Advanced Supply Chain
Planning 11.5.10

Out-of-box
Integration.
Multiple EBS (11.5.10)
Multiple EBS (11.5.10) Collect into both User Option
or Legacy instances instances at Plan
or Legacy instances launch to
“push”

APS 12.1
APS Operational Data Store
12.1

Advanced Planning
Command Center 12.1

This deployment configuration will be subject to the following specific limitations.
1. No Contextual Drilldowns from the Dashboards into the planning applications. This
will be available only in the configuration where the planning server is upgraded to
12.1.2 and APCC is deployed in the same instance.
2. Need to collect into both APCC and APS instances. However, collections into APCC
is only required for dimension keys. So the collection frequency could be less for
APCC.
3. No support for Strategic Network Optimization in APCC.
4. The New Planning Web Services and BPEL Processes in APCC instance (in
“Processes” tab in Advanced Planning Scenario Manager) cannot use Plans and
Forecasts from APS 11.5.10 even if they are published to APCC. But users can still
build scenarios from these plans and forecasts from 11.5.10.

3.2.3.2. Integration to Third Party Planning Systems
You can now deploy APCC against third party planning systems. The APCC OBIEE fact
repository can be loaded either via a new flat file (.csv) upload user interface, or via a
new Import Plan Summary concurrent program.

3.2.3.3. Ability to Run APCC Standalone
For 11.5.10 and R12.1.2 customers, APCC now provides a complete, out-of-box
integration to a separate, standalone 12.1.2 APCC instance. The key
assumptions/limitations here are:
1. All dimensions are collected (or loaded using legacy uploads) into the APCC
instance.
2. The EBS source instance setups (including instance codes) are identical in the
11.5.10 and 12.1.2 instances.
3. The drill-downs into other applications (Advanced Supply Chain Planning /
Inventory Optimization / Demand Management) will not work.
4. This will be made available only for Demand Management, Advanced Supply
Chain Planning and Inventory Optimization.


3.2.3.4. Rich User Interface Enhancements
APCC incorporates new rich user interface capabilities of E-Business Suite 12.1.2. These
include a redesigned applications home page with more efficient navigation, multi-level
navigation menus with saved favorites, "look-ahead" lists of values that automatically
complete partial user entries, and inline file attachments for process activities.

3.2.4. Release 12.1.3

3.2.4.1. Analysis of Inventory and Service Levels
The current Supply Chain Analyst (SCA) dashboard in APCC has been enhanced with
new measures and related reports to support Inventory Analysis workflows. The
following new reports are included in a new tab in the SCA dashboard.
o Inventory Performance Summary
o Top N – Service Level Short Fall by Category
o Top N - Inventory Value
o Safety Stock – Postponement Analysis
o Inventory Measures Trend
o Inventory Measures Trend by Category-Organization
Some of the new measures introduced as part of this include the following:
o Safety Stock (Days)
o Percent Safety Stock - Demand Variability
o Percent Safety Stock - Supplier Lead Time Variability
o Percent Safety Stock - Manufacturing Lead Time Variability
o Percent Safety Stock - Transportation Lead Time Variability

3.2.4.2. Analysis of Excess and Obsolescence
The current Supply Chain Analyst (SCA) dashboard in APCC has been enhanced with
new measures and related reports to support analysis of Excess and Obselete inventory.
The following new reports are included in the SCA dashboard.
o Excess and Obsolescence Summary
o Excess Details
o Obsolescence Details
o Excess Details across Plans
o Obsolescence Details across Plans
Some of the new measures introduced as part of this include the following:
o Demand within Obsolescence horizon
o Demand within Excess Horizon
o Excess On-order in units and value in multiple currencies
o Excess On-hand in units and value in multiple currencies
o Obsolete On-order in units and value in multiple currencies
o Obsolete On-hand in units and value in multiple currencies
o Total Excess in units and value in multiple currencies
o Total Obsolescence in units and value in multiple currencies

3.2.4.3. Enhanced Sales and Operations Planning Dashboard
The Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) dashboard is enhanced to include the
following new measures:
o Shipment history - Lag by 52 week


o Operating Plan
o Financial Forecast
In addition, the existing reports have been updated with new usability enhancements and
new navigations to more drill-down reports. Also, a new tab called Financial Review has
been added with the following reports
o Financial Summary
o Operating Plan and Financial Forecast Comparison
o Top % Difference - Operating Plan and Budget by Category
o Financial Trend Analysis
o Profit & Loss Monthly
o Margin Difference by Category
o Year-over-Year Financials
o Financial Forecast and Budget Comparison
o Top % Difference - Budget and Annual Plan by Organization
o Top Revenue
o Cost by Organization
o Bottom Margin
o Profitability KPI
o Cost Breakdown KPI
This new Financial Review page enables planners and executives to answer questions
like:
o Are we on plan financially?
o How are product categories performing financially?
o What has changed financially since last fiscal quarter/month?
o How/Where/Why has profitability changed?
o Is there any need to revise financial forecast?

3.2.4.4. Supply Chain Risk Management Dashboard
The Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) dashboard is a new dashboard and enables
users to review and compare key metrics in a single interface, providing true Enterprise
Planning capabilities to the SCRM discipline.

It enables executives and planners to answer questions like:
o What is the impact to my margins if there is a sudden drop in demand?
o When do I return to profitability?
o What is the cost difference between sourcing strategies in the event of the
demand drop?
o What impact does increased lead times have on my inventory strategy?
o What is the impact of off-shoring to my Total Delivered Cost?
o What is the impact of off-shoring to my Margins?
The following new measures are introduced as part of this feature:
o Facility Startup/Shutdown Costs
o Fixed Costs
o Count of Sources
o Carrying Cost without Postponement
o Safety Stock without Postponement
o Inventory Budget
o Product Miles
The dashboard contains four different tabs - Executive Review, Inventory Analysis,
Supply Chain Sourcing and Glossary.


3.2.4.5. Revenue Gap Analysis
This feature enables Supply Chain Analysts and Sales and Operations Planners to do
additional reporting and analysis to close gaps between the current shipment rate and the
revenue targets established as part of the sales and operations plan. This is most critical
as the end of a period or quarter approaches and gaps remain.

The Supply Chain Analyst (SCA) dashboard has been enhanced to add the following
reports in the Scenario analysis tab:
o Backlog Analysis – Units & Value
o Bookings Performance – Units & Value
o Current Shipment Plan
o Demand and Supply Summary
o Demand Utilization – Units & Value
o Demand Utilization Split – Baseline Plan
o Left to Book - By Quarter
o Sales Order Analysis – Units & Value
o Shipment Performance – Units & Value
o Supply Utilization – Units & Value
The Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) dashboard has also been enhanced to add /
modify the following reports:
o Current Shipment Plan
o Supply Summary

3.2.4.6. Collaboration Workspaces for Unstructured Collaboration
This feature lets users to quickly band into ad-hoc, virtual groups for specific planning
tasks and allows those groups to share structured and unstructured content. Each group
has access to a single, flexible portal-like user interface that brings together components
of various planning applications and the a variety of collaboration tools.

These collaborative group spaces support customized Worklists, Group Calendars,
Documents, Discussions, Tags, Issues and Notes. In addition, the group space home page
has navigation links to applications such as Rapid Planning and Sales and Operations
Planning, and to APCC dashboards.

Each group space is linked to a Scenario created in Advanced Planning Command Center
and users can choose to auto-create a group space when a scenario is created.

3.2.4.7. Enhanced Exceptions Analysis
The Supply Chain Analyst Dashboard has been enhanced to include additional measures
and reports in support of improved exception analysis. Two new reports have been added
as part of this feature:
o Item Exceptions Summary
o Resource Exceptions Summary
In addition to the above, the following reports have been enhanced with additional
page/report filters:
o Demand Exceptions Summary
o Inventory Exceptions Summary
o Alternate Exceptions Summary
o Resource Exceptions Summary


o Reschedules Exceptions Summary
o Exception Summary by Category
o Exception Summary by Organization

3.2.4.8. Integration with Rapid Planning
Oracle Advanced Planning Command Center now offers pre-built integration with Rapid
Planning. Rapid Planning plans can be archived and published to Advanced Planning
Command Center. These archived versions can then be viewed in all related reports and
dashboards.

The Advanced Planning Command Center’s Supply Chain Analyst dashboard supports
drill-down directly into the Rapid Planning application.

All Rapid Planning simulation plans can be used in the Process Automation functionality
to build process flows in Advanced Planning Command Center.

3.2.4.9. Plan Versus Collected Data Comparison
Oracle Advanced Planning Command Center now offers a view of key supply and
demand measures based on the latest transaction data collected into the Operational Data
Store. These measures are available in the Supply Chain Analyst Dashboard under the
plan name of "Collections". Users can compare them with Plans to get insights into the
variances between what is in a Plan (including changes introduced due to plan
recommendations and user changes) and the latest real-time transactional data. An
example of this type of analysis may include a comparison of expected receipts of
material in the next few weeks based on the Plan versus what is currently in the
execution system (as brought over to Value Chain Planning via Collections).

3.2.5. Release 12.1.3.2

3.2.5.1. New Dimension – End Item
This is a new one-level dimension that enables users to build reports for analysis by the
Finished Good items as derived from the pegging generated in an ASCP plan. This
feature is available for ASCP plans only, and is enabled for the following two measures
only:

• Order Quantity

• Total Supply

Using the Order Quantity measure and the Order Type filter, users can analyze all
upstream component supplies (such as On Hand, Shipment Receipts, Purchase Orders,
and Planned Orders) and see the breakdown by End Items (Finished Goods) that are
driving the component demand.

This dimension is available in the seeded Advanced Planning Catalog. There are no new
seeded reports that use this new dimension.

Note: This dimension is enabled only when the profile option "MSC: Enable Model and
End Item Dimensions in APCC" is set to Yes.


3.2.5.2. New Dimension – Parent Model
This is a new one-level dimension that enables users to build reports for analysis of
Options in ATO models by the Parent Model based on forecast explosion in an ASCP
Plan. This feature is available in ASCP plans only, and is enabled for the following two
measures only:

• Order Quantity

• Total Supply

Using the Order Quantity measure and the Order Type filter, users can analyze all option
supplies (such as On Hand, Shipment Receipts, Purchase Orders, and Planned Orders)
and see the breakdown by Parent ATO Models that are driving this option demand.

This dimension is available in the seeded Advanced Planning Catalog. There are no new
seeded reports that use this new dimension.

In the case where the Options are manufactured assemblies, even their components will
have the break-up by the Parent Model so that end users can analyze all upstream
components and understand the source of their demand by viewing the break-up by the
Parent Model.

Note: This dimension is enabled only for those options and key components that are
assigned to a special category set. The name of the category set is based on the profile
option "MSC: APCC Key Component Category Set."

Note: This dimension is enabled only when the profile option "MSC: Enable Model &
End Item dimensions in APCC" is set to Yes.

3.2.6. Release 12.2

3.2.6.1. Plan-specific Forecasting Measures
This feature enables all forecasting measures (not just Consensus Forecast) from
Demantra Demand Management and Demantra Real-time Sales and Operations Planning
to be analyzed in Advanced Planning Command Center, striped by “Demand Plan”.
Users can analyze, compare or finally purge these plans like any other supply plan. This
enhances the analysis that users can do in APCC, as it is now possible to easily compare
sales forecast, projected backlog, and financial forecast measures across scenarios.

You can provide a plan name as a parameter in the new Demantra workflow processes
called “Publish S&OP-APCC Measures” (for RT S&OP) and “Publish DM-APCC
Measures” (for DM). These serve the same purpose as the current workflow “Export
OBI-EE Data” and the concurrent program “Assign Plan Name.”

3.2.6.2. Custom Series from Demantra DM and RT S&OP
You can configure the integration data profiles in Demantra to publish custom series
created in either DM or RT S&OP to APCC. By default, this feature collects any 15
measures (10 forecasting measures and 5 historical measures) that you choose. You can
alter the mix or add more measures by running a new concurrent program, “Collect
Demantra customization information to APCC”. The selected series must not have any
complex calculations or client expressions in Demantra.


3.2.6.3. Support for Custom Demantra Product Hierarchy
You can now bring an additional product hierarchy from Demantra into APCC. For
example, the product category hierarchy available in APCC as default is a two-level
hierarchy. You can now create a new four-level hierarchy such as “Item < Product
SubGroup < Product Group < Product Line” in Demantra and easily bring it into APCC
for use in analysis. This is limited to one custom product hierarchy and supports a
maximum of 10 levels.

You must set the profile “MSC: Additional Demantra Item Hierarchy in APCC” to the
name of the hierarchy in Demantra and then run the standard “Refresh APCC
Materialized Views” concurrent program to make that custom hierarchy available in
APCC. None of the seeded reports or dashboards use this custom hierarchy.

3.2.6.4. Integration with Distribution Planning
In Release 12.2, DRP plans can be published to Advanced Planning Command Center.
This will enable DRP users to leverage APCC to analyze DRP plans through custom
reports and dashboards. The concurrent program “Archive Plan Summary” will now
support DRP plan types. There is no automatic publish of DRP plans to APCC at the
time of DRP plan launch. Only the following DRP plan measures will be published to
APCC:
• Order Quantity (all DRP order types)
• Exception Count (all DRP exception types)
• Exception Quantity/Value (reporting/functional currencies)
• Inventory Turns
• Scheduled Receipts
• On Hand
• Carrying Cost (reporting/functional currencies)
• Purchasing Cost (reporting/functional currencies)
• Total Supply Chain Cost (reporting/functional currencies)
• Revenues (reporting/functional currencies)
• Gross Margin (reporting/functional currencies)
• Gross Margin %
• Total Supply
• Total Demand
• Projected Available Balance (units, value and days of supply)
• Fill Rate
The following measures are specific to DRP plans and will also be published to APCC:
• Maximum Inventory Level (Units)
• Maximum Inventory Level (Days of Supply)
• Target Inventory Level (Units)
• Target Inventory Level (Days of Supply)
The seeded reports and dashboards in APCC are not designed for DRP plans or scenarios
with DRP plans. You should build custom reports or dashboards for analyzing DRP
plans. You can also use the spreadsheet file upload capabilities to load DRP plan data
into APCC.


3.3. Oracle Advanced Supply Chain Planning
3.3.1. Release 12.1.1

3.3.1.1. Oracle Transportation Management Integration
Most planning systems have no visibility to delays in transportation and their impact to
manufacturing utilization or customer service. With this release ASCP will:

• Leverage Oracle Transportation Management (OTM) Supply Chain Event
Management to obtain real-time, projected material arrival dates

• Provide a Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) process and associated
web services to consume events and generate planning exceptions to provide
planners real time visibility to transportation delays

• Use the updated dates in ASCP interactive planning calculations to calculate the
impact of transportation delays on downstream orders and take corrective action

3.3.1.2. Optimization Enhancements
Oracle ASCP enables planners to efficiently manage many products and supply chain
locations by intelligently selecting alternate sources, manufacturing processes, bills of
material, and substitute items. With this release, ASCP's automated decision-making
capabilities have been enhanced in the following ways.

3.3.1.2.1. Day-Level Planning

A new "day-level" planning mode allows ASCP to automate the selection of
alternates while generating planning results at the day level of granularity. This
planning mode skips the final detailed scheduling solution phase that is now
undertaken with any constrained or optimized plan run. For customers for whom
day-level planning results are sufficiently detailed, this is a way to run plans in a
shorter amount of time than was previously possible (due to the fact that the final
detailed scheduling phase is skipped).

3.3.1.2.2. More Accurate Offloading to Alternates

It is often desired to offload to alternate sources or processes only once a primary
source or process runs out of capacity. ASCP now does a more accurate job of
offloading: it offloads primary sources and processes more fully before offloading to
alternates, and planning results show fewer instances of primary source/process
overloading before offloading to alternates.

3.3.1.3. Contiguous Processing
In the process industries, many products need to be processed contiguously from raw
materials to finished goods, because intermediate products may be unstable or because
intermediate products are transported from process to process without any provision for
storage in between.

With this release, ASCP respects Oracle Process Manufacturing standard and max delays
between routings. This allows you to cap the maximum time duration between upstream

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document Oracle Advanced Supply Chain Planning 16

and downstream make supplies and enforce contiguous processing. You can also enforce
a minimum (standard) delay between make supplies in order to accurately reflect
processing constraints such as cool-down periods.

3.3.1.4. Minimum Remaining Shelf Life
Products such as groceries and pharmaceuticals have limited shelf lives. Customers of
such products typically impose rules that dictate that when such products arrive at the
customer site, they must have a certain minimum duration of remaining shelf life, so that
there will be enough time for the end consumer to buy and use the products. ASCP now
supports minimum remaining shelf life (MRSL) constraints specified at the item-
organization, item-customer site and sales order levels. Item-organization and item-
customer site-level MRSLs are specified via item attribute simulation sets. Sales order-
level MRSLs can only be entered via customization that populates a new column in the
MSC_SALES_ORDERS table on the planning server.

3.3.1.5. Distribution Planning Scalability Enhancements
Distribution enterprises often need to manage large numbers of locations and items: the
number of locations may be in the thousands; the number of items at each location may
be in the tens of thousands or more. Planning in such an environment requires a focus on
scalability.

With this release, Distribution Planning incorporates the following scalability
enhancements. First, the phase of planning that calculates the independent and dependent
demands at each distribution location and allocates scarce supply to those demands has
been made multi-process, in order to take advantage of the parallelization capabilities of
multi-processor hardware configurations. Such a configuration can either be a single
planning server with multiple processors, or multiple servers logically linked together via
Real Application Clusters. The partitioning of the distribution planning problem into
pieces that can be solved in parallel is done automatically.

In conjunction with the above change, the load consolidation phase of Distribution
Planning has been decoupled from the demand push-down and supply allocation phase
mentioned above and is now also done concurrently in a multi-process fashion.
Functionally, this may reduce how well Distribution Planning is able to consolidate loads
relative to its base behavior in Release 12, because the consolidation calculations in
downstream supply chain layers now no longer factor in the consolidation outputs from
upstream layers. This is a trade-off that the user optionally makes for the sake of better
performance.

The above behavior is optional, and is enabled via profile options.

3.3.1.6. End Item Substitution Enhancements
Use-up of on hand inventory is critical to controlling storage and obsolescence costs at
many companies. One way in which ASCP helps in this regards is to recommend the use
of available substitute item supplies when the demanded item is not on hand. Prior to this
release, such end-item substitution recommendations made by ASCP could not be
automatically released back and implemented in Order Management. With this release,
the ASCP sales order release process has been enhanced to support the passing back of
ASCP substitute item recommendations back to the associated sales orders in Order
Management.


ASCP also supports an option to recognize explicitly modeled item substitution
relationships only and thus turn off the inference of chained substitutions. If Item B is a
substitute for Item A, and Item C is a substitute for Item B, it is now possible to
configure ASCP to not infer that Item C is a substitute for Item A.

When searching for end-item substitute supplies, ASCP can optionally search for them in
ascending order of substitution relationship date effectivity. This provides a mechanism
for dictating the item order of ASCP's search for end-item substitutes.

This capability is not supported for R12.0.x source instances. It is supported for R12.1.1
and 11i10 source instances.

3.3.1.7. Production Schedules as Inputs
You can now publish planned orders directly from Production Scheduling into an ASCP
plan. Planned orders scheduled in PS come into ASCP as firm planned orders. This
allows ASCP plans to remain consistent with short-term scheduling decisions made in
PS.

3.3.1.8. Safety Lead Time
In lieu of generating supplies to meet target safety stock quantities, ASCP now offers the
option of hedging against uncertain demand by generating supplies to meet demands
ahead of time. The amount of time that demands are met ahead of time is the "safety lead
time", and is specified via the Safety Stock Percent item attribute (100% per one day of
safety lead time). This feature is turned on via the MSO: Use Safety Lead Time profile
option.

3.3.1.9. Customization of Horizontal Plan
ASCP supports the ability to customize the row labels and numbers displayed in the
horizontal plan. One typical application of this capability is to display demands and
supplies in alternate units of measure.

A new custom row in the horizontal plan allows a user to display a custom order type
(for example, Projected Available Balance Dollar Value) and label it appropriately. The
custom row can be selectively displayed, by user or by preference. The logic to calculate
custom order type data values must be provided by the user via a custom PL/SQL
program unit that is pointed to by the profile option MSC: Horizontal Plan Extension
Program. The same mechanism can be used to customize data values in standard rows of
the horizontal plan.

3.3.1.10. Supply Tolerancing Enhancements
In the process industries, process variability often creates supply output quantities that
vary about a nominal amount. For example, a "10,000 pound" coil of aluminum sheet
may actually come out to be 9,950 pounds or 10,035 pounds. The planning requirements
are to be able to tolerate minor discrepancies between demand and supply so as to
prevent unnecessary production and impractical supply splits. For example, a demand for
10,000 pounds should be considered to be satisfied completely by a 9,950 pound coil.
When the same demand is satisfied with a 10,035 pound coil, planning should not
recommend that the extra 35 pounds be split off to be used to satisfy other demands.


ASCP supports the concept of supply tolerancing through Shortage Tolerance and
Excess Tolerance Percent pegging controls that dictate when demands and supplies are
considered to be fully pegged. In the example with the 9,950 pound coil above, ASCP
will still generate a recommendation for an extra 10,000 pound coil to cover the supply
deficit, but will peg that supply to excess so that it is moved to the end of the planning
horizon. This prevents the planner from accidentally releasing unneeded work to the
production floor.

Supply tolerancing support where Shortage and Excess Tolerance Percentages are input
as global profile option values is existing capability. New with this release is the ability
for the user to optionally specify Shortage and Excess Tolerance Percentages (via
customization) at the item-organization level in the staging table
MSC_ST_SYSTEM_ITEMS. If these values are populated, ASCP will look at these
staging table values in lieu of the profile option values.

Also new is ASCP's ability to delay the satisfaction of 'small' demands until sufficient
outstanding demand has accumulated to warrant the production of a standard-sized batch.
'Small' is defined to be a percentage of the Fixed Lot Multiple order modifier. This
percentage can be entered (via customization) in the planner server table
MSC_SYSTEM_ITEMS.

3.3.1.11. Buy Order Processing Lead Time Backward Compatibility
In 11i9 the processing lead time for buy planned orders was offset based on the org
manufacturing calendar. Starting in 11i10, the processing lead time for buy planned
orders was offset based on the Supplier Capacity Calendar, if it was assigned on the
Approved Supplier List. Otherwise the processing lead time was offset based on a 24x7
calendar. In order to preserve behavior compatibility with 11i9 for customers who may
have set their buy item processing lead times assuming org manufacturing calendar
offsetting and are upgrading from 11i9 to R12.1.1, a new profile option MSC: Buy Order
Processing Lead Time Calendar allows you to either revert back to the 11i9 behavior
(when it is set to 'Org Manufacturing Calendar') or use the 11i10 behavior (when it is set
to 'Supplier Capacity Calendar').

3.3.2. Release 12.1.2

3.3.2.1. Release Recommendations for Internal Requisitions
You can now release reschedule in, reschedule out, and cancellation recommendations
for internal requisitions. Previously, Oracle Purchasing did not support changes to an
internal requisition after the corresponding internal sales order had been created in
Oracle Order Management. This restriction has now been removed. ASCP's
recommendations for internal orders can now be successfully released from the planner
workbench. You can also release manual overrides of internal requisition date and
quantity.

3.3.2.2. Turn Off Planned Order Creation
You can turn off planned order creation for an item via the new Item Mass Maintenance
item attribute "New Planned Order Creation". The permissible values are: “Create New
Planned Orders” (default) and “Do Not Create New Planned Orders”. Use cases for this
capability are:


• A by-product defined in the BOM can be used as downstream component. The
requirement is to ensure that while all available supplies of the by-product are
consumed, no supplies for this item are purchased. In addition, Sales Orders can
be taken for the by-product and shipped as supplies are available, but no new
supplies should be manufactured to meet Sales Order demand.

• To enable phasing out of item components and their replacement with newer
ingredients, it is required that there be no new order or build for the phased out
item. The existing supply of the phased out item is to be used up.

• No new supplies for certain products are to be made, but available stock can be
distributed and sold.

This features is only available in the Constrained (Without Scheduling) and Constrained
(With Scheduling) planning modes. It is also available in Distribution Planning. It is not
available in the Unconstrained, Constrained (Classic), Constrained (Classic) With
Decision Rules and Optimized (Classic) planning modes.

3.3.2.3. Consume Purchase Orders in First In, First Out Sequence
Standard ASCP behavior matches supplies to demands in a way that minimizes
inventory. For example, if within a week there is a demand of 1 on Friday, and purchase
order supplies of 1 each on Monday and Thursday, ASCP would match the Thursday
purchase order to the Friday demand and recommend the cancellation of the Monday
purchase order.

With this (optional) feature, ASCP would match the Monday purchase order to the
Friday demand and recommend the cancellation of the Thursday purchase order. Use of
existing purchase order supplies in this chronological fashion applies across substitute
components: if the Monday and Thursday purchase orders in our example are in fact
different items but substitute components, ASCP would still consume the Monday
purchase order and cancel the Thursday purchase order.

This feature is useful for minimizing the impact of purchase order change
recommendations on suppliers.

3.3.3. Release 12.1.3

3.3.3.1. Forecast Spreading Based on Shipping Calendar
Before this release ASCP supported forecast spreading based on only manufacturing
calendar.

In this release a new profile option “MSC: Forecast Spreading Calendar” enables users
to spread forecasts based on the shipping calendar in addition to the manufacturing
calendar. The list of values for this profile option includes:

Organization Manufacturing Calendar – This is the default value. The system will use
the organization manufacturing calendar for spreading the forecast.

Organization Shipping Calendar – The system will use the organization shipping
calendar for spreading the forecast.


Note – A forecast for a non-working day in the manufacturing calendar is moved to the
previous working day.

Example: Consider an organization with a manufacturing calendar that has both Saturday
and Sunday as non-working days. On the other hand the shipping calendar has only
Sunday as the only non-working day of the week. Based on the shipping calendar, a
forecast of 480 units for period 3 (March) is spread evenly to daily buckets from Monday
to Saturday (total of 24 buckets). That results in the daily forecast quantity of 20
(480 / 24 = 20). Since Saturday is not a working day based on the manufacturing
calendar, therefore ASCP moves and adds up the Saturdays’ forecasts to Fridays’
forecasts (20 + 20 = 40). The result is shown in the following table:

Monday Tuesday Wednesda Thursda Friday Saturday Sunday
y y

Date 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Forecast 20 20 20 20 40 0

Date 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Forecast 20 20 20 20 40 0

Date 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Forecast 20 20 20 20 40 0

Date 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Forecast 20 20 20 20 40 0

3.3.3.1. Excluding Planned Orders from Supply Tolerancing
Before this release the Shortage Tolerance Percent and Excess Tolerance Percent were
applied to all order types including planned orders.

With this release ASCP provides a profile option called “MSC: Apply shortage and
excess tolerance percentages to planned orders”. The list of values for this profile option
includes:

Yes – The shortage tolerance and excess percentages are applied to all supplies including
planned orders. This is the default value.

No – The shortage tolerance and excess percentages are applied only to existing supplies
(such as On Hand, WIP).

When this profile option is set to No, it allows ASCP to generate planned orders that
satisfy 100% of demand, while matching existing supplies (which may have irregular
quantities due to actual process yields) to demands using a supply tolerance.

Example – Consider an item with 2 demands:

Demand1= 10200 Demand2= 10200

Fixed Order Quantity = 2000


MSC: Demand Satisfied Percent Threshold for Pegging = 98

Shortage Tolerance Quantity = 10200 × (100 – 98) / 100 = 204

MSC: Minimum Supply/Demand Percent for Pegging = 0.0018

Excess Tolerance Quantity = 10200 × 0.0018 = 1836

If the profile option “MSC: Apply shortage and excess tolerance percentages to planned
orders” is set to “No”, ASCP creates 6 planned orders of 2000 to satisfy Demand1 of
10200. In this case Demand1 is satisfied completely and the excess of 1800 (12000 –
10200) is used to satisfy Demand2 ignoring the excess tolerance percent even though
1800 < 1836.

On the other hand, if the profile option is set to “Yes”, then ASCP initially creates 6
planned orders to satisfy Demand1, but it uses (pegs) only 5 of those to satisfy this
demand since (10200 – 10000) < 204. In this case Demand1 is satisfied with an allowed
shortage of 200. The other planned order of 2000 is used for satisfying Demand2.

3.3.3.2. Maximize Use-Up of Substitute Components
With this release ASCP provides a new profile option called “MSO: Use up existing
supply of primary components before substitute” that allows you to maximize usage of
substitute components. The list of values for this profile option includes:

Yes – ASCP uses the existing supply of primary components before substitute
components. This is the default value.

No – ASCP uses the existing supply of substitute components before primary
components.

If this profile option is set to “No”, and there is no existing supply for substitute
components, ASCP generates new planned orders for the primary components before
substitute components.

In addition to the above profile option, you need to set the following 2 profile options to
use this feature:

1 – MSO: Use Existing Supplies in Alternate BOM/Subs. Comp

This profile option allows you to control how the existing supplies in substitute
components / alternate BOM paths are used by ASCP. You need to set the value of this
profile option to 0 (consider both existing substitute component supplies and existing
alternate BOM component supplies) or 1 (consider existing substitute component
supplies but not existing alternate BOM component supplies) to use this enhancement.
Values 2 (consider neither existing substitute component supplies nor existing alternate
BOM component supplies) and 3 (consider existing alternate BOM component supplies
but not existing substitute component supplies) are not compatible with this feature.

2 – MSO: Postpone Use of Alternates to Latest Possible Time

This profile option enables ASCP to plan supplies with respect to the timing of
alternates’ usage. You need to set the value of this profile option to “No” to use this
feature.


ASCP behavior with respect to this feature is summarized as follows:

With the feature turned off (MSO: Use up existing supply of primary components before
substitute = Yes):

1. Use on hand and scheduled receipts of primary components

2. Use on hand and scheduled receipts of substitute components

3. Generate new planned orders for primary components

4. Generate new planned orders for substitute components

With the feature turned on (MSO: Use up existing supply of primary components before
substitute = No):

1. Use on hand and scheduled receipts of substitute components

2. Use on hand and scheduled receipts of primary components

3. Generate new planned orders for primary components

4. Generate new planned orders for substitute components

Note that the on hand of a substitute component will not be used if it is less than the
Minimum Order Quantity, Fixed Order Quantity, or Fixed Lot Multiplier. The on hand
of a substitute component may be partially used if it is greater than the order modifiers
but it is not a multiple of them.

This enhancement is only available with the Constrained (Without Scheduling) planning
mode.

3.3.3.3. Distribution Planning Enhanced Order Modifier Support
Distribution planning now supports two more order modifiers: maximum order quantity
and minimum order quantity. This is in addition to the currently supported fixed lot
multiplier and round order modifiers. Users can specify maximum and minimum order
quantity as an item attribute. Users can also choose to specify each newly supported
order modifier on the supply allocation rule. Order modifiers specified on a supply
allocation rule are applied to transfers between organizations.

3.3.4. Release 12.1.3.2

3.3.4.1. Forecast Explosion Enhancements
The enhancements to the forecast explosion process in ASCP include:

• While exploding forecasts of ATO Models, ASCP traces the exploded forecasts
of option classes and options to the top model forecast that is the source of the
original demand. This information is used for reporting and analysis in
Advanced Planning Command Center.

Note: When using Demantra Demand Management to feed forecasts into
Advanced Supply Chain Planning, the seeded data integration profile publishes
both the Model forecasts and the exploded forecasts by default. When using this


option to explode forecasts in ASCP, users will need to set up a custom profile to
not publish the exploded forecast demand so that there is no double counting of
dependent demand.

• The forecast explosion process will now be able to use the Planning percentages
from Demantra Demand Management (if published). If the planning percentages
from Demantra are not available, the explosion will use the usages on the Bills
of Material as the default.

Note: The Planning Percentages need to be published from Demantra using a
custom data integration profile. The seeded profile does not publish this by
default.

These features are valid for local and global forecasts and also in both simple, single-
organization models and multi-level, multi-organization models.

Both these enhancements are available only when the plan option 'Explode Forecast' is
turned on and the forecast control for the Options and Option Classes is set to Consume
and Derive.

3.3.5. Release 12.2

3.3.5.1. Supplier Capacity Consumption Enhancement
A new profile option is introduced to control supplier capacity consumption by purchase
orders. This provides more flexibility for users to decide how supplier capacity should
be consumed by purchase orders inside and outside the planning time fence. The profile
also allows users to decide whether to consume supplier capacity with all purchase
orders or only unacknowledged purchase orders.

With this enhancement, the existing profile option “MSC: Purchase Order Dock Date
Calculation Preference” does not affect supplier capacity consumption. The two choices,
Promise Date and Need by Date, only determine which date is selected from the
purchase order to use within planning as the suggested dock date.

The new profile option “MSC: Supplier Capacity Consumption by Purchase Orders” has
four settings. You can select “Yes” and all purchase orders consume supplier capacity or
“No Consumption” (default) and then no purchase orders consume supplier capacity. If
you select “Unacknowledged Purchase Orders Only” then this behavior is similar to
current behavior where purchase orders without a promise date consume supplier
capacity.

The newest choice is “Purchase Orders outside Lead Time Only”. With this choice,
ASCP does not consume supplier capacity with any purchase order which has a dock
date inside of the item or supplier-item lead time. If the purchase order dock date is
outside of lead time, then the purchase order consumes supplier capacity. Users can set
supplier capacity to accumulate at lead time and only purchase orders outside of lead
time consume supplier capacity. The supplier capacity horizontal plan is enhanced to
display the supplier capacity consumption based on the new profile option.


3.3.5.2. Enhanced Exception Management
Prior to this enhancement, ASCP generated all exceptions for all items and resources
with attached exception sets. You can now control which exceptions ASCP generates,
thus saving the computational burden of generating unneeded exceptions.

A new window called Exception Group allows you to select specific exceptions from a
list of available exceptions. You can save the Exception Group and attach it to plans
using a new plan option field. When the plan is run, ASCP generates only the exceptions
listed in the Exception Group.

The Exception Group allows you to further limit the number of exceptions generated by
restricting the generated exceptions to only selected
• Organizations
• Item Categories
and to those with dates within a specified
• Exception Time Fence (Days)

3.4. Oracle Collaborative Planning
3.4.1. Release 12.1.1

3.4.1.1. Export Exception Details
This enhancement enables the export of the Collaborative Planning Exceptions Detail
screen to a .csv file that can be opened in spreadsheet and other external applications.
Data can be exported for one user selected exception class at a time, or for all exception
classes together. The structure of the exported data is similar to what is seen on the
Exception Details screen.

3.4.1.2. Detailed Supply Commit Based on ASCP Pegging
ASCP will publish supply commits to Collaborative Planning based on how end item
supplies are pegged to the end item demands in the ASCP plan. Earlier, ASCP published
only a single supply commit record to Collaborative Planning on the date when the
demand was completely satisfied. With the new behavior, if a demand is satisfied by
pegging against on hand and also a planned production batch, two supply commit records
will be published, corresponding to the individual pegging quantities and dates. This new
behavior is enabled by the profile option MSC: Publish Supply Commit Based on
Pegging Information.

3.4.1.3. Search Exceptions by Buyer and Planner
The search criteria in the exceptions detail screen have been enhanced to include "Buyer
Code" and "Planner Code".

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document Oracle Collaborative Planning 25

3.4.2. Release 12.1.2

3.4.2.1. Rich User Interface Enhancements
Oracle Collaborative Planning incorporates new rich user interface capabilities of E-
Business Suite 12.1.2. These include a redesigned applications home page with more
efficient navigation, multi-level navigation menus with saved favorites, and "look-ahead"
lists of values that automatically complete partial user entries.

3.4.3. Release 12.1.3

There are no new enhancements in Oracle Collaborative Planning in Release 12.1.3.

3.4.4. Release 12.2

There are no new enhancements in Oracle Collaborative Planning in Release 12.2.

3.5. Oracle Demand Planning
3.5.1. Release 12.1.1

3.5.1.1. Clear Data in Worksheets
This feature allows the user to clear data from existing cells in a worksheet.

The Fill Data dialog in the worksheet now allows a null entry. The data is replaced with
a null/NA. A recalculate is required to reflect the change across all levels of the
hierarchy.

3.5.1.2. Default Even Allocation Over Time
This feature gives the user the ability to allocate evenly down the time dimension and use
"first" allocation for other dimensions when an allocation basis is not available.

The profile MSD: Use Classic Even Allocation can now have three values, one of which
signifies that the fallback default allocation for the time dimension will be even. The
three valid choices for the profile are:
• Yes, use even allocation
• No, use first allocation
• No, use first allocation for all dimensions except Time

3.5.1.3. Plan Security by Responsibility and Organization
This feature prevents users from one Business Unit from accessing demand plans set up
for another Business Unit. The Demand Planning System Administrator can now
associate Demand Plan Responsibilities with specific Organizations. Organization(s) are
selected during plan definition. Users can then access only plans defined for the
Organizations associated with their Responsibility.

By default a Responsibility is associated with all Organizations.

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document Oracle Demand Planning 26

3.5.1.4. Sort by Product in Planning Percentages Worksheet
This feature adds a sort capability for Product to the Selector for the Planning Percentage
Worksheet. The user now has the ability to sort the Product dimension in ascending or
descending order to facilitate selection of models and options.

3.5.1.5. Data Selection Tools for Region Copy Selector
This feature makes all the Selector tools available to the user when creating a Region
Copy measure to facilitate data selection.

3.5.1.6. Prevent Planners from Editing Measures in View Scope
This feature allows you to prevent planners from changing worksheet values in measures
in their view scope. Planners can continue to change worksheet values in measures in
their assignment scope. Whether this feature is enabled or not, only values in a demand
planner's assignment scope are passed back to the shared workspace during internal
collaboration.

3.5.2. Release 12.1.2

There are no new enhancements in Oracle Demand Planning in Release 12.1.2.

3.5.3. Release 12.1.3

There are no new enhancements in Oracle Demand Planning in Release 12.1.3.

3.5.4. Release 12.2

There are no new enhancements in Oracle Demand Planning in Release 12.2.

3.6. Oracle Demand Signal Repository

The Oracle Demand Signal Repository (DSR) helps manufacturers collect detailed
retailer and other demand data, analyze it to identify issues and opportunities, and
respond via a SOA-enabled services library.

Typical retail data sources include daily point-of-sale, on-hand inventory, store orders
and receipts, returns, store promotions and sales/order forecasts. The DSR transforms
retailer data into manufacturer terms – including manufacturer item identification,
manufacturer hierarchies and calendars. A high-performance data loading facility
cleanses the data and allocates it to a uniform set of dimension levels.

The Demand Signal Repository data model is based upon the Oracle Data Warehouse for
Retail (ODWR) data model, adapted to a manufacturer point of view. An extensive
OBIEE metadata layer sits on top of the ODWR data model, and allows users to develop
custom reports that combine the data in customer-specific ways.

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document Oracle Demand Signal Repository 27

DSR web services provide complementary applications such as Demantra Demand
Management with cleansed retail point of sale, on-hand inventory and other data at daily
store level, or aggregated to a higher level as needed.

3.6.2. Release 12.1.1

3.6.2.1. Customer Organization Hierarchy
DSR captures customer organizational information as well as customer organizational
hierarchy to allow CG Manufacturer’s to view customer data based on the customer’s
perspective of their organization.

The lowest level in the organization hierarchy is the Business Unit which is a single
customer location. While business unit types are user-defined, the two most common
types of business units are stores and customer distribution centers.

DSR captures several business unit attributes such as address, general contact, and VAT
information, as well as store-specific attributes such as store manager, physical
properties (store size, number of window displays, restrooms, etc.). Additionally,
business units can be associated with a distribution channel and/or a market area to allow
analysis by channel or a market area (such as the Los Angeles market).

Each business unit has a physical address. This enables the Business Unit to be analyzed
by a geographic dimension, as well as the organization hierarchy.

The other levels of the organization hierarchy (listed from top to bottom) include: Retail
Group, Chain, Area, Region, District, and finally Business Unit. DSR allows you to
aggregate fact data to any level of the customer’s organization hierarchy.

The customer organization hierarchy supports the slowly changing dimension (SCD)
type 2 feature. This feature keeps historical data (e.g., sales) associated with the
hierarchical structure in effect at the time, to ensure proper analysis.

3.6.2.2. Multiple Calendar Support
In addition to the standard Gregorian calendar, DSR also provides additional calendars
types including business, fiscal, advertising, and planning calendar type.

The consumer goods manufacturer can use all calendar types, whereas the only calendar
type that supports customer-specific calendars is the business calendar. By having a
separate business calendar for each customer, the account team or category manager can
view data in terms of the customer’s week, month, etc.

3.6.2.3. Customer Item Hierarchy
DSR captures customer item information as well as customer item hierarchy to allow
consumer goods manufacturers to view customer data based on the manner in which the
customer organizes their product groupings.

The lowest level in the customer item hierarchy is the SKU. DSR captures several
attributes at the SKU level including price, cost, size, color, style, variety, etc.
Additionally, SKUs can be associated to a brand or group into item clusters to allow
further analysis.


The other levels of the customer item hierarchy (listed from top to bottom) include:
Company, Division, Group, Department, Category, Subcategory, Item and finally SKU.
DSR allows you to aggregate fact data to any level of the customer’s item hierarchy.

The customer item hierarchy supports the slowly changing dimension (SCD) type 2
feature. This feature keeps historical data (e.g., sales) associated with the hierarchical
structure in effect at the time, to ensure proper analysis.

3.6.2.4. Manufacturer Item Hierarchy
DSR captures the manufacturer’s item information as well as item hierarchy to allow
consumer goods manufacturers to view data by the product categorization and
descriptions used within their own company.

The lowest level in the manufacturer item hierarchy is the SKU. DSR captures several
attributes at the SKU level which can differ from the retailer’s SKU attribute values.

The other levels of the manufacturer’s item hierarchy (listed from top to bottom) include:
Company, Division, Group, Class, Subclass, Item and finally SKU. The manufacturer’s
item hierarchy is seven levels deep, whereas the customer’s item hierarchy is eight levels
deep (to accommodate the broad range of products carried by retailers).

Like the customer item hierarchy, the manufacturer’s item hierarchy also supports the
slowly changing dimension (SCD) type 2 feature. This feature keeps historical data
(e.g., sales) associated with the hierarchical structure in effect at the time, to ensure
proper analysis.

3.6.2.5. Multiple Currency Support
Monetary values within DSR can be represented in one of two currencies. The first is
the retailer’s corporate currency, whereas each retailer can have a different currency.
The second is the reporting currency of the manufacturer.

DSR converts values from the retailer’s currency to the manufacturer’s reporting
currency based upon a conversion table.

By default, reports will use the manufacturer reporting currency. If needed, the reports
can be customized to replace the reporting currency with the retailer currency.

3.6.2.6. Alternate Units of Measure
In DSR the typical base unit of measure is a saleable unit or “Each” (EA). DSR supports
alternate units of measure (kilos, liters, stats) to address manufacturing, shipping or
marketing requirements. For example, a beverage company might select volume in liters
as their alternative UOM. Each SKU has a ratio to convert the primary UOM quantity to
the alternate UOM quantity.

3.6.2.7. Authorized Distribution
A system parameter, called discovery mode, controls whether stores must be authorized
to carry an item.


When discovery mode is off, items must be pre-associated with a valid business unit (aka
store) in order to successfully process sales and forecast data for that business unit/item
combination.

When item discovery mode is on, the data loading process will create a new authorized
item/store record the first time that it encounters a SKU at a business unit (store) where it
has never previously been reported.

3.6.2.8. Sales Allocation
Fact data in Demand Signal Repository is always stored at the lowest level by
SKU/Business Unit/Day. Data supplied at an aggregate level is allocated down to the
day during the load process. For example, weekly, chain-level data must be allocated to
a daily, business unit level (either store or DC).

Organization and time-level allocation profiles define the percentage of the aggregate
value to be allocated to each the day or location. Allocation preserves any fractional
quantity, in order for a data value to be the same when re-aggregated to the level at
which it was originally received.

3.6.2.9. Sales Facts
The DSR sales & return process flow loads units sold, units returned and their related
monetary value and cost. Data can be reported at the business unit level (e.g., store) or at
a higher level in the organization for a given day or week. Sales reported at an aggregate
level are allocated to the lowest level (by business unit / day).

3.6.2.10. Shipments
The shipments process flow loads shipped units and monetary amount for a given
business unit/item/day. Shipments are reported against a specific store or distribution
center, no allocation logic is supported for shipment data.

3.6.2.11. Orders
The orders process flow loads order quantity and monetary amount for a given business
unit/item/day. Orders (like Shipments) are reported against a specific store or
distribution center, again no allocation logic is supported for order data.

3.6.2.12. Inventory
The item inventory process flow loads on-hand, received, in-transit, backordered, and
quality hold quantities, net costs, and retail amounts for a given business
unit/item/location/day. Item Inventory (like Shipments and Orders) are reported against
a specific store or distribution center, so no allocation logic is supported for order data.

3.6.2.13. Sales Forecasts
The sales forecast process flow loads forecasted sales units and their related monetary
value. Like the sales and returns process flow, data can be reported at the business unit
level (e.g., store) or at a higher level in the organization for a given day or week. Sales
forecasted at an aggregate level are allocated to the lowest level (by business unit / day).


3.6.2.14. Promotion Plans
The promotions plan process flow loads information on what promotions are in effect at
a store for an item during a given time period, as well as whether the promotion includes
an associated price discount or not.

3.6.2.15. Category Sales Analysis Dashboard
The Category Management Dashboard displays key measures that are important to a
Category Manager. This includes:
• Retailer Net Cost to Gross Margin is a quick reference into the profitability of
each product category carried by the retailer.
• Category Coverage provides a breakdown of sales by retailer by product
category.
• Product Mix provides a breakdown of sales by product category across retailers.
• Product Contribution to Profit lists the top performing products based on
contribution to their respective product category.
• Category Sales by Type displays the breakdown by promotional versus non-
promotional sales.
• Sales Growth Percent Change to Previous Period displays the growth (or
decline) of this period’s sales to the prior period.
Some of the key characteristics of the dashboard include:
• Displaying multiple KPIs, or measures, in a single dashboard
• Tracking performance relative to pre-defined thresholds
• Drill-down capabilities to view supporting data
• Ability to view by retailer or manufacturer hierarchy
• Automatic delivery of the underlying reports via MS Office tools.

3.6.2.16. Product to Category Coverage Reports
The Product to Category Coverage reports shows the percentage of category, brand or
item penetration (by unit sales and monetary sales) into specific channels of distribution
(e.g. grocery retail, mass merchandiser, drug, wholesale /club, etc.).

Two separate reports are available: The “Product to Category Coverage by Quarter” and
the “Product to Category Coverage by Period”.

The available filters include:
• Time (year, quarter month).
• Channel (grocery retail, mass merchandiser, etc.)
• Product Category or Item
• Item Type (manufacturer item or retailer items)

3.6.2.17. Category Growth Analysis Reports
The Category Growth Analysis reports measure category’s growth by sales volume and
monetary value, across time and to the brand and item levels.

Two reports are available: The “Category Growth Analysis by Volume” report and the
“Category Growth Analysis by Sales” report

• Time (year, quarter, month).


• Product Category
• Market Area

3.6.2.18. Category Sales by Type Reports
The Category Sales by Type report shows category sales units and monetary sales by
promotion type. Promotion Sales are sales from the retail POS system that are priced
and/or based on a promotion. Regular Sales are sales from the retail POS system that are
priced at standard Non-Promotion periods or pricing.

Two reports are available: The “Category Sales Volume by Type: and the “Category
Sales Value by Type” report.


3.6.2.19. Average Price Analysis Report
The Average Price Analysis report compares unit sales and average retail sales price to
the same period last year.


3.6.2.20. Top and Bottom Performers Reports
The top and bottom performers reports provide an immediate view of the top performers
and bottom performers by profit or sales amount.

Four reports are available:
• Top Performers by Profit
• Bottom Performers by Profit
• Top Performers by Sales
• Bottom Performers by Sales
• Top Performer (which is the number to display, the default if left blank is 10)
• Customer

3.6.2.21. Ad-Hoc Reporting
Demand Signal Repository leverages native OBIEE functionality to produce ad-hoc
reports. This includes:


• Flexible creation of ad hoc/new reports by end users which can then be
published to a wider audience
• Ability to view data in multiple formats, including pivot table, graph, chart, etc.
• Ability to drill down to lowest level of detail, based on existing dimensions, like
retail or manufacture item or organization hierarchy
• Seamless integration with MS Office tools to export to Excel, PowerPoint, etc.
• And the ability to integrate geographic visualization. For example, to show sales
by store, zip code, etc. on a map.

3.6.2.22. Sales Scorecard
The sales scorecard is divided into four sections which the users can filter by customer
and/or date. The four sections are:
• “Latest Results” for the selected company (aka customer).
• “Latest Results” broken down by product category
• “Overall Company” YTD results.
• “Overall Company” YTD results broken down by product Category
The measures displayed in each of the four quadrants include Monetary Sales, Unit
Sales, Category Sales, Category Share, Retailer Gross Margin, Gross Marting Percent,
and Forecast Accuracy.

3.6.2.23. Supply Chain Scorecard
The Supply Chain scorecard shows results against goal comparisons for seven supply-
chain oriented measures. Like the Sales Scorecard, it is divided into four panels, with the
left panels showing the latest results and the right panels showing values summarized by
year. Also like the Sales Scorecard, the top two sections show company performance;
however, the bottom two sections show performance across all manufacturer products at
the customer organization’s “region” level.

The measures for each of the four sections of the supply chain scorecard include Service
Level, Order Cycle Time, and On-Time Delivery, Inventory Cover, On-hand Inventory,
In-Stock %, and Percent returns

3.6.2.24. Operations Scorecard
The operations tab is divided into two panels. Operational measures are only available at
supply chain level, not at a more granular level (such as category or region).

All seven measures (Perfect order %, Order change %, Invoice accuracy %, Payment
days, Deduction amount, Item data synchronization % and Item data accuracy %) are
external measures imported into DSR through the ETL process.

3.6.2.25. Demantra Demand Management Integration
Demand Signal Repository has a pre-built outbound integration of aggregated demand
signals to Demantra. Data sent from DSR to Demantra includes:
• Retailer Point of Sale Sales and Forecast
• Retailer On-Hand Inventory, Orders, Shipments, and Promotions
• Distribution Center On Hand-Inventory, Forecast, Shipments


3.6.2.26. Retail Merchandising System (RMS) Integration
The Retail Merchandising System (RMS) Integration provides an out-of the box
integration of EDI 852 data coming from Oracle’s RMS system into Oracle’s Demand
Signal Repository (DSR) module. The EDI 852 file from RMS populates DSR’s sales
and return data, as well as on-hand inventory.

3.6.2.27. Web Services Integration
If you desire outbound integration with other Oracle or Non-Oracle applications,
Demand Signal Repository includes a standards-based web services integration to
support most common access scenarios including:
• Store POS, Orders, Forecasts, Shipments, and Promotions
• On-Hand and In-Transit Inventory, Backorders, and Receipts

3.6.3. Release 12.1.2

3.6.3.1. Exception Management Dashboard
The Exception Management Dashboard automatically sifts through vast amounts of
customer data to quickly detect potential problems in key business processes. Using
OBIEE’s iBot functionality, pre-built queries can be run periodically, as needed, to
locate issues and create exceptions.

Once exceptions have been created, the Exception Management Dashboard aggregates
and displays exceptions by customer and product category, listing them in order from
highest to lowest number of exception so users can address the most critical areas first.

The exception types analyzed within the Exception Management Dashboard include:

• Out of Stock Exception where on-hand quantity was reported as zero

• Imputed Out of Stock Exception where sales are significantly below expected
sales and the probability is very high that the product is out of stock.

• Sales Forecast Accuracy Exception where sales forecast accuracy varies
significantly from the average.

• Reorder Point Exception where inventory levels (on-hand plus back order
quantity) are below the customer’s reorder point.

• Overstock Exception where on-hand inventory levels are above the customer’s
reorder point.

• New Item Not Selling Exception which reports on items introduced at the store
within the last 30 days which have no sales.

• In-flight Promotional Lift Exception which reports on promoted items whose
sales is less than 110% of average sales.

• Promotional Price Deviation Exception which reports where promotion price
is discounted more than 10% of average selling price


From each one of these exception types users have the option to view one of the
following reports to get more information.

• The Forecast Accuracy report shows actual versus forecasted sales, deviation
between the two for the selected week as well as prior week.

• The Inventory Position report shows the previous week’s ending balance,
receipts, sales and both an expected ending balance and an actual ending
balance. The customer’s replenishment information (min, max, reorder point,
etc.) is also displayed.

• The Item Distribution report shows the number of authorized stores and the
number of authorized stores not selling, in addition to the average sales per store
selling.

• The Price Deviation report shows average sales price, promotional price,
quantity sold, actual revenue and expected revenue.

Exception history is retained to allow users to track trends on whether exceptions are
increasing or decreasing.

3.6.3.2. All Commodity Volume (ACV) / External Measures
Many companies using Demand Signal Repository purchase consumption data from
syndicated data providers to analyze market penetration by retailer, geography, product
and time. The set of syndicated consumption data includes pre-calculated ACV
measures as well as other measures such as sales by promotion type, baseline sales, and
coupon sales. Syndicated consumption data can be purchased at various levels of the
product hierarchy and customer organization hierarchy, as well as geographic region or
sub-region.

DSR provides an initial set of 100 generic measures which are renamed during
implementation to match the measures purchased. In addition, the number of measures
can be extended, if needed.

When loading the external measures the product and geography keys supplied by the
syndicated data provider are translated into the appropriate organization, product or
geography hierarchy levels.

A sample set of measures along with an out-of-the-box report is available to use as is, or
rename and revise based on specific customer needs.

3.6.3.3. TDLinx Store/Outlet Adapter
Demand Signal Repository has created an adapter to load AC Nielsen TDLinx
store/outlet data. As a result, the existing set of business unit (store) attributes were
enhanced to include additional data elements, such as status, sub-channel code, retail
group, as well as other attributes.

The TDLinx store/outlet adapter maps data from the AC Nielson source CSV file to the
Organization Business Unit Interface table. From there the existing Organization
Hierarchy ETL process flow can be used to update the Organization Business Unit
(DDR_R_BSNS_UNIT) target table.


3.6.3.4. Scorecard Enhancements (Goals & Thresholds)
The sales, operations and supply chain scorecards have been enhanced to improve
usability (see illustration below). These enhancements include:

• Driving performance indicators (red, yellow green indicators) based on
externally-loaded goals and thresholds.

• Monitoring weekly performance results as opposed to daily performance

• Color-coded performance indicators which are based on the loaded goals and
thresholds.

• “Latest Results” are now based on weekly results, goals and thresholds.
Previously, the latest results displayed daily values, which was too granular.

• “Overall Results” are now based on YTD results. Previously, the scorecard
compared a yearly goal against the associated measure (e.g., unit sales) for a
given year. This allows users to monitor performance throughout the year
(rather than waiting until the end of the year).

In addition, the following enhancements were made to improve readability:

• Both the measure value and the color-coded performance indicator are displayed
on the main scorecard pages

• When drilling down from the scorecard, the year filter criteria is passed to the
underlying report. In addition, the associated chart is displayed first (before any
table data)

On the operations scorecard, the Deduction Balance measure has replaced the Deduction
Amount measure.


3.6.3.5. Store Clusters
DSR supports the ability to group “like” stores (or distribution centers) together to
execute strategies related to specific store formats, consumer demographics, weather
zones, or other characteristics. Each business unit (store or distribution center) may be
associated to one or more store clusters.

The example below illustrates how stores from different retailers can be assigned to store
clusters based on average income, lifestyle and geographic location. A store cluster
report is available to analyze sales by store cluster type (e.g., Average income, Lifestyle,
Coastal) to see breakdown of sales by each unique cluster.

3.6.3.6. Item Clusters
Similar to store clusters, DSR supports the ability to group “like” SKUs together to
evaluate sales strategies and promotional activities.

The example below illustrates how SKUs from different product categories can be
assigned to item clusters based on average container material, primary shopper and brand
perception.


3.6.3.7. Replenishment Rules
DSR supports the loading of customer replenishment rules to provide visibility into the
criteria used by the store or distribution center when reordering products. This
information can be used to determine whether out-of-stocks or overstocks are being
caused by an inappropriate inventory management policy, or to anticipate future order
volumes.

The replenishment rules are used by the exception management workbench to display
over and under stock conditions. The replenishment rules are also accessible to the end
user when building ad-hoc queries.


3.6.3.8. Allocation Rules
DSR has the ability to allocate POS and sales forecast facts received at an aggregate
level to the business unit / day level. The time allocation and organization allocation
percentages have been exposed in the BI Answers catalog, so end users can view the
percentages that were used when allocating sales facts to the business unit or day level.

3.6.4. Release 12.1.3

3.6.4.1. Manufacturer Promotions
Oracle Demand Signal Repository has been extended to include the capture and analysis
of Manufacturer Promotions. The functionality within this feature includes:

• The ability to load manufacturer promotion information using out of the box
generic interface tables and Oracle Warehouse Builder process flows

• The ability to associate sales to a manufacturer promotion to report promoted vs.
non-compliant sales (e.g., sales that should have been promoted)

• A new Manufacturer Promotion Dashboard which shows:
o Weekly sales compliance trend broken down by promoted and non-
compliant sales
o Manufacturer promotion compliance by product category which displays
promoted and non-promoted sales by product category
o Expected vs. actual promotion sales
o Expected vs. actual ACV % by manufacturer promotion


o Expected vs. actual sales by promotion type (e.g., display, feature, etc.)
to analyze results by promotion tactic
o Promotion compliance by promotion type
• Context sensitive drilldowns are available from the manufacturer promotion
dashboard to display:
o Manufacturer Promotion Summary Results which compare actual
promotion results against expectations at the promotion/customer level.
o Manufacturer Promotion Detail Results which compare actual promotion
results against expectations at the promotion/customer/SKU level.
3.6.4.2. Manufacturer Shipments
Manufacturers need visibility into products as they move downstream in the supply chain
to the consumer. In previous releases, Oracle Demand Signal Repository provided
visibility of products at customer locations (either distribution centers or retail stores),
but did not have visibility into shipments leaving the manufacturer’s facilities.

Oracle Demand Signal Repository has been enhanced to capture manufacturer shipments
to provide end to end visibility of products as they leave the manufacturer’s site all the
way to the store and ultimate sale to the consumer. The functionality within this feature
includes:

• The ability to load the manufacturer’s organization hierarchy to define locations
from where product is shipped

• The ability to load manufacturer shipment information using out of the box
generic interface tables and Oracle Warehouse Builder process flows

• A new Shipment Dashboard which shows:
o Manufacturer shipment trend
o Customer sales trend (to compare against manufacturer shipments)
o Actual vs. forecasted customer shipments
o Customer shipments vs. receipts (by product category and business unit)
to spot potential product diversion issues
o Customer shipment throughput of inbound shipments vs. outbound
shipments
3.6.4.3. Customer Shipment Facts
As part of the manufacturer shipments enhancements, customer shipment facts were also
enhanced to capture ship-to location and shipment cost information.

3.6.4.4. Third Party Distributors
Manufacturers may ship product to customers via third party distributors. In previous
releases of Oracle Demand Signal Repository distributors were not distinguishable from
other organizations (e.g., retailers). To provide better visibility into third party
distributors, a new organization type has been created specifically for distributors. In
addition, a new distributor dashboard has been created. The functionality within this
feature includes:

• Creation of a new Organization Type for distributors


• The ability to load distributor reference information using out of the box generic
interface tables and Oracle Warehouse Builder process flows. This includes
loading:
o Distributor organization hierarchy
o Distributor item hierarchy
o Distributor business calendar
o Distributor replenishment rules
• The ability to load distributor fact information using out of the box generic
interface tables and Oracle Warehouse Builder process flows. This includes
loading:
o Distributor shipments
o Distributor inventory
o Distributor shipment forecast (see Forecast Type and Purpose Code
enhancement)
• Creation of a new Distributor dashboard which shows:
o Manufacturer shipments by distributor
o Distributor shipments by customer
o Weekly manufacturer shipment trend
o Forecast accuracy by distributor
o Distributor inventory by product category
o Customer shipments by distributor
o Distributor throughput (inbound and outbound shipments) by product
Category
o Weekly distributor throughput trend

3.6.4.5. Alternate Organization Hierarchy
Since its inaugural release, Oracle Demand Signal Repository has had the ability to
capture and analyze facts based on the customer’s view of their organization structure.
Manufacturers and their supply chain partners (e.g., syndicated data providers) may have
their own view of how the customer’s organization is structured for purposes of account
management, promotion planning, collecting and aggregating consumption data, etc.
This view is oftentimes different from how the customer views its organization structure.

The Alternate Organization Hierarchy feature allows alternate views of the customer’s
organization to co-exist within DSR along with the original customer organization
hierarchy. Facts can be inquired upon using the original customer organization
hierarchy, or one or more alternate organization hierarchies.

The Alternate Organization Hierarchy provides a flexible organization structure, which
can vary depending on the source of the data, or the type of analysis performed. For
example:

Example 1 – Syndicated Data Provider. Manufacturers who subscribe to a syndicated
data provider service for account information can load this information into the alternate
organization hierarchy and leave the original customer organization hierarchy untouched,


so that account team’s can still talk to customers in terms of the customer’s view of their
organization.

Example 2 – Customer Buying Organization / Planning Hierarchy. The manufacturer’s
own view of the customer’s organization may be based on how the customer’s buying
organization is structured. When performing activities, such as promotion planning and
execution, the promotion may apply to a level within the retailer’s organization, which
represents the area for which a buyer is responsible. For example, a retail department
(e.g., giftware, jewelry, etc.) or buying region (e.g., east, west, etc.). One or more of
these views of the customer organization can be loaded to the alternate organization
hierarchy.

The business benefits to having alternate organization hierarchies include:

• Ability to view customer data at aggregate levels that represent the various ways
in which the manufacturer conducts business with the customer.

• Ability to analyze fact data at a level that is equivalent to other systems in use by
the Manufacturer. For example, to analyze and report on DSR retail demand data
by planning account (i.e., a level in an alternate organization hierarchy), which
would be equivalent to the planning account used in Demantra Predictive Trade
Planning or Siebel Consumer Goods.

The functionality within this feature includes:
• The ability to define the types of alternate organization hierarchies to be used
(e.g., AC Nielsen, Buying Organization, etc.)
• The ability to configure the DSR repository to expose additional hierarchies
and/or levels and name each level according to desired use (see additional
information below)
• The ability to load alternate organization hierarchy information using out of the
box generic interface tables and Oracle Warehouse Builder process flows.
Information loaded includes:
o The types of alternate organization hierarchies in use
o The attributes associated with each account within an alternate
organization hierarchy, including a set of 20 user-defined attributes
which can be customized, and the parent account to which each child
account belongs.
o The association between a business unit (e.g., store or distribution
center) and an account in the alternate organization hierarchy.
• The ability to associate syndicated consumption data to any account within an
alternate organization hierarchy.
• A sample report, called Sales Performance by Account, has been made available
to illustrate how the alternate organization can be used to build other reports.

Additional Information

DSR ships with a sample alternate organization hierarchy exposed in the Answers web
catalog which has four levels exposed. To use additional alternate organization
hierarchies, the DSR repository must be modified to define the number of levels being
used and the names of each level to be exposed. Up to ten levels within an alternate


organization hierarchy can be exposed without requiring any physical data model
changes.

3.6.4.6. Forecast Type and Purpose Code
Prior to this release of Oracle Demand Signal Repository, forecasts were assumed to be
sales related. In addition, there was no way to distinguish baseline from incremental
forecast. As of this release, Oracle Demand Signal Repository has enhanced the forecast
facts to provide additional types of forecast, as well as defining baseline vs. incremental
forecast. The functionality within this feature includes:

• The ability to capture different types of forecasts coming from the
retailer/customer. In one case, the forecast may represent projected store sales,
while in other cases; the forecasts may represent projected orders or shipments
for the distribution centers.

• To differentiate the types of forecasts provided by the retailer, the forecast data
contains two additional attributes.

o Forecast Purpose. The forecast purpose code indicates whether a
forecast represents a projected sales quantity (for stores), order quantity
(for distribution locations), shipment quantity (for distribution locations)
or a projected receipt quantity (for either stores or DCs).

o Forecast Type. The forecast type code indicates whether the forecast
quantity includes only base demand (without promotional volumes),
promotional demand only, or "total" demand (including both base and
promo).

• Existing out of the box reports and dashboards were modified to specify that the
forecast data being displayed had a Forecast Purpose code of SALES and a
Forecast Type of TOTAL. This is to maintain parity with the original intent of
the reports.

3.6.4.7. User Defined Fields
To provide flexibility in capturing additional attributes within Oracle Demand Signal
Repository, without requiring changes to the physical data model, a set of 20 user-
defined attributes (10 alphanumeric, 10 numeric) have been added to the entities listed
below:
• Manufacturer Item Hierarchy (all levels)
• Organization Hierarchy (all levels)
• Retailer Item Hierarchy (all levels)
• Item Cluster Definition
• Retailer Cluster Definition
• Customer Promotion Plans
Manufacturer’s needing to capture additional attributes against these entities can
leverage the out of the box interface tables and Oracle Warehouse Builder process flows
without needing to make any customizations.


3.6.4.8. Type 2 Slowly Changing Dimensions
By default, Oracle Demand Signal Repository supports Type 2 Slowly Changing
Dimensions (SCD) on the following dimensions:
• Organization
• Manufacturer Item Hierarchy
• Customer (Retail) Item Hierarchy
Historically, the Type 2 SCD feature is always turned on for these three dimensions.
With this release, Type 2 SCD functionality can be turned off at implementation time to
give customers the option whether to use this feature or not.

3.6.5. Release 12.2

There are no new features in Oracle Demand Signal Repository in Release 12.2.

3.7. Oracle Demantra – All Products

3.7.1. Release 12.2

3.7.1.1. Calendar Month Support in Weekly System
Each Oracle Demantra implementation has a core time resolution definition. This
definition drives the resolution of data kept in the system, which in turns drives the

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document Oracle Demantra – All Products 44

granularity of data available to users, as well as key Demantra processes. Currently this
data granularity serves as the smallest building block upon which all time management
and display is done.

If a customer’s business requirements include support of both weeks and calendar
months they cannot achieve this using a weekly system, as weeks do not aggregate
wholly into calendar months. Currently the only way to support this requirement is to
have a system where the lowest time resolution is daily.

This release will enhance the Demantra data model to enable supporting week-to- month
calendar rollups. Functionality supported:
• Pre-configured Calendar Months time aggregation
• View Weekly data via Calendar Months, Quarters and Years
• Update data in Calendar Months, Quarters and Years

3.7.1.2. Import from Excel
This release enables customers to import data directly from a file (tab-delimited Unicode
format only; can be named as .xls file) into a compatible worksheet. This will enable
users to quickly import data such as customer forecast, or data they have manipulated in
Excel for mass updates (such as planning percentages). A template for import can be
generated via an enhanced version of the Export to Excel feature.

3.7.1.3. Engine Performance Improvements
This release sets engine pass through as the default configuration for the analytical
engine. With this configuration, the Sales_Data_Engine will not be created for every
engine branch but instead the data will be retrieved from the Sales_Data table directory.

This will reduce configuration time needed to apply this configuration at key customers,
improve implementation delivery times and maintain or improve engine run times.

3.7.1.4. General Engine Enhancements
This release enables control of combination life-cycle parameters to be configured
locally or globally. Dying_time, mature_age and hist_glob_prop will support a global
configuration with local overrides. As an example of the business justification, some
SKUs are promotional and are only sold every few years. In order to keep them active,
dying time could be set to a very high number while in other SKUs a shorter time could
be used to trigger deactivation.

3.7.1.5. Analytical Engine on Solaris 10
In this release, we extend our operating system support of the analytical engine to
include Solaris 10.

3.7.1.6. Improved Multi-Language Support
As a further improvement on language support, Demantra 12.2 includes support for
multiple languages within a single instance. This will enable users to select from a list of
supported languages at login, and review and collaborate in their selected language.


3.7.1.7. Technology Stack
Demantra 12.2 aligns with the EBS Technology Stack, including the following
extensions and version upgrades above existing supported technologies:
• Oracle Weblogic 11g
• CPLEX 12 for Trade Promotion Optimization
• Oracle Connection Manager 11g (OCM)
• Oracle Access Manager 11g (replaces SSO)
• Internet Explorer 9
• Firefox 4
• Safari 5
• Applications Middle Tier JDK: Java 6.0
• Applications Client Runtime Java: 6.0
In addition, we will support the following version upgrades:
• IBM WebSphere or WebSphere Express 7.0
• Tomcat 6.x and 7.0

3.7.1.8. Demand Variability Definition
The user interface for standard error (currently erroneously labeled ‘Safety Stock’) is
relocated from the Business Logic Engine (BLE) to the Business Modeler and renamed
to ‘Demand Variability’. This will better consolidate all system administrator tasks into
one administrative application.

Further, performance of the procedures that calculate standard error is improved by
implementing multi-threading.

3.7.1.9. Configure Rolling Profile Groups
A new user interface is provided to define Rolling Profile Groups in the Business
Modeler. This new option, as well as the definition of Rolling Data Profiles, is moved
under the ‘Configuration’ menu in the Business Modeler. Previously, the configuration
of Rolling Data Profiles was found under the ‘Engine’ menu.

3.7.1.10. Integration Data Profile Hints
Integration Interface hints are defined in the Business Modeler for Data Profiles. System
administrators will be able to define both data and population hints within the Data
Profile wizard.

3.7.1.11. Database Performance Improvements
Database performance can decline due to out-of-order tables or incorrectly defined
primary keys. In this release we provide standard mechanisms for performing database
‘health checks’(both a quick and thorough version) and procedures to rebuild key data
tables like SALES_DATA and MDP_MATRIX if necessary. This procedure will be
dynamically created in Demantra and can be run either while the application server is
live or during a period when the application server is down. The key focus of this design
is to provide a means of assessing and addressing declines in database performance due
to out-of-order tables.


3.7.1.12. Asynchronous Workflow Support
Currently, workflow steps in Demantra workflows operate in a synchronous mode (i.e.,
they wait for the step to complete before proceeding to the next step in the workflow).
This mode of operation works well for most types of workflow steps currently supported
in the workflow editor. However, there are certain types of workflow steps for which an
asynchronous mode of operation would be useful. Asynchronous mode of operation
means the workflow will not be required to wait for the current step to complete in order
to proceed to the next step in the workflow.

Asynchronous support is provided for the following types of workflow steps:
• Launch Workflow Step
• User Step
• Group Step
• Exception Step
Many of these steps are simply used to notify users of data to review or exceptions to
take note of. Once the notification has been sent, the workflow should proceed to
completion rather than wait for the user to mark as ‘Done’.

3.8. Oracle Demantra Demand Management

3.8.1. Release 12.2

3.8.1.1. Enhanced Integration with Advanced Planning Command Center
Demand Management seeds integration with Oracle Advanced Planning Command
Center. Demand plan measures can be published to the Advanced Planning Command
Center (APCC) and used in dashboard reports. These measures are archived by plan for
immediate scenario comparison to facilitate faster development of profitable demand
shaping strategies.

There is support for publishing custom demand series to APCC forecasting measures.
For example, if customer forecasts are maintained in a Demand Management series then
this forecast data can be published to a seeded, generic APCC measure.

Integration is also available for a limited item hierarchy mapping between Demand
Management and APCC. For example, if a custom item hierarchy has been defined in the
Business Modeler (e.g. Item < Product SubGroup < Product Group < Product Line) then
this structure can be replicated automatically in APCC.

3.9. Oracle Demantra Real-time Sales and Operations Planning

3.9.1. Release 12.2

3.9.1.1. Improved Cost Modeling
Detailed supply cost modeling is available in S&OP. Supply cost breakdown is by
transportation, storage, purchase, and manufacturing costs. Seeded integration with
Strategic Network Optimization brings planning costs at the item, organization and time
level by plan scenario rather than deriving total cost using standard costs in S&OP. This

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document Oracle Demantra Demand Management 47

enables our customers to understand the cost trade-offs between plan scenarios for a
more profitable response. For example, a SNO plan scenario may indicate higher
transportation and supply costs due to outsourcing whereas an alternative plan scenario
that increases resource capacity may reflect higher manufacturing and storage costs. This
enhancement improves decision support through more detailed cost analysis.

3.9.1.2. Enhanced Integration with Advanced Planning Command Center
Prior to this release, nearly all of the Forecasting measures from S&OP were plan
independent in APCC and publishing overwrote the previous set of values. This
diminished the utility of the APCC for demand data analysis. For example, there was no
ability to compare sales forecast, projected backlog, and financial forecast measures
between scenarios to evaluate plan differences. All Forecasting measures published from
S&OP (excluding historical data series) are now striped by plan name, and can be
archived and are therefore comparable between scenarios. S&OP leverages the same
integration enhancements as in DM.

These enhancements to S&OP-APCC integration include:
• Streamlined publish process for Forecasting measures: All Forecasting measures
are published in a single workflow thereby eliminating manual steps.
• Publish custom measures: Support for publishing custom S&OP series to
APCC. This includes both forecast and historical measures.
• Item Hierarchy Mapping: Provide limited mapping of item hierarchy between
the Business Modeler and APCC. For example, if a custom item hierarchy has
been defined in the Business Modeler (e.g. Item < Product SubGroup < Product
Group < Product Line) then this structure can be replicated automatically in
APCC.

3.10. Oracle Demantra Predictive Trade Planning

3.10.1. Release 12.2

3.10.1.1. Enabling ‘Dynamic Open Link’ capabilities and Demantra Anywhere
Previously, Dynamic Open Link (DOL) and Demantra Anywhere (DA) were available
only if the Sales and Operations Planning component was installed. In this release,
customers who have licensed Predictive Trade Planning are able to use DOL to export
promotion data from Demantra into third party reporting tools such as Microsoft Excel.
They will also be able to leverage the thin client of DA for promotions planning.

3.11. Oracle Demantra Trade Promotion Optimization

3.11.1. Release 12.2

3.11.1.1. Enabling Nodal Tuning
Previously, nodal tuning was only available to Advanced Forecasting and Demand
Modeling (AFDM) customers. In this release, we enable this advanced analytical

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document Oracle Demantra Predictive Trade Planning 48

functionality for Predictive Trade Planning customers who purchase Trade Promotion
Optimization. This enables more granular control of the analytical engine.

3.11.1.2. Enhancements to Optimization
A number of enhancements are introduced:
• Exclusion rules: Users will be able to define a set of conditions that should not
occur together in a solution. For example, you should not run a TPR
simultaneously with an Ad, and discount should exclude discounts in a certain
range.
• Optimized buydown: Buydown is now optimized like other variables in the
optimizer. In previous releases, the buydown calculation was deterministic and
calculated using the minimum retailer margin constraint. In this version,
buydown is now part of the optimization problem and the value is selected by the
optimization process.
• Vehicle cost overrides: The vehicle_cost expression has been changed to allow
cost event overrides per causal and per transpose.
• Control over impact of financial constraints: Provide the ability to turn off
financial constraints such as minimum manufacturer or retail margins.
• Define baseline: If a manual override was done to the baseline forecast,
customers might require that value be used as the baseline for the promotion
when calculating Revenue and Profit. In this release, we provide control over
the expression denoting baseline.

3.12. Oracle Global Order Promising
3.12.1. Release 12.1.1

There are no new features in Oracle Global Order Promising in Release 12.1.1.

3.12.2. Release 12.1.2

There are no new features in Oracle Global Order Promising in Release 12.1.2.

3.12.3. Release 12.1.3

3.12.3.1. Enhanced Forward ATP
Prior to this enhancement, during forward scheduling (when there is insufficient supply
to promise a demand on its requested date, due to which GOP searches for supply later
than the requested date), GOP would consider sources in rank order and select the first
source that yielded a promise date less than or equal to the latest acceptable date. This
did not guarantee that the source with the best promise date would get selected.

With this enhancement, GOP returns the best possible promise date by combining
availability across all sources. The enhancement is enabled by enabling the profile
“MSC: Use Enhanced Forward ATP”. With this enhanced behavior, GOP uses iterative
search logic to determine the most optimal promise date during forward scheduling. This
feature increases the computation burden of the order promising calculation, and may
impact GOP performance, especially in very constrained supply scenarios.

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document Oracle Global Order Promising 49

3.12.4. Release 12.2

There are no new features in Oracle Global Order Promising in Release 12.2.

3.13. Oracle Inventory Optimization
3.13.1. Release 12.1.1

3.13.1.1. Support for Intermittent Demands
Inventory Optimization now explicitly supports forecasts that represent intermittent
demands. Forecasts that are fed into IO from Service Parts Planning that have been
generated using a statistical method designated as being for intermittent demands, or
forecasts that are designated via plan options to be of the intermittent demand variety,
will now be assumed by IO to have a more appropriate Poisson error distribution about
the forecasted mean. In addition, IO intelligently distributes small calculated total safety
stock targets across multiple echelons of a supply chain so that the location-specific
targets are integer numbers.

3.13.2. Release 12.1.2

There are no new features in Oracle Inventory Optimization in Release 12.1.2.

3.13.3. Release 12.1.3

3.13.3.1. Enhanced Budget Constraints
Prior to this release, IO did not have the ability to ensure integer valued safety stock
solutions within input budget constraints. A new heuristic ensures integer valued safety
stocks while respecting input budget constraints. This new heuristic is enabled by setting
the profile option “MSR: Budget Heuristic” to Yes (the default value is No).

A few points about the new heuristic:

• It is applicable only for a single level supply chain

• It is applicable only for plan level and organization level budgets

• It is applicable for both intermittent and non-intermittent demand streams

3.13.4. Release 12.2

There are no new features in Oracle Inventory Optimization in Release 12.2.

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document Oracle Inventory Optimization 50

3.14. Oracle Production Scheduling
3.14.1. Release 12.1.1

3.14.1.1. Units of Measure on Items
A “Unit Of Measure” has been added
as an explicit attribute of every item.
This enhancement provides improved
visualization throughout the model
and schedule views.
o A global “Unit Of Measure”
tab has been added to the
scenario properties where
users can visualize / define
units of measure.
o Integration processes
automatically populate this
list when PS is run in an
integrated manner

3.14.1.2. Enhanced Alerts
In PS, Alerts have been broken down into four distinct categories (Work Order, Demand,
Inventory and Resource) and various types within each.

These alert categories and types are added to the Model Workspace in the form of a tree
control for easier navigation and summary data visualization

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The alert view is now tab based and summarized by category / type and is context
sensitive to selection within the Model Workspace for easier navigation

3.14.1.3. Work Order Centric KPI Comparisons
The KPI comparison view can now be viewed as either Demand centric or Work Order
Centric. Via a new dropdown option, you can now understand the impact on the work
order schedule when comparing scenarios.


3.14.1.4. Access Operation and Routings from Operation Instances
This usability enhancement allows the user to perform a right click on a given operation
in any of the schedule Gantt charts and easily drill down to the operation and/or routing
diagrams. This avoids the user having to navigate back through to the model workspace
or the “where used” properties of a resource to in order to be open an operation.

3.14.1.5. Auto-create Work Orders Directly from Demands
For schedule prototyping purposes, scenario simulation purposes and/or product
demonstrations, users sometimes create Work Orders directly in the PS in Work Order
Editor using standard functionality. (i.e. Right click | Add Production Work Order).
Once the work order is created, users usually peg these back to a given sales order.


This works well, but if there are many sales orders and the user wishes to create a work
order for each demand / line item combination this could potentially take quite a bit of
time.

A new feature has been added to PS that allows users to automatically create Work
Orders for a given sales order without even navigating to the Work Order Editor.

A simple right click on a demand or a folder or a subset / mixture of folders and demands
(via multi-select) allows users to automatically create a work order per demand.

3.14.1.6. Find Functionality for Model Objects
Find functionality is now available in PS using “CTRL-F” via the PS toolbar by selecting
Edit | Find. This will launch a “Find” dialog box which provides text based searching in
the PS model and the ability to drilldown to the “found” objects. You can limit the
search to the following (by chosen scenario):

o All (will search all model objects listed below and their description fields as well)
o Supplies and Demands only
o Work Orders only
o All Resources
o Crews only
o Machines only
o Tools only
o Items only
o Operations only
o Routings only

Selecting and double
clicking the result (or
selecting the “Open
button) will drilldown
to the selected object.
For example, double
clicking the operation
code will open the
operation diagram


3.14.1.7. Visibility to Demand Fulfilled via Starting Inventory
In previous versions of PS, if an order was fulfilled from both production and either
starting inventory or a supply event, the starting inventory was not simultaneously
displayed in the Production Pegging view (only the Production). This release addresses
this by explicitly detailing each of the pegging relationships.

This applies to materials, WIP and finished goods. The demand for “Item A” shows a
green diamond at the start of horizon indicating some of the order is taken from
inventory. The production below it indicates the remaining quantity is from
manufacturing activities. “Material 1” is consumed in operation A and pegged to both an
on-hand quantity and a purchase recommendation.

“Material 2” is pegged to starting inventory and an incoming purchase order, each
represented with a diamond representing incoming supply

3.14.1.8. Automatic Reconciliation of Schedule Backlog
It is common to see shop floor backlog in the schedule views to notify the scheduler that
the shop floor is behind and action should be taken to reconcile the situation. There are
a variety of different scenarios which cause backlog in the schedule for example:
o Work order operations having a Firm Start Date, Firm End Date, or Firm Date
Range in the past,
o >1 work order operations having an Active Status on the work order routing
operation step which conflicts with another work order
o >1 work order operations with a “firm” status with overlapping date ranges
For example, in the screen capture below, the area shaded in yellow indicates a point in
time that occurs prior to the horizon start.


While this provides excellent feedback to users, it also introduces another issue – the
operations can not actually be run in the past. Prior to this release of PS, reconciling the
schedule was primarily performed by using Cut | Paste in the Resource Gantt.

While this method worked well, it could potentially be somewhat cumbersome to do
when there are many operations running behind and/or many resources in the model.

This release of PS provides the user with a right click menu item “Enforce Horizon
Start” on resources. Enabling this flag (or setting it in the data model) and performing a
repair solve will “push forward” all operations on that resource to the start of the horizon
while maintaining operation sequence and at the same time respecting upstream /
downstream precedence constraints. Enabling this flag (or setting it in the data model)
and performing a coldsolve will accomplish the same thing without user intervention (i.e.
Auto-reconciliation).

For example, in the diagram below, the operations running on Die Bonder 2 are running
behind. The user selects Die Bonder 2, performs a right click, selects “Enforce Horizon
Start” and performs a
repair solve (or cold
solve). (Users are also
able to multi-select and
enable this flag for all
highlighted resources).
The operations on the
applicable resource are
“pushed forward”,
maintaining the original
sequence. This can also
be persisted in the data
model for a given
resource as well.

Operations running in the past will be pushed to start at the beginning of the horizon.
The sequence of operations on the resource will not be changed. In many cases, the
operations running behind will be one of several operations that are contained within a
routing. Since routings have precedence constraints between operations, moving
operations from the past to horizon start may have consequences on other operations in
the routing. Any upstream or downstream pegged operations of this operation will be
pushed forward (if precedence constraints dictate).

3.14.1.9. Batchable Resources
A “Batchable” resource can be described as a machine / oven / kiln (or similar) that can
process one or more items simultaneously, but
only if they share 1 or more similar “Attributes”
(such as Temperature, Color, Duration etc) and
“Attribute Value” such as 1 Hour @ 400 Degrees

Typically, these resources have several “spots” or
something equivalent in them. Items when
processes within these resources consume 1 or
more of these spots.


This enhancement to PS enables the following behavior:
o Allows users to explicitly define a given resource as “Batchable” along with a
minimum and maximum spot capacity
o Define a pull forward window to allow a resource to be filled to it’s minimum
spot capacity
o Allow users to explicitly associate 1 or more user defined attributes and attribute
values to an item. T
o Automatic grouping of operations on a batchable resource by attribute
o If this is 1 attribute (such as temperature), all operations will be grouped
together of the same temperature up to the max capacity of the resource.
o If the user groups by more than 1 attribute (for example temperature and
duration), this implies that all operations sharing the same duration and
temperature will be run together to the max capacity of the resource.
o Manually move operations between batches if desired or manually move an
entire batch. For example, if a sequence on a resource is scheduled to be 10
Hours at 500 Degrees followed by 12 Hours at 400 Degrees, the user can switch
the order (via cut/paste, drag/drop, re-sequence in the resource gantt).

For example, the Resource Gantt below illustrates several ovens (CC4101 -> CC4105).
Each of these ovens constrain a variety of operations which are running at the same time
and grouped by temperature and duration. The summary colour at the oven level
indicates spot utilization. Bubble help indicates the attributes of the batch and one can
utilize an option in the Toolbar which allows you to highlight only certain batches if you
wish (in orange).

Batches are of course applicable to regular manual scheduling activities. You can cut,
paste entire batches between ovens, move operations from batch to another, resequence
batches and even manually move operations into another batch which does not share the
same attributes (you will be provided with a warning…).

3.14.1.10. Consistent Resource Assignment within a Portion of a Routing
Alternate resources in a given manufacturing operation are very common amongst most
Production Scheduling customer models. These alternate resources are modeled via the
use of resource sets. In many cases, this resource set recurs in an upstream or
downstream operation(s). In many cases, it is imperative that once a resource is chosen in


an upstream operation, it must also be chosen in a downstream operation. This works
well in PS and previously was a routing wide configurable option known as “Consistent
Resource Assignment”. Users expressed the desire to be able to perform consistent
resource assignment within only a selected group of operations within this routing - for
example, operation steps 10, 20 and 30 must run on the same resource but steps 40,50
and 60 even though share a common resource with their preceding operations can run on
the alternate. This enhancement in PS allows users to be able to configure PS to do just
this.

Consider the following manufacturing routing. To make item “A”, it must through a
setup, run and cleanup operation where it is then cooled. The item passes through a
recursive process - Setup(2), Run(2), and Cleanup(2). With the exception of the
Cooling operation, all operations run on either M1 or M2, as illustrated for the first Run
operation.

 When the first setup operation occurs on either M1 or M2, resource assignment
must be the same for the following 2 operation steps.
 If M1 is chosen in the setup operation, it must also be chosen in the run and cleanup.
(You don’t want to cleanup a machine that you didn’t run on).
 The cooling process occurs in a staging area. However, after the cooling operation
takes place, the same logic occurs for the next recurrence of the setup, run and
cleanup operations, but a different alternate can be chosen.
 The first three steps must run on the same machine and the last three steps must also
run on the same machine.

The user opens up the properties of the routing and creates 2 distinct group and assigns
the first 3 operations to the first group and the last 3 operations to the second group as
illustrated.


The user performs a solve. The first three operations are run on M1. After the cooling
operation, the remaining three operations are run on M2. This could of course all be on
M1 or all of M2 or in reverse order. The point is the operations in the groups share the
same resource.

 If operations are not assigned to groups, they are permitted to be run on any
given resource.
 If the user is using All of Sets (i.e. >1 Resource such as a Machine1 and Tool1
OR a Machine2 and Tool2), consistent resource assignment applies to the group.
i.e. The group must be the same.
 When migrating a model from previous versions, the import will detect if a
routing has consistent resource assignment selected and auto-create a group and
assign all operations to it.

3.14.1.11. Resource-specific Cycle Times for Campaign Run Optimization

PS provides the ability to define:

o Minimum cycle times in various bucket sizes. In a previous release of
PS, cycle size was either a Shift, Day or a Week. Cycle sizes are now
flexible. For example, a cycle can be 2 weeks, 4 days etc.


If the resource specific cycle size checkbox is selected, planners can enable this flag
by CRO resource. Therefore, different lines in the plant can be on their own cycle
times rather than having to adhere to global cycle.

3.14.1.12. Minimize Work Order Schedule Infeasibilities
As Production Scheduling is a finite capacity scheduling application, some situations can
occur which would result in an infeasible production schedule. These situations are
always being monitored and resolved through improved data validation, alerting and
solver handling of problematic inputs, and has drastically improved throughout the past
several releases. This release continues to improve on this theme. For example, it is
quite common and sometimes unavoidable to have:

o >1 work order operation firmed on a same single capacity resource with
overlapping date / times.
o A firm date range on a work order operation which is shorter than total
operation run / elapsed time

In prior versions of PS:
o If the dates fell within the fixed time fence, PS would reconcile the
infeasibility and alert the planner that shop floor backlog exists
o If these work order operations were outside of the fixed time fence this
resulted in an infeasible schedule.
o In this release there is an added capability for the solver to resolve
conflicts of this type outside of the fixed time fence if necessary to avoid
this situation.
For example, take the following 2 work orders which are both firmed at the same time
outside of the FTF:


Solved in a previous version – the schedule was infeasible and the planner was provided
with an error message indicative of such.

In this release, the schedule is feasible. The highest priority work order is moved to start
earlier in the horizon.

Supporting alerts are also provided to the user to indicate the firm date violation.

3.14.1.13. Disable Units of Effort for Setup and Cleanup Operations
PS has a differentiating feature introduced several releases ago which provides the ability
to schedule Work Orders according to their individual “unit of effort.”

This feature cross references the routing template to “break down” work order operations
into the lot multiples specified on the routing. The feature can be enabled as either a
global option applying to all routings, or the user can specify the feature for specific
routings. For example, if this feature is leveraged, a work order is scheduled to
release inventory according to every lot multiple. In the example below, inventory is
moved between operations in 25 unit increments – the work order has only 3 operations
listed on it, but PS will break it down according to the routing lot multiple.

 Inventory Production and Consumption is accurate
 Makespan is accurate
 Resource usage is accurate
In some cases, it is quite possible that the first operation may be a setup operation and
the last operation may be a cleanup operation.


In this case, the setup & cleanup operations only need to be executed once as opposed to
three times. This release of PS has the ability to specify an operation of type “Setup,
Production or Cleanup”.

Setup and Cleanup operations will not be broken down to their units of effort.

3.14.1.14. Resource “All of” Sets
PS provides excellent resource offloading functionality within an operation (e.g.
Machine 1 can be substituted for Machine 2, Crew 1 for Crew 2, etc.) via the use of
“Resource Sets”. This type of set can be referred to as a “one of” type of set, meaning
one of the resources within the set must be used. This release adds a new set type on
operations that support resource replacement “groups” within PS ( an “All of” type of
set).

This means that resource exclusivity relationships can now be defined directly within a
given operation as opposed to having to use Operation Sets.

For example, Operator 1 can only run Line 1 and Line 3. Operator 2 can only run Line 3
and Line 2. The new operation structure within PS is depicted below.


The work order editor has a new column to indicate the name of the “all of” set. This is
where manual overrides can be made to which set is attached to the work order. If an
alternate set has a different number of resources, rows will be added / subtracted as
appropriate.

Paste targets in the Gantt charts are consistent with previous versions of PS. Offloading
to an alternate set will show the target in orange. Pasting to a different time on the same
set will be highlighted in light blue.

A “1 of” resource set can contain a mixture of “All of” sets, plus single resources.


The “All of Sets” are shown in the Production Pegging View. The operations on the
solver selected “All of Set” is summarized on the set name, so the user will have
visibility into which “All of” set has been chosen without expanding all of the sets.

From an offloading perspective, The overall approach is virtually the same as previous
versions of PS, but the offloading calculation must be applied to all members of the set.
If any one of the resources within an “All of” set have their threshold violated, all
resources will be offloaded. If any one of the resources in the target “All of” set have
their offload thresholds violated prior to the offloading taking place, the operation will
not be offloaded to that set. At this point, an additional alternate will be evaluated - if
no alternates have available capacity, no offloading should take place. If the primary is
significantly overloaded, offloading will still occur to less loaded (but still overloaded)
alternates. This effectively spreads the load and will help get orders met as quickly as
possible.

The PS “Consistent Resource Assignment” feature is also impacted by this enhancement.
Prior to this release, Consistent Resource Assignment across routing steps was based on
a single resource. If “Line 1” was chosen in Step 1 of a routing, it must also be chosen
in a subsequent step. In this release, Consistent Resource Assignment applies to
members of the “all of” set.


3.14.1.15. Hard Links Between Work Orders
This enhancement allows a “many to many” relationship amongst Work Orders along
with the ability for the user to specify precedence constraints between these Work
Orders. This is handy if a specific sequence is required between several work orders.

The business requirements for this enhancement are best explained with a simple
example. Assume the following manufacturing process.

To make Item A, the following routing steps take place. The lot multiple across the
manufacturing routing is 25 units. Item A is produced by Operation C.

Operation A consumes an inventory “Material A”.

Material A is a subassembly also manufactured in the plant as per the following process.
The lot multiple across this routing is also 25 units. The material is produced by
Operation C1.

Assume the user creates a work order for the finished good and the material (50 units
each).

These Work Orders are related through inventory, so will generally schedule JIT and
have some degree of overlap as illustrated below.


If the user wishes to explicitly relate these Work Orders to one another (for example for
lot control, quality reasons etc), they can specify the relationship in the work order editor
in the new “Related Work Orders” tab. Precedence relationships (to facilitate a cooling
process, inspection etc) can also be specified, along with min / max separation
constraints.

Assume the user populates “Starts After End” with a minimum separation time of 5
Hours. When “Units of Effort” is used, the 5 hour minimum separation is applied to the
pegged work order routing instances. In this case, the Work Orders are for 50 units each
(remember, the routing has a lot multiple of 25 units), therefore there are 2 routing
instances and separation is applied twice.

The relationships between the Work Orders can be “many to many”.
• A given work order can be linked to many “next” work orders
• A given work order can have many “previous” work orders.
Manual Scheduling within PS will have all appropriate precedence relationships
respected.


3.14.1.16. Dynamic Throughput Rates on Resources
Some customers vary their production rates fairly dynamically and frequently. For
example, the speed of a line can change daily or weekly based on available labor. The
net effect of dynamic rate changes is simple – they make a given manufacturing
operation take more or less time to complete in a given time interval.

There are various reasons why the speed of a production line may change which may
include (but by no means are limited to) areas such as:
• trial manufacturing
• process changes
• line improvements
• labour constraints
• new product development
• temperature / humidity variations
This release of PS provides the user with the ability to specify dynamic rates on a
resource (crew, machine, tool).

For example, Packing Line #1 produces items, A, B, C and D. At “normal” speeds, it
produces product at a rate of 100 units per hour. In this example, Item D is produced in
runs of 1700 units per week.

Assume due to a labour constraint, the packer now runs at the following throughput
rates:
• 80% in the 1st week
• 100% in the 2nd week
• 150% in the 3rd week
The user navigates to the Packer resource properties to the “Throughput tab” and defines
the appropriate dynamic percentages.


The speed at which the items are produced can clearly be seen in Gantt chart by the
operation length as well as by looking at the steepness of the slope of the item graph for
a given item.

If >1 resource on the operation also has a dynamic throughput range, the “lowest” value
for a given time interval “wins”. For example, if an operation requires both “Packer 1”
and “Tool 1” and they have competing dynamic throughput rates and effective ranges.

In a resource set, resources can have different throughput rates for different date ranges.
If production is offloaded to an alternate resource with a different throughput, the
operation duration on the alternate resource will reflect the new throughput.


If an operation is moved to a timeslot via manual scheduling (Cut | Paste, Resequencing,
Remove Idle etc) that has a different throughput rate defined, the operation duration
should change according to the throughput in effect.

If the user offloads an operation manually to a different resource with a different rate, the
operation duration will change according to the throughput in effect.

If the user changes the rate on a resource and runs a repair solve, the repair solve will
recognize and change the duration of the operation accordingly.

3.14.1.17. PS Data Connector Port to Sun, HP and AIX
The PS SCBM / Oracle EBS data connector now runs on the following platforms:
 Windows (previously supported)
 Linux (previously supported)
 Sun (New)
 HP (New)
 AIX (New)
This allows for the PS connector to be deployed on a central server apart from PS if
desired. All command syntaxes stays the same

3.14.1.18. Export Selected Model Data During Schedule Publish
As part of the File | Publish process, users now have the ability to publish the PS model
or chosen objects of the data model in XML format. (i.e. changeover rules, groups,
crews, machines, tools, operations etc).

This is useful if PS is to be the system of record for any data that is not available within
the ERP system.
 The next time a model is imported into PS, integration processes could be
extended to reference the various data model elements exported from the
previous scheduling session which could amend to the new model prior to import
A new tab in the Publish Profiles allows users to define which data objects to publish

Whenever the Publish Process is called (whether in batch or interactively), the chosen
data will be exported to a user named XML file.
 Interactively, the published model is based off of the approved schedule
Since the schedule publish process batch file points to a named scenario, you
can export the model from any given scenario which may or may not be the
approved schedule.
Aspects of the model can be output to a user defined filename – any object within the
model can be output to this specific file.


3.14.1.19. PS XML Model – Unique Extension
The PS XML data files which can be imported and exported now have an additional
extension available. The PS XML non compressed file can be the standard .xml
extension or uniquely to PS as an .ops. The .ops file is still standard XML format, but
will launch PS directly upon being double clicked. The PS XML compressed file can be
the standard .xml.gz extension or uniquely to PS as an .opz. The .opz file is still standard
compressed XML format, but will launch PS directly upon being double clicked. The
icon for either is the PS standard icon.

3.14.1.20. Enhanced Auto-generated Routings
The list below outlines a few typical scenarios that cause “Auto-Generation” of
Operations and Routing templates based on work order structure within Production
Scheduling:
 Work orders which were generated in a “Configurator” program. Essentially,
Work Orders are dynamically created and passed to PS. No corresponding
routing exists in PS.
 Non-standard crews, machines or tools included on the work order bill of
resource.
 Contrary to the above, sometimes the work order would be missing crews,
machines or tools on work order operations.
 Non-standard items included on the work order bill of material.
 Missing items on the work order bill of material
 Additional operations included on the work order routing.
 Missing operations on the work order routing (for example, Oracle EBS does not
pass “Closed” work order operations to PS).
 Operation Sets specified on the work order routing


In a previous release of PS, a new feature was added to PS which removed the PS
dependency on having a routing template pre-created in the model for every work order
in the application. For those scenarios outlined, PS dynamically cross references the
work order routing against the routing template during the import process. If a work
order meets on of the problematic scenarios outlined earlier, one can expect to see a
newly created routing which directly corresponds to the work order in question. If
operations differ from their standard templates, a newly created operation will be present
in the routing as well.

When PS was generating this routing and operation templates, it was not reading the
precedence constraints on the work order routing between the operations, nor were the
resource sets being constructed. This release of PS has enhanced logic in the import
process which addresses these 2 issues. When generating the precedence constraints for
the auto-generated routing, the import now looks at the operation codes and cross
references the precedence constraints on the routing. If the work order has different
precedence constraints than the routing template, the precedence constraints as specified
on the work order routing will be used when the auto-generated routing is created.
Similarly for resource sets - the operation template is reference to reconstruct the
resource sets.

3.14.1.21. Selective Work Order Release to Production
After a user approves a schedule within PS, the general business process is to publish the
schedule back to ERP. The publish process within PS uses a “Release” timefence to
filter out work orders from the release process. If a work order starts before the end of
this timefence, it will be included in the release. If the user wishes to include / exclude
individual work orders from this process (regardless of start time), this was not possible
prior to this release. This new release provides a new mechanism for the user to be able
to individually select which work orders are released back to ERP.

For example, after analyzing the schedule, the user approves the schedule he/she is
happy with. The user then performs a right click on the scenario name and selects a new
option “Edit Work Order Release”.

This launches a new dialog view which lists all work orders and their various attributes.
The Publish Profile selected has a Release Horizon. Any Work Orders starting within
this release horizon will be auto-selected. The user can override this if desired.


3.14.2. Release 12.1.2

3.14.2.1. Resource Business Objectives
From a resource perspective, Production Scheduling generically considers all crew,
machine, tool capacity and calendar constraints simultaneously when sequencing
operations. Focusing and resolving the most critical constraints in the scheduling
horizon has been regarded as the most effective scheduling strategy to resolve multi-
stage floating bottleneck problems when sequencing operations. Addressing the most
critical constraints first breaks down sequencing problems into smaller sub-problems
which are generally “easier” to resolve.

However, it sometimes is desirable for users to be able to dictate to the Production
Scheduling solver which resources to focus on first.

Currently in Production Scheduling, users can dictate to the solver engine which
resource or group of resources should be focused on and in what order - essentially
enabling scheduling in an incremental fashion via some simple configuration in the
application. However, solver objectives cannot be set changed each stage – they are set
at a global level.

The scope of this enhancement is to allow different solver objectives by solve stage. For
example, one may wish to optimize changeovers on the injection molder, then mix the
upstream materials JIT, then immediately pack the kits and assemblies from the molding
using a prebuild solve strategy. This approach optimizes the bottleneck stage while
minimizing WIP between upstream / downstream stages.

This enhancement will allow users to:

1) Set solver objectives by group of resources (i.e. a Stage)

2) Insert breakpoints where the user can review solve progress at any given stage (and
even refine the schedule as appropriate via manual scheduling and then resume the
larger solve process).


3) Setup Multi-stage Campaign Run Optimization (CRO) – users will have the ability
the utilize the CRO algorithm in a multi-stage fashion provided the stages have
decoupling inventory and the CRO resource is not recursive.

This enhancement will have many benefits including:
• Increase PS market applicability
• Address business where multi-stage strategies are necessary
• Minimization of Work In Progress Inventory (Directly address make | store | pack
requirements)
• Reduce cost of ownership for our customers
• Directly enabling user scheduling strategy this eliminating potential complex
workarounds to achieve desired results
• Allow multi-stage use of the Campaign Run Optimization Algorithm which also
provides:
• Multi-stage routing offloading
• Improved alternate resource selection
• Multi-level SDS minimization and min run length

3.14.2.2. Production Scheduling as a Web Service Call
Production Scheduling has been enhanced to be able to be called as a service - the solver
and application have been decoupled such that the import and solve process can
optionally be run on the server – this includes Linux, Sun Solaris, HP-UX, and AIX
platforms. The user interface continues to run on the planners windows client (includes
support for Vista).

This enables Production Scheduling users to have their models presolved on the server –
saving time and improving efficiency. It also allows for batch solving of multiple plans
(i.e. Automation of the “what if” process).

The server side functionality creates a deployable solved model which includes import
and solver statistics in log files which are all downloaded to the client desktop on planner
request. This enhancement also includes improved application status logging and
filtering - including access to various event statuses and solver statistics log from within
Production Scheduling for events which took place on the server.

3.14.2.3. Undo Functionality for Manual Scheduling

Manual Scheduling in Production Scheduling includes a variety of activities such as:

 Cut/Paste
 Resequence


 Remove idle
 Change durations of operation instances
 Change start or end times of operations
 Change calendar events in the Gantt charts (add / remove / change)
 Change resource assignment (i.e. manually offload)
 Fixing / Unfixing operations (single or multiple operations)
 Change lead times for Purchase Order Recommendations.

Following each of these actions, there is a repair based solve action to institute the
change and “repair” any upstream / downstream ramifications this change may have
caused. However it is possible that the user may not accept the repaired schedule or
simply made a mistake when implementing this change. This enhancement to
Production Scheduling provides the ability to “Undo” these changes. The Undo action
reverts back to the previous “solve state” prior to the change. Examples include:

Action: {manual change} | UNDO
Result: Will undo the manual change

Action: {manual change} | Repair | UNDO
Result: Will undo the repair and manual change

Action: {manual change} | {manual change} | UNDO | …
Result: Will undo both manual changes

Action: {manual change} | {manual change} | Repair | UNDO
Result: Will undo the repair and manual changes

Action: {manual change} | Repair | {manual change} | Repair | UNDO
Result: Will undo the 2nd repair and 2nd manual change

Action: {manual change} | Repair | {manual change} | Repair | UNDO | UNDO
Result: Will undo the both repairs and both manual changes

Undo also applies to another new feature in Production Scheduling (Resource Business
Objectives). Included in this feature is the ability to solve groups of resources in a
“Stage” and perform manual scheduling activities between stages (i.e. At a breakpoint) in
the solve process. Undo can be performed within this context as well. This includes
the ability to undo manual changes in the stage itself as well as to completely undo a
given “stage” of the solve process - upon which the solution will revert back to the
previous solved “stage”.

For example:

Action: {solve stage | breakpoint} | manual change | Repair | Undo
Result: Will undo the manual change

Action: {solve stage} | {solve stage | breakpoint} Undo
Result: Will undo the 2nd solve stage – result will revert back to the first solve stage


3.14.2.4. Attribute Based Sequence Dependent Setups

This enhancement to Production Scheduling is two-fold:

1) Improves the current sequence dependent setup rule representation to be Attribute
based rather than having to specify rules by operation code or group. Users will
now have the ability to specify changeover rules by attribute type / value. For
example, providing the ability to specify a Flavour Changeover (Attribute) which
includes Apple -> Blueberry (Attribute Values) etc. The Production Scheduling
integration to Oracle EBS will use Setup Type as an attribute and various values
associated with Setup Type as the appropriate Attribute Values.

2) Extend sequence dependent setups to Batchable resources, which currently do not
have these setups either represented or optimized.

Operations and Groups will have attributes assigned to them. Changeover rules specified
by attribute will automatically associated all operations sharing the same attribute.


This enhancement to Production Scheduling also allows the user to specify if
changeovers can be concurrent or sequential if multiple attributes are specified and can
be performed at once. For example – if I am performing a size changeover, can the
flavor changeover be performed at the same time or does it have to follow the size
changeover?

3.14.2.5. Visualization of Campaign Run Optimization Cycle Boundaries

This enhancement allows users to explicitly visualize manufacturing cycle boundaries
when using Campaign Run Optimization. This provides for improved visibility to
changeover patterns in and across manufacturing cycle boundaries.


CRO Manufacturing Cycle
Boundaries shown in brown.

3.14.2.6. New Alert Type and Drilldowns

A new “Resource Utilization” alert has been introduced to indicate when resources
which are not part of a bottleneck resource group have capacity violations (when
capacity constraints are relaxed) Drilldowns to the Gantt charts from all resource alerts
are included this new alert as well.

When using Batchable resources, drilldowns are also now provided from the “Minimum
Batch Violation” alerts as previous versions did not allow this.


3.14.2.7. Drilldowns from the Work Order Editor to the Gantt Charts

Additional drilldowns introduced in the application make finding work orders in the
Gantt charts much easier. The drilldown from the work order editor which is launched
via right click in the editor from the operation code takes the user directly to either the
Production Pegging view, the Resource or Operation Gantt views. Drilldown from the
Work Order Editor highlights the selected operation and performs a context sensitive
zoom as well.

Drilldown zooms and highlights the application operation:


3.14.2.8. Mass Change on Items and Resources

For mass change simulations, Production Scheduling now provides the ability to mass
edit item and resource properties. All item properties and resource properties can easily
be changed simply by multi-selecting the appropriate items or resources in the model
workspace and invoking the “change” function. Change is specific to the scenario and
session only for simulation and scenario comparison purposes (changes are not sent back
to ERP)

Changing Item Data via right click on >1 items and selection of “Change” in the menu:

Mass Change of Resource Data:


3.14.3. Release 12.1.3

3.14.3.1. Maintenance Work Order Scheduling

The scheduling of maintenance resources at a maintenance depot can be quite complex.
Several new constructs have been introduced into PS to allow for this:

Visits – This new data construct allows users to associate one or more work orders,
where the work orders will fall inside Visit envelope dates such as the anticipated
aircraft arrival into a maintenance depot and the request date associated with the
completion of the Visit.

Milestones – These provide the ability to specify logical groupings of work orders within
a Visit. The combination of Visits and Milestones provides a capability to define task
hierarchies that flexibly group work orders together in both concurrent and sequential
patterns where work can diverge and converge.

Work Breakdown Structure – Several new key attributes have been added to work orders
which can be used for organizing and filtering work orders.

The scheduling of visits must take into consideration numerous constraints. It must
account for:

• Visit start / end dates
• Visit milestones
• Task hierarchies
• Crew, machine, tool, and material constraints
• Operation / work order precedence constraints
• Grouping of work based on work breakdown structure

To support these requirements, the following key capabilities are now available in Oracle
Production Scheduling:

Collection of Oracle cMRO Work Orders
Production Scheduling now optionally collects Oracle CMRO maintenance work orders.

New Operational Data Store Tables for Data Augmentation
Six new tables, housing information such as visits, work breakdown structure, work
order relationships, and milestones, have been added into the Operational Data Store
(ODS) as this information is required to properly schedule cMRO work orders.
Currently, this information is not available to standard planning collections from cMRO.
An API into these new tables to augment collected data has been added to complement
the existing collections framework as PS requires this information to generate a
maintenance schedule.

The overall architecture is represented in the following diagram.


Support for Visits, Milestones, and Complex Task Hierarchy Relationships
Visits have been added to Oracle Production Scheduling to allow for scheduling,
tracking, and grouping of tasks in the form of work orders and milestones. Visits and
milestones are presented in various views in Production Scheduling and allow the
planner to leverage the rich set of existing functionality to review and refine the
schedule. Visits and milestones also present new constraints which govern the
production schedule that is generated.

Advanced Work Order Filtering
Work order filters can be used to facilitate the review and analysis of the schedule and
allow the planner to “slice and dice” the data in the various Gantt, Utilization, and Work
Order views. This feature allows the planner to hone in on specific tasks and answer
questions such as “show me all work orders in stage 3a from July 2-July 4 utilizing the
Advanced Airframe and Power crew which are firm”. While this feature has been added
to facilitate cMRO workflows, it will benefit many of our existing manufacturing
customers as they will also be able to filter on many of the existing constructs already
available in work orders.


Representation of Work Breakdown Structure
The logical grouping of work can be accomplished by leveraging the Work Breakdown
Structure constructs in PS. A Display Parameter tab has been augmented in the Plan
options screen with new data that can be used to create logical groupings of work orders.

The work breakdown structure is populated as work order attributes and can be viewed
in the work order editor. This allows for advanced filtering in Work Order Filters where
they can be used to group work orders in the various views when analyzing the schedule.


Once the model is reviewed and analyzed in Production Scheduling, work order dates
generated by the schedule and can than be released back to cMRO for execution.

The solution may be applicable for other industries with similar requirements, but focus
has been on solving aircraft short term maintenance scheduling problems.

3.14.3.2. Disable Multiple Release from the Same Plan for the Same Order
This enhancement allows Production Scheduling to keep track of work orders which are
sent back to source as “Released” and disable subsequent release from the same plan to


prevent creating duplicate supplies in the ERP system. This process functions per the
procedure below:

• The user generates a plan and downloads to the client per standard procedures.
• The user solves the model (if not already solved on the server).
• The user then saves the schedule as a .dxt file (PS persistence for solved models).
This is a key step, as re-importing from XML source will not preserve this
information.
• Once the scheduler is happy with the plan, the user will then approve or “Release”
selected Work Orders to source and publish to ASCP as she/he deems appropriate
(no change to existing functionality).
• After this action, the user will not be able to release the same work orders from the
application as the checkbox indicating which work orders to release will be grayed
out. The user is also free to close the model and reopen the .dxt file as necessary.

Illustration:
The user selects the first four work orders for release:

The user “releases” back to source:

On subsequent navigation to the Release View, the Work Order Release Checkbox is
no longer selectable for those work orders:


• If the user does want to release the same work orders again for some reason,
they can open the original XML file that was downloaded from integration.
• Any work orders not previously marked as released will still be available for
release or publish (as planned orders) into ASCP.

3.14.3.3. User Defined Ideal Sequence

Production Scheduling natively provides the ability to dynamically calculate an ideal
operation sequence for Campaign Run Optimized Resources per manufacturing cycle.
This is based on changeover cost or time (user specified) in the Scenario / Solver
Options. The changeover matrix contains the applicable penalty factors of moving
between different operations producing different items. The solver performs an
evaluation of these penalties and computes the ideal sequence on this resource. CRO
then optimally computes the tradeoff between carrying inventory, stocking out, incurring
changeovers, using alternate machines, alternate routings or violating safety stock in and
across manufacturing cycles and may optionally pull work forward to delay operations
appropriately.
In many environments, users simply wish to dictate this order of operations to the solver
in lieu of having to construct a penalty matrix to influence this. While this is possible to
configure using costs, this enhancement allows users to specify the sequence operations
should be scheduled in CRO according to attribute. This is an alternate sequencing
strategy compared to the current CRO sequencing strategies of Cost or Time, and is
available for CRO resources only.
Solver options are enhanced to indicate the Run Sequence as User Defined (by solve
stage, as illustrated, or in the global solver options):


The mechanism in which the “ideal” sequence is defined is by selecting and sorting of
associated attributes and their attribute values on CRO resources in the model.
For example, take attributes “Size” and “Grade”. Within “Size” there are 1/4 Inch, 1/3
Inch and 1/4 Inch as attribute values. Within the “Grade” attribute, there are Grades A
and B.
Assume the user defined Ideal Sequence is to cycle by size and grade within the size, as
outlined in the following example:
1/4 Inch-Grade A -> 1/4 Inch Grade B -> 1/3 Inch-Grade A -> 1/3 Inch Grade B -> 1/2
Inch-Grade A -> 1/2 Inch Grade B.
This would be setup in Production Scheduling in the Attributes tab where attributes are
associated to resources.

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e
n
t
i
a
l
l
y
,

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e
“order” in which the selected attributes and attribute values in the right column are
structured in the UI dictates the ideal sequence of operations (the operations must be
associated to these attributes). If Grade was more important than size, then the user
could move the Grade above the Size Attribute. The sequence would then cycle by
Grade and then Size within the Grade.


This is a very powerful tool to help make sequencing decisions and reduce changeovers
in the model.

3.14.3.4. Supply Tolerancing

The Production Scheduling integration infrastructure to Oracle EBS and JD Edwards
EnterpriseOne uses “Work Orders” as the vehicle to communicate production
requirements and schedules between systems. When a PS plan is created, it will have
Work Orders as a source of supply. Demands are created via Sales Orders, Transfer
Orders Out, Forecasts, and Internal Sales Orders, etc.

Since PS is a scheduling application, typically one would assume there are sufficient
supply quantities generated in the form of work orders to meet the stated demand
requirements for the organization being scheduled by the time you are actually
scheduling your facility.

However, in some cases it is acceptable for demands to be shorted by a certain quantity
or percentage without the generation of additional supply requirements. For example, if
you have supply (say an on-hand inventory of 134,999) and have an order quantity of
135,000 (finished good or intermediate), there may not be an additional work order
created for the extra 1 unit in ASCP (lot sized of course) due to a supply tolerancing
feature it has (this can be at any level in the bill of material).

However, PS does not have this explicit supply tolerancing feature. The net result is
that PS may recommend extra production as PS sees the need to balance supply and
demand down to the unit. PS naturally uses the routing lot size to recommend new
production - in some cases, this could be very large (such as 100,000lbs per run) and
completely unnecessary as it is perfectly acceptable to ship 1lb less than order size.
Instantiating net new production disrupts other production runs, steals capacity and
materials – schedule quality is inevitably diminished.

A feature has been added to Production Scheduling to be able to essentially “shut off”
any PS created net new production suggestions to avoid these situations.

This exists in Tools | Options | Global Settings:


With this flag enabled, there will be no net new production recommendations generated
at any level in the BOM (i.e. only work order supply production will be scheduled). If
there is insufficient work order supply, inventory will be automatically added to prevent
levels from falling below zero (i.e. Demand is permitted to be shorted). A PS log
message is generated to indicate what inventory quantity adjustments were made.
Utilizing this feature assumes work order supply is sufficient to meet demand.

3.14.3.5. Control Application of Purchase Item Order Multiples Beyond Lead Time
Items marked as “Purchased” in Production Scheduling must be associated with a source
of supply (i.e. a Supplier) and a corresponding order multiple must be modeled. It is key
to note that Production Scheduling is not intended to plan procurement specifically, but
to be constrained by lead time only. Beyond lead time, supply for these purchased items
is essentially unconstrained – therefore the purchase item multiple is not especially
relevant. However, customers do find these order multiples to be useful for various
types of modeling approaches.

A feature has been added to be able to control whether or not purchase item multiples are
respected beyond supplier lead time or not. Keeping these “relaxed” helps solve
performance and is generally recommended.

In the PS Plan Solver Options, there is a flag entitled “Relax Purchase Items Beyond
Lead Time”. Default is set to ‘Yes”.


When this flag is enabled, the order multiple is internally set to a very large value and
effectively ignored beyond lead time – one will see the addition of a new red line in the
item graph to represent the time of the item. Beyond the lead time, the item graph is
shaded to indicate infinite supply.

If the flag is set to “No”, the item graph is displayed taking into account the order
multiples.


3.14.3.6. Improved Operation Status Logic in OPM integration

If an OPM Batch Operation has a “firm start” resource but is still in pending state, the PS
integration code was previously interpreting this operation as Active when importing into
Production Scheduling.

In order to address this, VCP collections introduced a new column entitled
“operation_status”. The OPM system will populate the operation status as Pending, WIP
or Closed.

The corresponding PS integration code has been modified to read this new status from
this new column to set an operation as Open, Active or Closed in Production Scheduling.

3.14.3.7. Advanced Work Order Filtering

This release provides new work order filtering capabilities which allows planners to
further “slice and dice” data in the various Gantt, Utilization, and Pegging views in a
multi-dimensional fashion and filter the content of these views. This feature allows the
planner to hone in on specific areas of the schedule only – for example “show me all
work orders in from October 25 – November 5 running on Resource (or Group) which
have a Firm Start status”. The results are previewed in the bottom of the filtering view
and planners can drill-down to the Work Order Editor directly from here as well if
desired.


A new “Work Order Filter” view has been added to PS which is accessible off of the
toolbar.

Selecting the icon launch the filtering window. The user then inputs criteria. Selecting
“OK” will filter out the various Gantt Charts.


You can create as many filters as you like which are specific for various analysis
purposes and even save them locally as a file (and send to your colleagues).

This is a very useful feature which provides a very advanced level of filtering capability
into an already rich user interface.
3.14.4. Release 12.2

There are no new features in Oracle Production Scheduling in Release 12.2.

3.15. Oracle Rapid Planning

Oracle Rapid Planning is a fast, heuristic based engine that generates supply chain plans
that span the enterprise manufacturing and distribution networks covering the supply
chain from supplies to customers. Rapid Planning delivers fast, comprehensive plans
that respect material and resource capacity constraints.

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document Oracle Rapid Planning 93

Oracle Rapid Planning provides users an ability to simulate and quickly evaluate impacts
of various changes in demand and supply conditions. It allows planners to evaluate the
consequences of these changes and also compare and contrast various alternative courses
of action based upon user configurable metrics.

Rapid Planning leverages the integration capabilities of the Value Chain Planning suite
which means it can be deployed and integrated out-of-the-box with Oracle E-Business
Suite or with heterogeneous back-end systems. Rapid Planning is integrated with Oracle
E-Business Suite R12.1 and R11i10. Rapid Planning utilizes the proven Advanced
Planning collections architecture to integrate your source system reference and
transaction data to the Rapid Planning engine.

3.15.2. Release 12.1.3

3.15.2.1. Fast Simulation
Oracle Rapid Planning uses an in-memory engine that can very quickly react and
recompute the impacts of any user changes and report, in real time, the consequences
across the supply chain. It also re-calculates the exceptions, key performance indicators
to reflect these impacts.

Rapid Planning supports input of simulation changes to master data like items, resources,
bills of materials, routing operations in two ways:
• Change the master data inside a particular plan and re-solve
• Change the master data in a simulation set for repetitive use in more than one
plan
The planning engine can be invoked in three different modes
• With snapshot and complete replan
• Without snapshot, but complete replan
• Without snapshot, but replan only incremental changes

3.15.2.2. Flexible User Interface
This application enables a completely new rich-client user interface built using 11gR1
Fusion Middleware technologies and supports configurable workspaces, flexible layouts,
dynamic tabs, etc. to make the user experience very productive as well as easy to use.

3.15.2.3. Simulation Sets
Oracle Rapid Planning makes simulations very easy through the powerful feature of
simulation sets. A simulation set is a collection of changes to the attributes of any of the
following master data entities.
• Items
• End Item Substitution relationships
• Resources
• Routings and operations
• Routing Operation Networks
• Bill of Materials, components and substitutes
• Resource Availability
• Manufacturing Order Resource Requirements
• Manufacturing Order Operation Networks
• Calendars


• Supplier capacity
This feature enables planners to do “what-if” analysis without having to make these
changes permanent or without the need to make these changes in the source ERP systems
and re-collect to see their impacts. This saves a lot of time and effort for the planners.

These simulation sets can then be referenced in different plans through a plan option.

3.15.2.4. Mass Edits
Users can make quickly make updates on a large number of rows (for example, increase
the post-processing leadtime of all items in category ‘ABC’ by 10%) through the mass-
edit feature.

This feature is supported for almost all entities like items, resources, supplies, demands,
etc. Users can update using various operators like “set value to”, “increase by”,
“decrease by”, “increasy by %”, “decrease by %”, etc.

Users can undo the simulation changes at an attirbute-level by using “set value to
original” operator to revert to the original value.

3.15.2.5. Plan Comparisons
Oracle Rapid Planning allows users to quickly make multiple copies and then use them
as alternatives for corrective actions. Once the plans are run, users can compare any two
plans (or one plan with its previous run) inside any of the following four views:
• All analytics - reports and graphs
• All exception views
• Supply and Demand view
• Material and Resource horizontal plans
In addition, users can use order-by-order comparison view where they can compare any
two plans (or a single plan with its previous run) and make the following comparions:
• Was on-time, but now late
• Was late, but now on-time
• Was late, but now less late
• Was late, but now more late

3.15.2.6. Aggregate, Editable Material Horizontal View
The application supports a material plan with a layout wizard that lets the users to
customize the layout including the measures displayed, time granularity, etc. Users can
also specify two aggregation levels from a choice of Organization, Product Cateogry,
Product Family and Item.

The aggregations are done real-time and take into account all current user changes,
firming, etc.

Users can also update the aggregate level horizontal plans. For example, users can update
forecast quantity at the product category or even at a period level. The system will
allocate the updates to individual items and days.


3.15.2.7. All-in-one Supply/Demand View
Oracle Rapid Planning enables an integrated view of supply/demand orders and their
associated pegging. In a single view, users can drill either upstream or downstream to
view the supply chain from a single order. This enables for a consolidated view of the
entire tree without having to switch between multiple views.

Users can also focus an a single order upstream or downstream and then reverse
direction to look at the “where-used” or the opposite views. They can then retrace the
steps back to original state of the supply/demand view

3.15.2.8. Integration with Advanced Planning Command Center
Oracle Rapid Planning comes with pre-built integration with Advanced Planning
Command Center. Rapid Planning plans can be archived, published to Advanced
Planning Command Center. These archived versions can then be viewed in all the related
reports and dashboards.

The Advanced Planning Command Center’s Supply Chain Analyst dashboard supports
drill-down directly into the Rapid Planning Application.

All Rapid Planning Simulation plans can be used in the Process Automation
functionality to build process flows in Advanced Planning Command Center.

3.15.2.9. Unconstrained Planning
Planners can run Rapid Planning in an unconstrained mode. The unconstrained option
allows planners to see the required material availability and resource capacity to find
what needs to be arranged in order to meet all demands on time. The unconstrained plan
output can optionally respect the planning time fence to allow planners to freeze the plan
for the initial period. Rapid Planning unconstrained planning can also calculate resource
requirements to generate resource usage and resource overload data..

Rapid Planning unconstrained plans produce a full complement of exception messages to
alert the planner to critical constraint violations. These exception messages include
“Orders with Insufficient Lead Time”, “Resource Overloaded”, and “Supplier Capacity
Violated”. In addition, problems with specific demands are highlighted by the exception
messages for sales orders and forecasts at risk due to material shortages or resource
shortages.

3.15.2.10. Constrained Planning
Rapid Planning offers a full set of constrained planning features. Rapid Planning
performs simultaneous material and resource capacity constraint based planning. Rapid
Planning output is constrained by purchasing, distribution and transit lead times, by
resource calendars and capacities, and by supplier capacity. Rapid Planning calculates
the capacities consumed by existing WIP schedules and purchased supplies and allocates
the remaining capacity to new planned orders.

Constrained planning allows planners to automate many types of planning decisions and
focus on the critical issues. Rapid Planning constraint based planning includes the
ability to search among many alternate supply types. Rapid Planning can automatically
search for and find alternates and substitutes across the supply chain and create planned
orders to meet demands on time. When the primary supply source is late, Rapid Planning
searches for the entire supply chain for item substitutes, alternate organizations, alternate


suppliers, alternate BOM and routing, alternate resources and substitute components to
locate the supply source that provides the delivery date closest the demand due date.

3.15.2.11. Demand Forecasts
Rapid Planning utilizes forecast and demand data from Oracle Demantra. Oracle
Demand Planning integration to Oracle Rapid Planning is not supported. Rapid Planning
performs forecast consumption and allows the planner to optionally explode forecasts.

The forecast consumption features allow the planner to include both forecasts and actual
sales orders without double counting demand. Planners can select the enforce demand
time fence plan option and forecasts inside the demand time fence are not included as
demands in the plan.

During plan definition, the planner can select forecast spreading option. For example, if
the forecast is a weekly forecast, the planner can choose to spread the forecast to daily
buckets and also optionally set the forecast consumption forward and backward day
controls. This allows the planner to accept aggregate (weekly or period) forecasts and
more accurately plan supplies in daily buckets.

3.15.2.12. Respect Demand Priority Rules
Demand priority rules can be specified at the plan level, allowing the planner to easily
compare results from two different plans using different demand prioritization
approaches. Demand priority rules control the sequence of demand priorities assigned to
all demands. The most urgent demands have the best chance of being satisfied on time.
Alternatively, Rapid Planning can use externally specified demand priorities for sales
orders and forecasts.

3.15.2.13. Demand and Supply Pegging
Rapid Planning pegging links supplies to demands so that the planner can easily identify
demand impacts when supply dates change. The planner can use pegging to trace
component or resource problems up to the affected sales orders. Pegging also enables
the planner to identify which supplies are linked to critical demands and ensure that
those supplies remain on schedule.

3.15.2.14. Supply Chain Sourcing
Rapid Planning is compatible with the sourcing rules, bills of distribution and
assignment sets used by Oracle Purchasing or upload supply chain sourcing definitions
via file loaders. Sourcing rules and bills of distribution determine the movement of
materials between organizations in your global enterprise; these organizations include
your suppliers and the materials include those items made at the manufacturing
organizations.

Sourcing rules and bills of distribution specify date–effective sourcing strategies,
combining replenishment sources with source rankings. Users can flexibly assign
sourcing rules to individual items, categories, organizations and regions to define the
complete supply chain from suppliers to customers.

Rapid Planning can select primary or alternate sources depending on supply constraints
to provide the best demand satisfaction dates. If Rapid Planning selects an alternate


organization to source an order, then the selection is reported by the exception message
“Order Sourced from Alternate Facility”.

3.15.2.15. Supplier Capacity
You can specify time–phased capacity of individual suppliers to specific items in Oracle
Purchasing or upload supplier capacity via file loaders. Rapid Planning can allocate
planned orders based the constraints of the suppliers. Planned orders are assigned
supplier sources in respect to their capacity. Rapid Planning uses the ranking
information you specify in sourcing rules and first attempts to source the planned orders
with the primary sources. If the capacity to fulfill the demand is not available, alternative
sources are used. If the order is sourced from an alternate supplier, then the selection is
reported by the exception message “Order Sourced from Alternate Supplier”.

You can specify item-supplier lead times and supplier capacity calendars. Rapid
Planning recognizes the item-supplier specific parameters and applies them as sources of
supply are evaluated to find supply that meets a demand on time. Users can also enter
item-supplier specific order modifiers.

The supplier capacity calendar governs how supplier capacity is accumulated over a
period of time. Supplier capacity is only accumulated on the working days according to
the supplier capacity calendar. The supplier capacity calendar also governs how the
supplier processing time is calculated.

3.15.2.16. Bills of Material and BOM Effectivity
Rapid Planning is integrated with Oracle BOM or you can upload bills of material and
routings via file loaders. It supports single-level and multi-level bills of material. Rapid
Planning recognizes and recommends substitute components when primary components
are delayed or not available. Substitute component selections are reported by the
exception message “Planned Order uses Substitute Component”.

If alternate bills of material are specified, then the alternate bill may be recommended if
there are supply constraints on the primary bill of material and routing. Alternate bills of
material selections are reported by the exception message “Planned Order uses Alternate
BOM/Routing”.

Rapid Planning respects BOM effectivity dates. The planning engine will calculate
component requirements based on the BOM effectivity date and also considering
component effectivity dates. Rapid Planning evaluates the engineering change orders as
of their scheduled effective date. You can order material and plan resources that you
need for new revisions ahead of time.

3.15.2.17. By-products and Co-products
By-products and co-products specified on the BOM are evaluated by Rapid Planning.
New planned orders include by-products and co-products which can be used as supply
available on the completion dates. Rapid Planning also uses existing WIP standard and
non-standard job by-products and co-products as available supply.

3.15.2.18. Routing Operation and Resource Scheduling
Rapid Planning constrained planning respects resource capacity and schedules new
planned orders and existing discrete jobs to avoid resource capacity overloads. You can


define routings, resources and resource capacity in Oracle BOM or upload via file
loaders.

You can specify simultaneous resources and set the maximum assigned units for each
resource requirement to control scheduling results. Rapid Planning respects prior and
next operation scheduling controls. Resource efficiency and utilization are used by
Rapid Planning resource requirement calculations.

If you can specify alternate resources, Rapid Planning selects alternates and schedules
around constraints on primary resources to meet demands on time. Rapid Planning also
chooses alternate routings when required because of constraints on the primary BOM
and routing. Alternate selections reported with the exception messages “Planned Order
uses Alternate Resource” and “Planned Order uses Alternate BOM/Routing”.

Rapid Planning respects routing effectivity dates. Resource requirements are generated
using routings which are effective on the start date of the planned order.

Planners can select certain bottleneck resources to perform constrained planning. Other
resources are planned in an unconstrained mode using the resource lead time during
scheduling. Rapid Planning creates schedules that do not overload the selected
bottleneck resources and reports overloads on the non-bottleneck resources. This allows
the planner to focus on the critical bottleneck resources.

3.15.2.19. End Item Substitution
Rapid Planning uses end item substitution rules to find acceptable substitute item
supplies when the requested item is not available for the demand request date.
Substitution is based on user-defined rules that can be effective either in one direction or
in both directions; defining a chain of substitution relationships. Customer specific item
substitution rules can also be specified which are respected by Rapid Planning when
searching for supplies for that customer’s demands. When item substitutes are selected,
Rapid Planning alerts the planning with the exception message “Demand Satisfied Using
End Item Substitution”.

3.15.2.20. Lead Times and Planning Time Fence
Rapid Planning respects manufacturing and purchasing lead times. Users can set pre-
processing, processing and post-processing lead times. Rapid Planning constraint based
planning respects these lead times. Rapid Planning respects planning time fences
defined at the item organization level which allows the user to freeze the schedule during
the initial periods of the plan.

3.15.2.21. Order Modifiers
Rapid Planning includes the user specified order modifiers at the item organization level
and creates new planned orders respecting the order modifiers. Order modifiers
respected include minimum order size, maximum order size, fixed order quantity, fixed
lot multiplier and round order quantity. Additionally, users can specify supplier specific
order modifiers which are respected by Rapid Planning when creating new planned
orders sourced from the supplier.


3.15.2.22. Safety Stock Lead Time
Rapid Planning considers safety stock lead time that is user controllable at the item
organization level. Safety stock lead time is a lead time that you add to the normal lead
time of make and buy items. You use it to instruct the planning engine to schedule
supplies in advance of the demand due dates that peg to them. This creates an inventory
buffer to protect against fluctuations in lead time, demand (for example, forecast error),
and supply (for example, variable supplier lead times and irregular operation yields)

3.15.2.23. Shipping, Receiving and Carrier Calendars
Rapid Planning plans a variety of supply chain activities like manufacturing, inter facility
shipments, purchases, and shipment to customers. Each of these activities is controlled
by a set of calendars. Manufacturing, supplier, and customer facilities may be able to
ship or receive goods on specific days. Rapid Planning schedules each type of supply or
demand considering the working and non working days in the appropriate set of
calendars.

The shipping calendar indicates the valid working days for shipment activities
originating from suppliers and organizations. The planning engine does not recommend a
shipment out from those facilities if the date is a non-working day.

The receiving calendar governs the receiving activities at the organizations or customer
sites that receive goods. The planning engine allows organizations to receive shipments
only on a working day.

The carrier calendar indicates the working and non-working days and times for material
that is in transit using different means of transport. For example, certain methods of
shipment such as parcel carriers may not work on weekends. This may cause the transit
time to be stretched over the weekends.

3.15.2.24. Planner Action: Firm Existing Supplies
Planners can review existing WIP jobs and purchase orders while comparing to the
pegged demands. When required, the planner can pull in or push out the existing supply
and firm it. Rapid Planning respects the firm flag by not changing the schedule dates and
by consuming material and resource capacity before scheduling non-firm supplies.
Rapid Planning reports any overload situations caused by firm supplies.

3.15.2.25. Planner Action: Firm Planned Supplies
Planners can review new planned make and buy orders while comparing to the pegged
demands. When required, the planner can pull in or push out the new planned orders and
selectively firm the planned orders. Rapid Planning respects the firm flag by not
changing the schedule dates and by consuming material and resource capacity before
scheduling non-firm supplies. Rapid Planning reports any overload situations caused by
firm planned orders.

3.15.2.26. Release New Planned Orders and Reschedule Recommendations
Planners can easily release recommendations from Rapid Planning to execution systems.
Planners can selectively release planning recommendations or choose to release all
recommendations. Planners can adjust recommendation due dates and then release the
new planned orders or the reschedule of existing planned orders


New planned make orders are released with an alternate BOM/Routing recommendation.
If Rapid Planning selects substitute components and alternate resources, these selections
are also be released as part of the make order.

Rapid Planning allows the user to specify the auto-release of planned orders within the
release time fence. Users can set the release time as the item organization attribute.
Auto-release of planned orders occurs immediately after the Rapid Planning plan
processes complete.

Rapid Planning release processes are fully integrated with Oracle Purchasing and Order
WIP. The release processes also allow for integration to third party systems.

3.15.2.27. Exceptions

Rapid Planning generates the following 24 exception types, and are displayed within the
"Exceptions" view in Rapid Planning.
• Past Due Sales Orders
• Late Replenishment for Sales Order
• Late Replenishment for Forecast
• Demand Quantity Not Satisfied
• Resource Overloaded
• Exception: Supplier Capacity Overloaded
• Items with a Shortage
• Items below Safety Stock
• Items with Excess Inventory
• Past Due Orders
• Orders to be rescheduled out
• Orders to be cancelled
• Orders to be rescheduled in
• Order with Insufficient Lead Time
• Sales Order/Forecast at Risk due to a resource shortage
• Sales Order/Forecast at Risk due to material shortage
• Late Supply pegged to Forecast
• Late supply pegged to Sales Order
• Planned Order uses alternate BOM/Routing
• Planned Order uses Substitute Component
• Planned Order uses Alternate Resource
• Order Sourced from Alternate Facility
• Order sourced from Alternate Supplier
• Demand Satisfied Using End Item Substitution
Exceptions are generated only when a plan run has completed, and are not regenerated
when manual edits are made to a plan.

Users can choose to enable or disable the display of specific exception types, and specify
their arrangement within the Exceptions view through a configuration mechanism.

Within an exception type, users can specify search criteria or filters to specify the
exceptions that must be displayed. Search criteria can be saved with a user specified
name for future use.


From an exception, navigation to other related Rapid Planning views has been provided
in context of the exception’s attributes (Item, Org, Resource, etc). Exceptions generated
in Rapid Planning can be exported to MS Excel for further analysis.

When Plan Comparison is enabled in Rapid Planning, exceptions for the base plan and
compared plan for an exception type are displayed in adjacent tabs. The name of the
exception type also has the name of the associated plan to easily identify which plan the
listed exceptions belong to.

3.15.2.28. Embedded Analytics
KPI’s/Metrics are displayed in Rapid Planning in a separate “Analytics” view. Rapid
Planning can display the following plan metrics:

• Stock Outs (in days)
• Fill Rate (%)
• Inventory Turns
• Safety Stock violations (in days)
• Revenue
• Gross margin (%)
• Manufacturing Cost
• Purchasing Cost
• On Time Orders (%)
• Resource Utilization (%)
• Supplier Capacity Utilization (%)
• Clear to Build (% of orders)
• Clear to Build Component Availability(%)
• Ready to Build (%)
• Top N Shortage Components (%)

In addition to the above metrics, Rapid Planning can also display different facts (Count,
Quantity, Value, etc) for the supported exception types as metrics.

Selection of the metrics that must be displayed, their display levels, associated filter
conditions, and their layout within the Analytics view can be configured at a user level.

In a Plan Comparison mode, values from both the base and the compared plans are
shown together for easy visibility and comparison.

The Analytics view also enables the comparison of end order satisfaction across two
plans within an Order Comparison region. To easily compare end demands planned
differently across the base and compared plans, seeded comparison mechanisms (e.g.
“Was On Time, Now Late”) are provided. Search capabilities are also provided to
restrict the comparison to a user defined selection.

3.15.2.29. Late Demand Diagnosis
Rapid Planning generates, for each late demand, root cause information that can be
viewed in a new Constraints view. The view tells the planner what material and resource
constraints caused the demand to be satisfied late, as well as an assessment of how
severe each constraint is.


For every late demand, Rapid Planning will report the following types of constraints:
• Material Constraint
o Lead Time Constraint
o Planning Time Fence Constraint
o Date Effectivity Constraint
o WIP Window Constraint
• Resource Constraint
• Supplier Constraint

These constraints will be reported along all alternate paths: alternate resources on
routings, substitute components on bills of material, alternate bills of material and
routings, alternate sources on sourcing rules, and end item substitutes.

Each constraint will have information such as requested date, requested quantity,
available quantity, shortage (both in absolute quantity and percentage terms) so that
planners can immediately see what actions to take to resolve each late fulfillment of a
demand.

3.15.2.30. Global Forecasting
Global forecasting allows you to define forecasts without the context of a shipment
organization. This is done in Oracle Demand Management. Forecasts can have reference
to ship-to entities such as customer site and zone. You can choose a ship-to consumption
level in Rapid Planning.

You can use sourcing rules to distribute consumed global forecasts to appropriate
shipment organizations. Forecast distribution is performed in an unconstrained manner
based on the user defined percentages in the sourcing rules. Rapid Planning issues
exception messages when a distributed forecast demand at an organization cannot be met
on time by supply in that organization.

3.15.2.31. Configure to Order
Rapid Planning supports configure to order environments. Rapid Planning can accept
forecasts for assemble to order (ATO) models and pick to order (PTO) models as
demand schedules. ATO and PTO forecasts from Oracle Demand Management and E-
Business Suite R12 and R11i10 are supported.

Single level and multi-level ATO models are supported by Rapid Planning. Multi-level
ATO models include models at lower levels of the BOM structure. Configured to order
sales orders consume model forecasts at each level of the multi-level model. Rapid
Planning will plan for the unconsumed model, option and option class forecasts as well
as planning for the configured items. Supplies are scheduled and created as needed for
all lower levels.

You can provide pre-exploded forecast values of your ATO and PTO models and
components to Rapid Planning. Configured sales orders consume the model and lower
level forecasts. Rapid Planning supports forecast consumption at various levels such as
customer, customer site, zone (global forecasts), demand class, and item organization.

Rapid Planning can also optionally explode the forecast for the top level model. Model
forecasts are exploded to option, option class and component forecasts within Rapid
Planning using the 'Explode Forecast' plan option. After forecast explosion, Rapid


Planning will consume and plan supplies for the unconsumed forecast demand at each
level.

Multi-level multi-organization models are supported. A multi-organization model is one
which contains top level or some lower-level models which are transferred between
organizations. If you have multi-organization models you must use global forecasting for
forecast consumption to be correct.

Rapid Planning distributes global forecasts for ATO and PTO models across
organizations based on the user-specified sourcing rule percentages. The global forecasts
can be consumed at different levels such as Global (Item), Organization, Customer,
Customer Site, and Zone.

Rapid Planning plans only consider ATO sales orders after they have been progressed to
include a linked configured item. This allows Rapid Planning to schedule these sales
orders with all the capabilities provided for standard items - for example, to net existing
supplies of pre-configured stock at any supply chain bill of material level.

A forecast for a lower level ATO configuration that will be stocked will be consumed by
a sales order for the top level configured model. Rapid Planning will consume the
forecast for this specific configuration first. Any remaining demand will then consume
the forecast for the associated ATO model.

For procured configurations, Rapid Planning allows you to plan based on the aggregate
capacity of the supplier-supplier site to build the base model. A supplier capacity
statement for the ATO model is consumed by the ATO items that are created based on
this model. KPIs illustrating supplier capacity metrics, as well as exception messages are
provided to help you make an informed decision.

3.15.2.32. Default Order Sizing
Rapid Planning provides support for default order sizing to improve scheduling results.
Smaller order sizes improve scheduling flexibility which leads to higher fill rates and on
time supplies. In the absence of order modifiers, Rapid Planning sizes orders to daily
production capacity. When some capacity is consumed on a day, Rapid Planning reduces
the order size to fit within the remaining capacity in a day.

Users can override the default order sizing algorithm by specifying a new item-
organization attribute called planning unit of work. The user can set planning unit of
work to the number of hours for the duration of the maximum order size. For example,
set planning unit of work to 8 hours and the resulting new planned orders will not exceed
8 hour shifts in duration.

User can set the planning unit of work to larger than daily capacities and Rapid Planning
will create new planned orders that typically span several days up to the specified
planning unit of work.

The default order sizing does not override existing item-organization order modifiers.
For example, if the fixed order quantity is specified, then all order sizes equal fixed order
quantity without regard to the planning unit of work. Default order sizing is only applied
to new planned orders and does not affect the quantity of an existing supply.


3.15.2.33. Inventory Reservations
Rapid Planning recognizes on hand inventory reservations to sales orders. The on hand
supply that is reserved to a sales order cannot be used for any other demand.
Reservations for both full and partial demand quantities are supported. In the case of a
partial reservation, Rapid Planning schedules supplies for the unreserved quantity of the
sales order.

Rapid Planning generates pegging of on-hand supply to sales orders that matches the
reservations recorded in the source transaction system. In the supply and demand
window, each sales order demand includes a new field which displays the quantity of on
hand inventory that is reserved to the sales order.

3.15.2.34. Clear to Build
A make order (planned make order, WIP job, etc.) is “Clear to Build” if all its
component requirements are pegged to on-hand supply.

Rapid Planning provides visibility to the Clear to Build status of Make Orders, both at
the individual make order level as well as at aggregate levels through new key
performance indicators (KPIs). The Clear to Build status on make orders are visible
through new order level attributes: “Clear to Build Status”, “Ready to Build %”, “Clear
to Build Date”, and “Clear to Build Component Availability %”. Equivalent KPIs can be
configured to view these attributes at aggregate levels.

Rapid Planning also allows user to control allocation of scarce on-hand component
supply to make orders by explicitly prioritizing or de-prioritizing specific make orders.
This can be achieved through a new Rapid Planning view called the Clear to Build
Dashboard. The dashboard allows a user to:
• Search for the make orders for which the user wants the Clear to Build status to
be improved;
• Prioritize specific make orders for Clear to Build – this results in on-hand being
allocated to these make orders preferentially when the plan is launched next;
• View contentions for selected make orders – contentions are other make orders
that share common components; these make orders could potentially contribute
to the improvement of the clear to build status of the target orders;
• Selectively de-prioritize certain make orders from allocation of on-hand – these
selected orders will be given lower priority when on-hand is allocated to Make
Orders in the next plan run;
• View how a specific component is allocated to multiple make orders, and
prioritize or de-prioritize make orders for on-hand allocation based on this
component allocation view.

3.15.2.35. Rapid Planning – Sales and Operations Planning Integration
Rapid Planning plans will be visible in Demantra Real-time Sales and Operations
Planning. The integration between Rapid Planning and Real-time Sales and Operations
Planning is similar to the existing Advanced Supply Chain Planning to Real-time Sales
and Operations Planning integration. You can export consensus forecast data from Real-
time Sales and Operations Planning to Rapid Planning plan. You can read the supply
data from a Rapid Planning plan back into Real-time Sales and Operations Planning.
This data from the Rapid Planning plan will now be visible in Real-time Sales and
Operations Planning worksheets.


3.15.2.36. Rapid Planning – Global Order Promising Integration
Rapid Planning plans can now be used by Global Order Promising (GOP) to promise
orders. The supply from this plan is considered by GOP when promising orders if GOP is
set up to promise orders against a plan output. If there are a mix of ASCP and Rapid
Planning plans that have supplies for an Item/Org, GOP accords the highest preference to
supply from a Rapid Planning plan. Rapid Planning – GOP integration allows an
enterprise to react quickly to unforeseen events, by enabling quick integration between
planning simulations and the order promising process.

24 by 7 ATP is not enabled against Rapid Planning plans. Also, any inserts that GOP
makes into the plan (Sales Orders, Planned Orders, etc.) will not be visible within the
Rapid Planning plan itself. Any Rapid Planning plan that is enabled for ATP will not be
editable. This avoids inconsistencies between the current output of the Rapid Planning
plan and the version against which GOP is promising orders.

3.15.2.37. Order Comparison
In a Plan Comparison mode, Rapid Planning’s Analytics view now has an additional tab
that displays “Order Comparison.” This allows users to compare demand satisfaction of
sales orders across two plans intelligently. Users can view which demands were planned
on time in the base plan, but are delayed in the comparison plan and vice versa, and
which demands have increased or decreased their lateness in the comparison plan versus
the base plan.

A search region allows users to query up only sales orders of interest – for example,
sales orders for specific items, or sales orders at specific organizations.

3.15.2.38. Multi-Planner Collaboration
Rapid Planning allows a user to save changes made to data in Rapid Planning to a
simulation set. A user can save a specific record, multiple records within a Rapid
Planning view, or changes across multiple Rapid Planning views to a named simulation
set through a single click action.

Multiple planners can thus work on simulation copies of a base plan and save the results
of their simulation to a common simulation set. When the base plan is launched again
with reference to this simulation set, all the user changes will be considered in the next
version of the Rapid Planning plan.

3.15.2.39. Functional and Data Security
This enhancement provides Rapid Planning with:

Functional Security
• This is the ability to dictate which functions (Create, Update / Edit, Delete,
Launch, Save, Close, Load, Copy, and Release) a responsibility should have
access to.
Data Security
• Data access can be controlled at two levels.
o Organization: Here, you can assign organizations to a responsibility.
Then, users with that responsibility will have access to (i) all Plans in


which the organizations exist and (ii) all items within those
organizations.
o Plan: A user creating a plan can mark the Plan as Private or Public. A
Public plan is accessible by all responsibilities (and, as a result, by all
users) provided they have the necessary Organization level security
granted. A Private plan is only accessible by specific users to whom
access has been granted (access is granted by the user who created the
plan and marked it as Private). In case of Private plans, users will have
access all items and organizations within that plan. However, the
actions the user can take are controlled by the Function Security of the
user’s responsibility.
3.15.3. Release 12.1.3.3

3.15.3.1. Demand Pull-In and Upside Processing
This feature allows Rapid Planning to seek to improve on the fulfillment date of a
demand while guaranteeing that no previously committed date for any demand will be
made any worse. Rapid Planning can now plan considering multiple dates with different
priorities on a single demand. This enables planners to maximize revenue by trying to
meet new, revised Request Dates from customers, but when they cannot, fall back to
previously committed dates - including preserving the supply allocation (pegging).

This feature enables Rapid Planning to better utilize excess inventory and potentially
improve fill rates. It lets planners improve responsiveness by providing the ability to
improve to request date, but guarantee promise date / commit date.

In the example illustrated above, a demand is initially committed for week 7. There is
excess inventory from weeks 3 to 6. If the customer comes up with a request to satisfy
the demand by week 2, Rapid Planning will now try to satisfy the demand on the feasible
date closest to the new request date, in this case week 3. In the cases where it cannot
improve the earlier commit date, the earlier commit date is preserved.

Rapid Planning generates two new exceptions:

• Late Replenishment for a Pull-in Sales Order/Forecast: Generated whenever any
partial quantity of the demand is met after the revised demand date.


• Sales Order / Forecast Pulled in: Generated whenever the demand is satisfied
prior to the original demand satisfied date.

If a demand is partially met on a revised demand date and partially met on the earlier
commit date, both the above exceptions will be generated for that demand.

Based on the above two exceptions, Rapid Planning also generates the following new
measures for analysis that users can use to create graphs in the analytics tab of the Rapid
Planning workbench.

• Late Replenishment for a Pull-in Sales Order (Count, Value, Days, Quantity)

• Late Replenishment for a Pull-in Forecast (Count, Value, Days, Quantity)

• Sales Order Pulled-in (Count, Value, Quantity by Demand Date, Quantity by
Revised Date)

• Forecasts Pulled-in (Count, Value, Quantity by Demand Date, Quantity by
Revised Date)

Based on the successful pull-ins, planners can now also release the changes to sales
orders from the workbench to the source system's Order Management application to send
the updates to quantity and the scheduled ship date.

3.15.3.2. Favorite Lists
This feature allows users to create user-defined lists of items, resources and suppliers
and save them as favorite lists that can be used later as a shortcut to all the related
information about those items, resources or suppliers. Users can have multiple named
lists per user, accessible across plans.

They can access the lists from the left navigator pane and drill using an easy, single-click
navigation to Material/Resource Plans, Exceptions, Supplies and Demands for multiple
items, resources or suppliers.

Static Lists

Users can create a list with an enumerated list of items, resources and/or suppliers by
saving to a favorite list from other views in the workbench including Items, Resources,
Suppliers, and Supplies and Demands.

Users can organize the order of the list to reflect supply chain structure by using move
up/down actions. This will enable navigation to the Material Plan that places items in
supply chain bill order: for example, assembly, sub-assembly, then components.

Dynamic Lists

Users can also create lists based on certain conditions that then construct the list
dynamically every time. For example, users can create a list based on a condition like
'Bottom 10 items based on fill rate %'. Users will then see the resultant list based on the
plan. Users can use any of the following measures to create these dynamic lists

• Fill Rate %


• Inventory Turns

• On time Orders %

• Late Replenishment for Sales Order / Forecast (value)

• Demand Quantity not Satisfied (value)

• Resource Utilization %

• Supplier Capacity Utilization %

• Purchasing Cost

Users can create these dynamic lists by creating a metric in the analytics tab using any of
the above measures with any of these applicable dimensions ("view by") - Item,
Organization, Resource or Supplier.

3.15.3.3. Safety Stock Enhancements
This enhancement enables users to view an item’s safety stock profile in quantity (units)
even though the planning was done using a safety stock lead time approach. It also lets
planners use time-phased safety stock quantity (units) as input to calculate the safety
stock lead time.

This enables Rapid Planning to be easily integrated with other applications that generate
safety stock quantity in units. It also provides an easy to understand view of supply and
demand that includes the safety stock (target and actual) expressed in quantity (units).

The safety stock lead time is calculated from the safety stock quantity using a simple
formula:

Safety Stock Lead Time (Days) = Avg (Safety Stock Quantity) /

Avg Daily Demand in the Plan

The material plan displays two additional measures:

• Target Safety Stock: This is the time-phased safety stock quantity that is defined
by the user or collected from a source system.

• Actual Safety Stock: This is the safety stock quantity that the plan has planned
for. Though the plan has actually planned using a safety lead time approach, it is
displayed in terms of quantity by converting the safety lead time into safety stock
quantity (not time phased) using the formula above.

Users can enable this behavior of deriving the safety stock lead time from the quantity
(instead from the safety stock %) using a new plan option called Safety Stock Lead Time
Method.

In addition to the above, users also have the option to input a non-time phased safety
stock quantity for each item using a new item attribute called 'Target Safety Stock
Override'.


3.15.3.4. Simulation Edits of Additional Item Attributes
Users can now do what-if simulation based on more item attributes listed below:

• Planning Time Fence Days

• Release Time Fence Days

• Demand Time Fence Days

• Selling Price

• Standard Cost

• Discount %

Users can edit these and see the impacts on plan recommendations and cost metrics after
running a simulation. Edits to Demand Time Fence Days and Release Time Fence Days
are only applicable in plan inputs mode using simulation sets. For all the above attributes
users can use the standard mass update features like Increase by, Decrease by, Increase
by %, Decrease by %, Set Value To, Reset to Original.

The impact of these user changes on the time fence attributes and the cost/price
attributes can be seen (after running the plan) on exceptions such as ‘Orders to be
Rescheduled In’ and measures such as Revenues and Gross Margin.

3.15.3.5. Simulation Edits of Approved Supplier Lists and Supplier Capacity
Users can now do what-if simulation based on attributes of Approved Supplier Lists and
Supplier Capacity as listed below.

• Approved Supplier List attributes

o Processing Lead Time

o Min Order Qty

o Fixed Lot Multiplier

o Supplier Price

• Supplier Capacity attributes

o From Date

o To Date

o Capacity

Users can simulate changes to these attributes in a specific plan or as part of a simulation
set that can be used across plans.

However, users cannot add a new Approved Supplier (Item-Supplier) entry that does not
already exist. Also this is still applicable only for global Approved Supplier Lists: any
update to a single org propagates to all orgs.


Users can view the impact of these simulation changes in all related measures. For
example, a what-if change to supplier price impacts related purchasing metrics.

3.15.3.6. Simulation Edits of Processes
Users can now do what-if simulation based on changes to their manufacturing processes
(routings). Users can copy (duplicate) an existing operation or activity and edit any of
the following attributes to either create a new operation and/or activity in that operation.
However, users cannot create new routings. The following attributes of the routing
operations and activities can be updated:

• Disable Date (operation)

• Effective Date (operation)

• Operation Yield

• Resource

• Assigned Units

• Rate or Amount

Users can use these attributes to simulate changes to their manufacturing processes in a
specific plan or as part of a simulation set that can be used across plans.

3.15.3.7. Mass Update Enhancements for Resource Availability
Mass updates to the fields From Time and To Time now support additional operators:
'Decrease by' and 'Increase by'. In addition, mass updates to To Time also support the
relative date/time operator 'From Time+'. This takes a positive or a negative number (say
'n') and sets the To Time to 'n' hours relative to the From Time. This lets users to do
actions such as ‘shorten all shifts in a week by 1 hour’ in a single update even though
there are multiple shifts with different To Time's.

Whenever the action results in the To Time being earlier than From Time, it will be
interpreted as a shift ending the next day. These mass update actions are available in both
plans and plan inputs.

3.15.3.8. Mass Update Enhancements for Firm Date on Demands and Supplies
Mass updates to the field Firm Date now support additional operators: 'Decrease by',
'Increase by', 'Request Date+' and 'Suggested Due Date+'. The last two operators take a
positive or a negative number (say 'n') and set the Firm Date to 'n' days relative to the
Request Date or the Suggested Due Date. This lets users to do actions like firm all Sales
Order demands for an item to their respective request dates in a single update even
though the dates are all different.

All Date operations in this mass update are based on calendar (24x7) days and not
working days. These mass update actions are available in both plans and plan inputs.


3.15.3.9. Scheduling Rapid Planning Runs in Batch Mode
Prior to this release, plans in Rapid Planning could be launched only in interactive mode.
This feature lets users to schedule the Rapid Planning plan run in the background using a
new concurrent program “Launch Simulation Planner”.

While launching this program, users have the option to either calculate the lateness
constraints or not; and to save the plan (to the database), close the plan (in which case it
would not be immediately available for simulation), or do nothing (keep the plan
available for simulation). Plans launched in this mode are always launched with refresh
snapshot.

3.15.3.10. Enhanced Search Capability
This enhancement enables additional search operators for fields Item and Resource in all
views. The search operators will now include, apart from the standard 'Equal To'
operator, the 'Starts With' and 'Contains' operators.

In addition, in the Material Plan and Resource Plan views, these two fields Item and
Resource have a new 'Among' operator where users can select multiple items or
resources to be displayed in the results.

3.15.3.11. Material Plan Display Order
This enhancement supports display of Material Plan in a user-defined item order. The
sequence of items listed in the Material Plan will be derived from the sort order seen in
the view that the user is coming into the Material Plan from (including Favorites List,
Items, Supply and Demand, Bill of Materials, and Exceptions.). If the default Material
Plan layout for the user is set to Category or Category-Org, the Material Plan is displayed
in the order of the categories corresponding to the sorted selected items.

This lets users to structure the Material Plan views in the same order as their supply
chain structure starting from the assembly all the way down to the components.

3.15.3.12. Display of Decimal Precision
This feature enables users to have control on the maximum number of decimal digits
displayed for different types of numeric fields displayed in the workbench using a set of
responsibility-level profile options. Here is the list of profile options and the types of
fields they control.

• MSC: Max display decimals for Quantity

• MSC: Max display decimals for Time

• MSC: Max display decimals for Quantity (aggregates)

• MSC: Max display decimals for Time (aggregates)

• MSC: Max display decimals for Currency

• MSC: Max display decimals for Ratios/Percentages

Profile option (3) above controls the display of all aggregate quantities especially in the
Material Plan and in Analytics, and profile option (4) above controls the display of all


aggregate time/hours in the Resource Plan and in Analytics. The rest of the profiles
control the display of decimals in all other views for the type of fields indicated above.

These profiles are only for display purposes and do not control the precision of the
internal values or the editable decimal precision.

3.15.3.13. Last Saved Information for Plan Options
The plan options window now displays the fields Last Saved By and Last Saved Date to
indicate who last updated the plan and when the plan was last updated. These fields are
also updated when a plan is run with the details of time of plan run and the user that ran
the plan.

3.15.3.14. Blow Through Phantom Items in Clear to Build
The Clear to Build workbench’s Component Allocation View has been enhanced to
display the actual components required by a make order by blowing through the make
item’s phantom sub-assemblies. This provides visibility into the real component
requirements for the make order and allows the user to reallocate scarce component
availability as required.

3.15.3.15. Global Forecasting Display in the Material Plan
Global forecasting allows you to define forecasts without the context of a shipment
organization. You can use sourcing rules to distribute consumed global forecasts to
appropriate shipment organizations. Forecast distribution is performed in an
unconstrained manner based on the user defined percentages in the sourcing rules.

With this release of Rapid Planning, the Material Plan has been enhanced to display
global forecasts. This provides users with the ability to view the original global forecast
quantities, forecast consumption and the distribution of the global forecasts to specific
organizations. The Material Plan view of global forecasts also shows the spreading of
forecasts to the various time buckets.

3.15.3.16. Auto-release of Planning Recommendations
Rapid Planning now supports the auto-release of new planned orders. This is controlled
with a new plan option, “Enable Auto Release.” Users can set the release time fence by
editing an item-organization attribute. Rapid Planning will automatically release new
planned orders when the suggested start date is inside the release time fence.

Rapid Planning also supports the auto-release of reschedules and cancelations. This is
controlled with a new plan option, “Auto Release Reschedules.” The release time fence
item attribute also determines when auto release of reschedules and cancelations is
performed.

Simulation planning in Rapid Planning has been enhanced to work seamlessly with the
release of planned orders and reschedules. If recommendations are released, the
simulation plan ‘remembers’ what was released and does not create duplicate supplies.
As planners release planned orders and then simulate new conditions, the plan has a
record of what has already been released. The simulation plan treats the released plan
orders as firm supplies.


3.15.3.17. Natural Time Fence
Rapid Planning now supports the natural time fence. A new plan option called Create
Time Fence has been provided in the Advanced tab of plan options. When checked, the
planning engine will evaluate existing firm supplies for an item and use the latest
completion date as the new planning time fence date for the item. This allows the planner
or the shop floor scheduler or purchasing agent to firm a schedule of supplies, and new
planned orders will not be created earlier than the firmed supplies.

Two additional profile options are provided in the Advanced tab to extend the use of the
natural time fence. The option Firm Planned Order Time Fence instructs the planning
engine to create a natural time fence on the completion date of the latest firm planned
order. The option Firm Internal Requisition Time Fence instructs the planning engine to
create a natural time fence on the completion date of the latest firm internal requisition.

3.15.4. Release 12.2

There are no new features in Oracle Rapid Planning in Release 12.2.

3.16. Oracle Service Parts Planning

Oracle Service Parts Planning (SPP) brings advanced multi-echelon supply chain
planning to a service supply chain consisting of internal warehouses, emergency stocking
locations, internal repair depots, external repair vendors, and external new buy vendors.

Oracle SPP is a new product dedicated to the service parts planning domain. It offers an
integrated forecasting and replenishment planning workbench, planning logic dedicated
to the unique characteristics of the service parts planning domain (such as reverse
logistics, multiple part conditions, and part supersession), and seamless integration to
Oracle Supply Chain Management and Oracle Service (Spares Management and Depot
Repair) applications to support execution of planned replenishment actions, including
external and internal repair.

3.16.2. Release 12.1.1

3.16.2.1. Integrated Demand and Supply Planning
By running a single Service Plan, you can regenerate both the forecasts and the
replenishment recommendations (procurement, transfer, and repair) for an entire service
supply chain.

A service parts planning workbench lets you view and manipulate forecasts as well as
transfer, and new buy and repair recommendations and transactions. All demand/supply,
exception, item attribute and comments pertaining to a service part are visible in a single
screen, creating a very efficient user experience for the planner.

3.16.2.2. Service Parts Planning Workbench
In service environments, it is common for planning responsibility to be divided across
planners by item, and for planners to analyze, change, and execute plans on an item by

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document Oracle Service Parts Planning 114

item basis. To support this practice, a new SPP screen shows in a single window the
following information about an item:

• Values of key item attributes
• Horizontal supply and demand plan
• Planner comments relating to the item
• Exceptions relating to the item
• Demand history and forecast
The SPP Workbench can display demand and supply information at the level of a single
item, or aggregated across multiple revisions of the item’s supersession chain. It can
display demand and supply information at a single location, or aggregated across user-
defined groups of locations (inventory organizations).

3.16.2.3. Integration to Spares Management for External Repairs
SPP plans for repair of defective spare parts at external vendors. Movement of defective
parts to the repair vendor, repair lead times and yields at the repair vendor, and
movement of repaired (good) parts back to an internal warehouse are considered. The
repair vendor must be modeled as an inventory organization. Upon release of a
recommendation for external repair, integration with Oracle Spares Management
automatically creates the repair purchase order to the repair vendor, the internal sales
order to move defectives to the repair vendor, and the underlying work orders necessary
to progress the repair through the repair vendor. (Management of the work orders is
automatic and does not require user intervention.) Tracking of repair progress is done
through a workbench in Oracle Spares Management.

3.16.2.4. Integration to Depot Repair for Internal Repairs
SPP plans for repair of defective spare parts at internal repair depots. Movement of
defective parts to the repair vendor, repair lead times and yields at the repair vendor, and
movement of repaired (good) parts back to an internal warehouse are considered. The
repair depot must be modeled as an inventory organization. Upon release of a
recommendation for internal repair, integration with Oracle Depot Repair automatically
creates the transfer order to move defectives to the internal repair depot, the repair work
order at the repair depot, and the transfer order to move the repaired spare parts back to a
warehouse. Tracking of repair progress is done through a workbench in Oracle Depot
Repair.

3.16.2.5. Support for Part Condition
SPP distinguishes between supplies of a single spare part that are of different conditions:
good and defective. This allows SPP to recommend appropriate repairs to satisfy demand
for good spare parts.

3.16.2.6. Criticality Matrix
You can group items into various criticalities on the basis of a flexible number of
attributes such as cost, order frequency, reliability, and impact of failure. You can then
specify forecasting methods and service level targets by criticality.


3.16.2.7. Support for Supersessions
SPP automatically uses supplies of later revisions of an item to satisfy demand for earlier
revisions of the item. Forecasts are automatically created for the latest item revision in a
supersession chain on the basis of the combined histories of the latest item revision and
all previous item revisions. Revisions are defined via supersession item relationships in
either Oracle Inventory or Oracle Spares Management.

3.16.2.8. Returns Forecasts
Forecasts of returns of defectives from the field are recognized as supply during the
planning process. Recommendations for repairs will not exceed the forecasted and
available supply of defective spare parts.

3.16.2.9. Minimize New Buys
SPP exhausts on-hand supplies of substitutable item revisions and options for repair of
defective supplies before recommending, as a last resort, purchase of new spare parts to
satisfy spares demand.

3.16.2.10. Life Time Buys
When a service part is obsoleted in advance of the end of the useful life of the products
that require it for service, a last or 'life time buy' must be undertaken. SPP recognizes life
time buy events as defined in the item attribute simulation set and recommends
appropriate 'life time buys' that fulfill demand anticipated to fall between the life time
buy date and the end of life date. (The latter date may be well beyond the end of the
planning horizon.)

3.16.2.11. Planner Work Lists
SPP can generate a personal work list for each planner that dynamically lists items
controlled by the planner that have important exceptions (for example, late
replenishments where the number of days late is greater than 3) and those that have key
recommendations (for example, new buy orders that need to be released within the next 5
days). The type and severity of exceptions that qualify items for the work list and the
type of recommendations that qualify for the work list can be specified by the planner.
The work list shows the most important to-dos (items to replan, recommendations to
release) that each planner must take care of at any given time.

3.16.2.12. Integration with Collaborative Planning
SPP supports the publishing of new buy order forecasts to new buy suppliers and repair
order forecasts to external repair suppliers. Suppliers can view and respond to these
order forecasts through Collaborative Planning (CP). External repair suppliers can also
view in CP forecasts of defective shipments to their facilities as planned in SPP. SPP can
receive supply commits uploaded to CP from new buy suppliers and trigger exception
messages when those commit levels are exceeded.

3.16.2.13. Supersession Chain-Specific Replanning
When a planner is working on a service part in the planner workbench, he or she can
initiate a quick replan of just the supersession chain involving the part on display. This
allows the planner to perform adjustments such as expediting repair or purchase orders,


or changing the forecast either manually or by switching statistical forecasting methods,
then quickly recalibrate the supply / demand balance of the part being worked. The
replan can include forecasting and replenishment planning, or just one of those. The
planner's replanning action will not affect the planning results of any other part in other
supersession chains. Multiple planners can therefore work concurrently on the same SPP
plan, each on their own parts, without impacting each other's work.

3.16.2.14. Execution Net Change Planning
Service parts planning environments are characterized by high part and location counts.
Scalability of planning calculations is a primary concern. On the functional side, SPP
enhances scalability by planning parts only when necessary, and while leaving the pre-
existing planning results of other parts intact. If the "Net Change" launch option of SPP
toggled to Yes, SPP will only generate fresh plan results for new parts or those parts that
have experienced net changes in demand/supply, item attributes, supersession or repair to
relationships, or supplier capacity; it will overlay those plan results on top of pre-existing
plan results for other items. This feature operates in conjunction with net change
collections.

3.16.3. Release 12.1.2

3.16.3.1. Multi-process Inline Forecasting
The performance of Inline Forecasting in Oracle Service Parts Planning (SPP) has been
significantly enhanced through the introduction of a new profile option "MSO: Number
of processes for Inline Forecast".

While previously a single 'Memory Based Forecaster' process was launched to generate a
forecast for all items in the plan, you can now launch multiple processes, so that
forecasts for different item-chains are generated in parallel. This profile determines the
number of such processes that are launched in parallel for forecasting.

3.16.3.2. Intermittent Demand Flag

Whether the history data for an item is intermittent or not determines:

• the forecast methods that Oracle Service Parts Planning (SPP) employs to
generate a 'Blended' (Bayesian weighted average) forecast, and

• the safety stock calculation method used by Oracle Inventory Optimization (IO).
IO assumes Poisson-distributed demand variability for intermittent demands,
normally-distributed demand variability for non-intermittent demands.

Previously the SPP Forecast Rule screen had an option to specify whether the history
data was intermittent or not. This approach this had two inherent issues: (i) the forecast
rule is independent of item and (ii) non-SPP users of Oracle Inventory Optimization
needed to set up SPP Forecast Rules in order to trigger IO's intermittent demand
calculations.

Release 12.1.2 has an enhanced Item Attribute Mass Maintenance (IMM) form, with a
new item attribute 'Intermittent Demand' added. This attribute will be used to specify
whether the history pattern is intermittent or not, and will be referred to by the SPP
forecasting engine, and by IO. This will be available both on the Item-Organization and


Item-Zone tab of the IMM. The options on the Forecast Rule screen to specify whether
history is intermittent or not have been removed.

3.16.3.3. Planner Worklist Enhancement

Oracle Service Parts Planning already had a 'Planner Worklist' that could be set up for
each planner so that it dynamically lists important exceptions / key recommendations on
his items. This shows the most important to-dos that each planner must take care of at
any given time.

The Planner Worklist has been further enhanced in Oracle Service Parts Planning 12.1.2.
The grouping of exceptions and recommendations has been rationalized so that the
results are presented in a more concise manner, and it is easier to drill down from this
prioritized list of tasks to details regarding each.

3.16.4. Release 12.1.3

3.16.4.1. Re-order Point-based Parts Planning

Reorder point based planning is a widely adopted method of planning replenishments for
service parts. It uses demand forecasts and item lead times to decide when to place a new
order in order to avoid dipping into safety stock. Orders are usually created for the
economic order quantity, in order to strike a balance between purchasing and carrying
costs.

PAB Profile

Q
u
a Re-order
n Quantity
t
i
t Safety
y Stock

Time

Demand Supply

Oracle Service Parts Planning 12.1.3 has been enhanced to support Re-order point based
planning. SPP computes the safety stock target for a part based on mean absolute
deviation (for parts with regular demand) or assuming a Poisson distribution (for parts
with intermittent demand), or reads in safety stock targets from other sources (like
Inventory Optimization). It then dynamically determines when to place an order,
depending on this safety stock target and future demand.

SPP also computes the Economic Order Quantity using the standard formula, so that new
orders are placed for this quantity. The user also has the option to override the system
computed values. The values of safety stock and EOQ can be recalculated during a
planning run, or they can be retained at their existing values.


3.16.4.2. Import into a Simulation Set

The Simulation Set in SPP is used by planners for mass maintenance of data. This is
however difficult to use when the planner has to manually enter or edit values for each
attribute in the forms UI.

SPP 12.1.3 has been enhanced to support a mass upload of item attribute values into the
simulation set. A standard format spreadsheet template is provided as part of legacy
collections flat file loads. The planner can use this template to enter / edit / delete
attribute values, and then upload the spreadsheet file to mass update the values for the
respective attributes on the items.

The Planner Workbench (Supply Demand Analysis) screen has also been enhanced to
enable update of item attributes that will then be considered in an online replan.

3.16.4.3. Integration with Advanced Supply Chain Planning

An OEM manufacturing products often manufactures spare parts for them too. Typically
the OEM would have a distinct service supply chain, where defective products are
returned and repaired. In case there is not sufficient supply of defective parts (that can be
repaired) in the service supply chain, new parts may have to be manufactured. Thus the
manufacturing facility that manufactures the parts will have two sets of demands – one
coming from the manufacturing supply chain, and the second coming from the service
supply chain.

Oracle Advanced Supply Chain Planning (ASCP) plans for the manufacturing supply
chain and currently handles the first stream of demand. ASCP is now integrated with
Oracle Service Parts Planning (SPP) which plans for the service supply chain. Thus SPP
would take in demand from the Service supply chain and try to meet these demands
through repair of defective parts. In case all demands cannot be met in this manner, SPP
can source parts from the manufacturing supply chain. This ‘demand’ for spare parts
from SPP is read in by ASCP (by virtue of the SPP plan being a demand schedule in the
ASCP plan). ASCP then plans the manufacture.

3.16.4.4. Integration with APCC - Service Parts Planner Dashboard

A new Service Parts Planner dashboard is now available in Advanced Planning
Command Center. Service Parts Plans can be archived and published to Advanced


Planning Command Center. The archived versions can then be viewed in reports and
dashboards.

The Service Parts Planner dashboard is structured to address the typical questions that a
parts planner would have and includes a number of service-specific measures and KPIs,
such as repairs versus new buys, internal versus external repairs, service contracts
performance.

The SPP dashboard has five pages: the first, a Plan Health summary, summarizes
demand and supply, exceptions, and service agreements.

The Demand and Supply page enables the planner to start with an overall view of
demand satisfaction in the service supply chain, and drill down all the way into the SPP
planner workbench.

The Exceptions page of the Service Parts Planner dashboard highlights key exceptions in
the service parts plan and enables the planner to investigate their causes.

The Service Level Agreement Analysis page is meant for evaluating service contracts.
The planner can see compliance to service contracts, and review costs, revenues,
profitability and achieved versus target safety stocks. The reports on this page are based
on Inventory Optimization plans.

Finally the Historical Performance page gives the planner a picture of how the plan is
tracking against actuals. The planner can compare how actuals for measures such as
shipments and returns, compare against SPP plan output.

3.16.5. Release 12.1.3.2

3.16.5.1. Fair Share
In case of constrained supplies, Oracle Service Parts Planning (SPP) previously allocated
the available supplies to the first demand. However, planners may prefer to fair share
constrained supplies among competing demands of the same priority from different
organizations. SPP has therefore been enhanced in release 12.1.3.2 to support this.

A ‘Supply Allocation Rule’ screen has been added to SPP to specify the organizations
whose demands can compete for constrained supplies at a source organization. SPP
allocates supplies to demands based on the demand priority. If there is insufficient
supply and there are multiple competing demands of the same priority in the ‘allocation
bucket’, supplies at the source organization are fair shared amongst them in the ratio of
the ‘current demand.’ In case of a tie, the organization priority specified in the Supply
Allocation Rule is used as a tiebreaker.

SPP considers demands across the supersession chain while fair sharing supplies.
Supplies are also fair shared among safety stock demands, after reserving a portion of the
supplies to meet the source organization safety stock target.

The SPP Supply Demand Analysis window has been enhanced to add an ‘Unconstrained
Demand’ row, so that the planner can identify the various demands that are competing
for constrained supplies within a time bucket.


3.16.5.2. Query-based Auto-release
Service supply chains often have millions of parts that are planned for, and therefore an
even higher number of planned orders. As a result, manually releasing planned orders to
execution is often not an option. Previously, SPP provided the option to auto-release all
orders within the release time fence. However, the planner may want to be alerted in
specific scenarios (for example, when a single order is for a very large value) before the
order is released.

SPP has therefore been enhanced in release 12.1.3.2 to enable ‘Query-based Auto-
release’. The planner can now define queries, and then specify whether (a) the records
returned by the query should be released or (b) the records returned by the query (say
ones that cause an exception) should be blocked from release, and all other orders be
released. Further, an ‘Applied-to’ column has been added, so that the release action is
applied to all orders for the particular item/supersession, or to all orders for that
item/supersession in that organization.

In addition to these, certain forecasting related metrics (like MAPE) are computed in
Demantra and exported to SPP. These metrics have been enabled for inclusion in queries,
so that, say orders for items can be blocked from release if the forecast accuracy is too
low.

3.16.5.3. Collect Installed Base under Contract
A planner might want to forecast the demand for service parts that is likely to arise in the
future, in order to service the Installed Base of products that are covered under contracts.
The Oracle Value Chain Planning Server Parts Planning solution has been enhanced in
Release 12.1.3.2 to provide this capability. You can now collect a new entity, ‘Installed
Base under Contract.’ When this is entity is collected, the installed base history and
contract history are examined, and, for each period, the number of installed units that
were under contract is determined. A profile option has been added to specify the period
for which this information must be collected.

This information is then used, along with the computed failure rate of each service part
in the Installed Base item, to determine the service parts forecast.

3.16.5.4. Collect Field Replaceable Unit Bills of Material
Forecasting the requirement of parts to service an Installed Base under contract (as
detailed above) requires information on the various components (called Field
Replaceable Units) in the install base item that are eligible for service.

In Release 12.1.3.2, when you collect the Installed Base under Contract, the Field
Replaceable Units (FRU) BOM can be automatically derived. In order to enable this, all
FRUs have to be included in a designated category set. FRU BOMs are then derived
based on parts belonging to this category set: (a) that are part of the manufacturing BOM
of the Install Base item; or (b) if the debrief on a service request for the Installed Base
item includes a part belonging to this category set.

This FRU BOM is then used in Demantra Demand Management to compute the failure
rate of parts, which is then used in computing the service parts forecast.


3.16.5.5. Supersession Notes
Customers often require the ability to add free form notes while creating a supersession
relationship. These notes usually contain detailed information about the relationship, for
example, information about when the supersession is for dangerous goods. The notes are
created in Oracle Spares Management while defining the relationship. These notes must
then be visible to a planner in Service Parts Planning.

Oracle Service Parts Planning has been enhanced in Release 12.1.3.2 to pull in the notes
that are created in Spares Management, and display them on the key screens where a
planner may review the supersession: the Planner Worklist, Supply Demand Analysis,
and Supersession screens.

3.16.6. Release 12.2

3.16.6.1. Support Multiple Move-in / Move-out Lines for a Repair Order
In case the depot organization is different from the central warehouse and defectives are
not at the depot organization, Oracle Service Parts Planning (SPP) generates three
separate planned order recommendations for internal repair. They are:

1. Order to move defectives in for repair (move-in line);

2. Non Standard repair work order to repair the part (repair work order);

3. Order to move usable inventory to the demanding organization (move-out line).

During the release process, the SPP release code calls an Oracle Depot Repair API,
which creates execution documents for the move-in line, repair order and the move-out
line. Until Release 12.2, the Depot Repair API did not support multiple move-in and/or
move-out lines for a repair order. This meant that there had to be a one to one to one
pegging between the move-in line, the repair order and the move-out line in the SPP
engine.

The Depot Rapair API is being enhanced in Release 12.2 to support multiple move-in /
move-out lines for a repair order. Corresponding to this, the SPP release capability is
being enhanced to support this situation. SPP therefore will no longer enforce one to one
to one pegging between the move-in line, the repair order and the move-out line.

3.17. Oracle Strategic Network Optimization
3.17.1. Release 12.1.1

3.17.1.1. Supply Chain Risk Management
Due to the dynamic nature of the global business environment, companies are searching
for ways to improve their supply chains in order to absorb disruptions that occur
unexpectedly. While providing other substantial benefits, Just-in-time, and Lean
Manufacturing initiatives have hindered many business's ability to absorb the impact of
unexpected events. Slack in the supply chain - usually in the form of inventory - is no
longer an acceptable hedging strategy and a sudden change such as a missed supply, can

Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Document Oracle Strategic Network Optimization 122

have an immediate impact on a companies' operations. As an example, recent hurricanes
have proved disastrous and exposed many weaknesses and companies' existing supply
chain. Less sensational events, such as an unexpected line shutdown can also have a
material impact to the business.

The ability to run simulations for these unexpected events is necessary for companies to
manage risk and these capabilities are now available in Strategic Network Optimization.
While most advanced planning software packages have simulation capabilities,
considering the unexpected nature of an event is absent. As an example, the simulation
of an unexpected plant shutdown in the future will trigger inventory pre-build in
anticipation of this event in most software packages. Since this event occurs
unexpectedly, this is not a realistic hedging strategy. Strategic Network Optimization
will simulate the surprise nature of this event and will present realistic options should
such and event occur. These simulations can also be run proactively to determine the
potential exposure, or risk, that your company faces.

The following enhancement will allow planners to analyze and mitigate risk by:

 The Ability to consider unplanned, and planned events and it’s impact on the
supply chain

 Easily compare scenarios using various Key Performance Indicators

 Ability to consider multiple demand series and safety stock plans

Vital to this enhancement is the concept of unplanned events. In order to simulate the
unpredictable nature of such events, the element of surprise needs to be reflected in the
solution. For example, if a plant is unexpectedly shut down due to a natural disaster the
solver should not pre-build inventory in anticipation of this event. This requirement will
be a key differentiator for the Strategic Network Optimization and strengthen its position
in the marketplace as the leader in Supply Chain Risk Management decision support
systems.

3.17.1.2. Alerts
Alerts are used to assist the planner with identifying and resolving exceptions after
solving the model. The current mechanism to view and manage alerts in SNO is by
using the Over and Under User Sets. While this is useful, the generic Over/Under
categorization makes it difficult for users to quickly identify exceptions of a certain type.
Reports (Smart graphs) are typically created to supplement the Sets and present the
information in a more useful format. Reports require set up beforehand and multiple
reports are needed to identify exceptions of different types.

Introducing an alert framework in SNO alleviates the need to use both Sets and reports to
manage and review exceptions in the model. It will also provide a familiar alert
workflow that is typical in many planning applications. Because of it flexibility, SNO is
often used to solve non-traditional supply chain problems. This enhancement focuses on
the traditional strategic and tactical manufacturing & distribution use of the application.
Consideration for a more flexible framework to support non-traditional uses will be
considered in the future.

Alerts are categorized based on the business area. Within each category, the type of alert
violation will be identified. This provides the planner with the ability to quickly identify


and focus on the area of interest. The ability to drill-down and easily navigate to the
node or arc of interest is also an important requirement that is addressed.

Alerts will provide the following benefits:

 Alerts provide an immediate visual representation of exceptions, which are faster
and more informative than using sets to identify exception.

 You can drill-down to the exact location of the exception within a node or arc.

 Alert categorization is more specific than Over and Under User Sets
categorization.

 Little set up is required to use alerts.

This image shows the new Alerts area at the bottom of the Strategic Network
Optimization main user interface:

The number and type of alerts is displayed in the Model Workspace area. In the Model
Workspace tree, at the root level of Alerts, the number of alerts is displayed in brackets
and the word Alerts is displayed in bold font. If no exceptions are found in the model,
Alerts has no number in brackets next to it and the font is not bolded. In the example
above, total of (68) exceptions were found when the model was solved.

Within Alerts, there are six different alert categories. The number of exception found
within each type of alert is displayed next to the alert category in the Model Workspace
area. In the example above, (42) Demand alerts, (22) Inventory alerts, and (4)
Transportation alerts were found for a total of (68). Within each alert category, there are
several specific types of exceptions. If an exception is found, a red exclamation mark is
displayed next to the exception type and if no exceptions are found, a green checkmark is
displayed next to the exception type, as seen in the example above.


The Alerts section can be displayed across the bottom of the main user interface, as seen
in the example above. This section can be shown, expanded, or collapsed, using the up
and down arrows at the top of the section. If you double-click an Alerts folder in the
Model Workspace tree, the Alerts section at the bottom of the main user interface
expands. Single-clicking on an item in the Alerts section of the Model Workspace tree
displays the alert in the Alerts section at the bottom of the main user interface. The six
tabs; Demand, Inventory, Manufacturing, Transportation, Supply, and Other reflect the
alerts results and match the Alerts section in the Model Workspace tree.

When using alerts, each node or arc that you want to be alerted about is assigned an alert
category. To assign an alert category, a new Category drop-down list was added to nodes
and arcs:

3.17.1.3. Key Performance Indicators
After running a scenario, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can help you make detailed
scenario comparisons. They provide you with graphical representation of various metrics
in a model. KPIs can show you which scenario is most efficient at filling demand,
minimizing inventory costs, or providing the highest percentage of machine utilization.
Costs are categorized based on the types of costs in the nodes and arcs and are summed
across the whole planning horizon, not by period. KPIs are only visible in Key
Performance Indicators view.

An example of the Key Performance Indicators View

Strategic Network Optimization has nine different KPIs:


 Total Cost - The sum of all costs in the model.

 Transportation Cost - The sum of all costs for any node or arc in the model
where Category is set to Transportation.

 Production Cost - The sum of all costs for any node or arc in the model where
Category is set to Manufacturing.

 Supply Cost - The sum of all costs for any node or arc in the model where
Category is set to Supply.

 Inventory Cost - The sum of all costs for any node or arc in the model where
Category is set to Inventory.

 Other Cost - The sum of all costs for any node or arc in the model where
Category is null.

 Labor Utilization % - Labor utilization expressed as a percentage.

 Machine Utilization % - Machine utilization expressed as a percentage.

 Demand Fill Rate % - Demand Fill Rate expressed as a percentage.

By default, Key Performance Indicator data is displayed in bar chart format. However,
the data can also be displayed in pie chart format or polar format by clicking the Pie or
Polar tabs. A polar chart displays points in a graph based on data in the scenario. An
example of a polar chart can be seen here below:

=

Polar chart

By default, each scenario defined in the Model Workspace appears in the Key
Performance Indicators view. However, you can use the KPI Selection Dialog to choose
which key performance indicators scenarios are displayed.


KPI Selection Dialog

The concept of scenarios was introduced in previous versions of Strategic Network
Optimization. However, scenarios are now created and run from the Model Workspace
tree as seen below:

Scenarios & Events in the Model Workspace Tree

The concept of events is new to this version of Strategic Network Optimization. Events
are individual occurrences which impact the supply chain. Events are created and then
added to scenarios. They specify the find and replace functions which are performed
within the model. Each scenario should have at least one event assigned to it. If you run a
scenario with no events in it, the model baseline solves. Several events can be added to
the same scenario. There are two kinds of events:
 Unplanned
 Planned
Unplanned events have been added to support Supply Chain Risk Management, they are
complete surprises. They are used when there is no warning that the event will occur. A
sudden change such as a missed supply can have an immediate impact on a company’s
operations. Unplanned events allow you to incorporate the concept of surprise into your
model’s solution. Examples of unplanned events which can massively interrupt supply
chain operations include natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods.


Planned events are not surprises and there is at least some react time involved. With this
advance warning, there is at least some time to make other supply arrangements and
activate contingency plans. Examples of planned events include seasonal supply chain
interruptions, anticipated shortages, and increases in demand caused by promotions.

3.17.1.4. Usability Enhancements
The investment in usability continues with this release. In addition to the Alerts, and
KPI view the following enhancements have been incorporated to improve the overall
user experience:

Improved Find and Replace

Find, Replace, and Find Export are essential tools required by consultants, pre-sales, and
customers. The purpose for initiating any of these utilities are many – from model
creation, navigation, and data editing to name a few. While each function serves a
distinct purpose, there is some overlap and the fact that they each have similar, yet
different dialogs is confusing. The usability suffers further as the number of modal
dialogs that pop up can be many. For example, a simple Find query with an ensuing
replace opens up to seven dialog boxes which must than be closed. This enhancement
provides the following in SNO:
 Combined dialog boxes for Find, Replace, and Find Export
 Ability to access the dialog boxes with shortcuts versus the multi-nested menus
 Improved usability with a more intuitive graphical user interface
Quick access to common functions in the toolbar

Commonly used functions have been added to the toolbar for easy access. These
include:
 Find & Replace
 Hide Nodes
 Hide Arcs
 Fat Arcs
 Align Nodes in Columns
 Align Nodes in Rows
 Select Adjacent nodes
 Show/hide map legend
Improved Map Legend

The map legend has been improved to provide the ability to move the legend outside of
the map view to prevent the legend from covering up key areas of the map. The ability
to specify a shape and color has also been added in this release.

Overall Look and Feel

Node icons have replaced the dated node symbols to make the nodes easier to identify.
The node color has also been changed to match the color of the application and block
images have been updated in the sample models.


3.17.2. Release 12.1.2

3.17.2.1. Aggregate Assignment Set and Lane Definition

When setting up a Strategic Plan, assignment sets and lanes are required to be defined for
each item that needs to be considered in a plan. For assignment sets the number of item-
organization combinations can potentially be very large since many of the aggregate
assignment levels are currently not supported. Similarly, when setting up lanes from
organization to customers each individual lane needs to be defined for every item-
organization-customer site-ship method combination. The setup for this can become
very tedious and error prone. A simple example will illustrate the current challenge.

Number of customer sites =100
Average Number of DC’s per customer site=2
Number of ship methods (rail, truck)=2

For this small supply chain 2 x 100 x 2 = 400 individual lanes would need to be entered.

The purpose of this enhancement is to ease the set-up required when defining strategic
plans. This is achieved by:

 Support all available assignment type levels for input assignment sets.
 Support for specificity rules to allow for defaulting. For example, a sourcing rule at
the item-organization level will override a previously defined assignment at the
category-organization level.
 Support lane definition for regions or zones

This enhancement will ensure consistency with the other planning products and greatly
improve usability. This will also decrease the number of initial setup problems since the
most common problem is missing one of the many assignments or lanes that need to be
defined.


3.17.3. Release 12.1.3

There are no new enhancements in Oracle Strategic Network Optimization in Release
12.1.3.

3.17.4. Release 12.2

3.17.4.1. Specify Scenario File in the Plan Options
This enhancement improves the usability and robustness of Strategic Network
Optimization when deployed leveraging the standard integration to Oracle EBS or
EnterpriseOne. In many cases it is necessary to augment the model that is created using
the standard integrated process as the information may not be available in the source
system or the modeling constructs might need to be altered to satisfy specific business
requirements. Some examples include

• Adjusting node-specific penalty costs

• Considering future currencies

• Modeling unique supply chain constraints

• Leveraging Risk Adjusted Costs

These types of changes may be accommodated leveraging Strategic Network
Optimization’s import file.

The plan options have been modified to allow the specification of one or more scenario
files (import files) to the plan.


Currently this can only be accomplished on the server side by expert users and requires
access to the server, appropriate server permissions and knowledge of the back end file
structure, scripts, and Strategic Network Optimization batch import commands. Server
side customizations will still be available and is the recommended approach for
significant customizations. The following diagram illustrates this enhancement in
context of the overall architecture.

Providing the ability to attach scenario files to the plan options will:

• Lower the Total Cost of Ownership by providing an easy mechanism to import
model customizations

• Improve usability and adoption in the field

• Decrease data and model errors as the appropriate version of the scenario/import
file can be attached to the plan

• Expand the relevance of the standard integrated model

3.17.4.2. Solver Upgrade
Strategic Network Optimization leverages linear optimization in combination with a
number of heuristics to solve long term supply chain planning problems. SNO leverages
the industry standard CPLEX solver which is capable of solving large scale Linear
Programming problems. In this release, the CPLEX version has been upgraded from
version 10.0 to 12.2, which enables the SNO solver to run significantly faster while
requiring less memory. This will be especially valuable to our customers with larger
SNO models.


The new CPLEX version also comes bundled with a Mixed Integer Programming (MIP)
solver which allows SNO to provide better (lower cost) solutions for go/no-go problems,
including Capital Asset Management. Typical Capital Asset Management problems
include:

• How many facilities (Plants/DC’s) should I have?

• Where should my facilities be located?

• What impact will off shoring have on my supply chain

• Can I rationalize my facilities without compromising my ability to meet demand?

• How can I mitigate supply chain risk?

• When should I open/close my facilities?

Leveraging the MIP algorithm will better align SNO with current cost-driven objectives
used in facility planning.


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