| Conferences & Events |
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Sales Forecasting Management Forum--Executive Roundtable University of
Tennessee (UTK) Executive Director Paul Dittman, Member Companies and
Marketing & Logistics Department Professors Webcast: August 28, 2007 -- Previous Webcast 7/31 -- Previous Webcast 6/26 -- Previous Webcast 5/8 -- Previous Webcast 4/3 -- Previous Webcast 2/27 -- Steelwedge Momentum: |
| Related Articles |
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| Implementing a Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment Program |
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The proven path to CPFR can be discussed in three broad phases: Leadership, Development and Ownership
In the Leadership phase—Excite, Commit and Direct— there nine areas from diagnostic to milestone planning which is the point of commitment. It begins with an evaluation of the as-is state and readiness for CPFR, an understanding of CPFR and where the program can be used—products, trading partners, functional processes. Readiness for CPFR is assessed, risks identified and gaps closed. A cost benefit analysis can be done using CPFR benchmarking data. Current and future project are reviewed to determine where CPFR should be a priority. A business case may or may not be required. The project team is set up led by the Supply Chain Manager, and the executive steering committee should be led by the VP Supply Chain. And finally the project plan for CPFR is defined. Once committed, the Development phase creates experts and agents of change through education, milestone assessments and redesign. The internal project team assesses where a CPFR program fits, if gaps or issues exist, identifies a potential trading partner to pilot with (opportunities, the trading partner’s readiness for CPFR and what products for the pilot.) Redesign requires internal and external workshops to work out the process and agreements. The education cascades to other resources as the process moves to the Ownership phase. In Ownership the pilot project runs with one trading partner and key product family with weekly and monthly measurements, monitoring and reporting. After learning, feedback, benefits and corrections, lessons learned and improvement are implemented for scalable production rollout. And the final step is a Report to executives learning from CPFR pilot and recommendations for next milestone step. The challenges to implementing s CPFR program are many--trust, complexity, cultural issues (internal and external), organizational (getting rid of the silos), execution (doing what was promised) and working out win/win partnerships. But, the rewards are huge. Steelwedge Software enables CPFR using a nine step program: Step 1 – Front-End agreement
Step 2 –Joint Business Plan
Step 3 – 5 – Sales forecast collaboration
Step 6 –8 – Order forecast collaboration
Step 9 – Order generation/delivery execution
Through its process and technology Steelwedge meets the seven challenges to successfully implement CPFR: Challenge #1: Forecast Complexity-- Steelwedge Enterprise-Enabled Excel (E3) Tames Complexity and Eliminates Unruly Spreadsheets! Challenge # 2: Align Multiple Forecast Views-- Steelwedge offers unlimited hierarchies; slice, dice and plan by region, channel, product or other view; tailor views for each actor, bridge units, revenue, and margin forecasts; align annual operating Plan (AOP) with Forecast; measure across functions. Challenge #3: Breakdown Functional and Organizational Silos with common rules and metrics; multi-dimensional views and units; view to changes and assumptions; systematic exception management; knowledge and assumptions capture and reporting; robust security and audit tracking; synchronized and sequential activities; and enterprise application scalability. Challenge #4: Structure the Collaborative Process with collaborative forecasting process; participants submit changes and qualitative feedback; managers review and update plan; plan of record is archived; and forecast performance is reviewed. Challenge #5: Provide Incentives and Feedback through business summary dashboards and detailed reports; easily accessible tools and entry forms; scorecards and performance metric grading; threshold based alerts; data at finger tips via automated report distribution; and offline capabilities. Challenge #6: Assess Financial Implications with units to $ conversions and vice versa; time-phased adjustment of price and cost; multi-dimensional view of financial projections; top down and bottoms up reconciliation of financial adjustments; and what-if scenario capabilities. Challenge #7: Measure Performance through creating accountability; focus work on areas that need support; creating relevant metrics; monitoring and managing against plan during forecasting process; waterfall reporting – track plan changes over time; forecast accuracy by group or individual; and root cause analysis.
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3825 Hopyard Rd., Suite 155,
Pleasanton, CA 94588
925 460 1700
Sylvia@steelwedge.com
STEELWEDGE SOFTWARE, Inc., the leading innovator in the field of Enterprise Planning and Performance Management. For more information about STEELWEDGE, please visit http://www.steelwedge.com/. Copyright 2007 STEELWEDGE SOFTWARE, Inc. All rights reserved.