Insightful » supply performance

Do all signs point to an unorganized implementation of Order-to-Ship?

ryan.alford — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:00:37 +0000

It’s not an easy job. An optimized Order-to-Ship business process offers continual progress towards improved cost control and delivery performance.

However, there might be a few challenges in the systems, including:

Rework to correct data accuracy issues
Late shipments and setbacks in delivery performance
Increased customer complaints
Time spent on complaint resolution
Poor management of backorders
Inefficient order processing and fulfillment
Untimely invoicing
Diminished cash flow and sales margins

In an Aberdeen Research study called “Working Capital Optimization: Increase Cash Flow in the New Economy,” author Nari Viswanathan said that “Best-in-Class companies are 30% as likely as all others to use cash conversion metrics as part of their supply chain organization metrics. Companies that embed cash conversion metrics into the set of supply chain metrics are twice as likely to have reduced their cash conversion cycle over the past year (45% versus 21%). Some of the key metrics that have been adopted as part of the process are: Sales forecast accuracy, on-time shipping, on-time delivery, inventory turns, logistics costs as a percentage of sales, and gross profit margin.”

Achieving an on-time shipping and delivery system is an industry standard met by few. Using JD Edwards can get you on your way, but will only take you so far.

To read more, click here.

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.

JD Edwards Executive Luncheon in Greensboro, NC

ryan.alford — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 20:34:36 +0000

Bring your appetite and join InsightSoftware.com and brij for a sumptuous meal and great networking on June 23, 11:30-1:30. You will see why InsightSoftware.com is quickly becoming the reporting tool of choice within the JD Edwards community.

With Insight you truly revolutionize operational reporting throughout your organization. Insight supplies solutions for functional areas such as: Finance, Human Capital, Supply Chain, Manufacturing and Project and Asset Management. Insight goes beyond mere reporting to drive productivity and profitability gains throughout your organization.

Leave with knowledge of the solutions that can help you optimize your business processes, all over lunch. We will treat you to lunch at the UNDERCURRENT restaurant . Click here to RSVP.

User Group meetings on the horizon:

Rocky Mountain User Group on June 10: http://bit.ly/diOd8T

JD Edwards Southeast Regional User Group in Atlanta, GA on June 17: http://bit.ly/9ewZJR

Eastern Canada Regional User Group on June 21 in Mississauga: http://bit.ly/9zCbOF

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.

Forecast-to-Make: A Structurally Sound Process?

ryan.alford — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:47:24 +0000

Do you experience materials shortages and capacity constraints? It’s vital to increase productivity and information accuracy by proactively ensuring that key managers and users can access accurate and timely information to make sound, in-the-moment decisions.

Running a world-class operation starts with the necessity for at least 99 percent accuracy of Item Master data. For many, this is easier said than done. However, with the correct tools the accuracy of Item Master records, Bills of Material, and Routings can be assured.

Once this initial foundation is secured, then focus turns to proactively optimizing scheduling to maximize available capacity and ensure availability of raw materials. Again, although JD Edwards stores meaningful information in these areas, many struggle to access real-time actionable information that enables optimized processing. Finally, having a full grasp of manufacturing cost variances and their drivers can make the difference in driving increasingly lower costs and fewer surprises.

With the correct tools you can unlock the rich data stored in JD Edwards to ensure the following: manufacturing tactics are aligned with the corporate strategy; forecasted demand matches market requirements; manufacturing processes are tuned to meet forecasted demand; and that ongoing reduction of cost and variances is possible.

To read more, click here.

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.

JD Edwards Support Number Fades to Black

ryan.alford — Tue, 11 May 2010 23:27:11 +0000

On June 14, the JD Edwards support number (1-800-289-2999) will be disconnected and transitioned to the Oracle Support hotlines.

The new U.S. number is 800-223-1711. Otherwise, visit http://www.oracle.com/support/contact.html to find the Oracle Global Customer Support toll free number in your country.

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.

Capital Asset Management: Improving Equipment Up-time, Lowering Costs

ryan.alford — Mon, 03 May 2010 14:08:00 +0000

“It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.” -Arthur Conan Doyle

In today’s economy, using an effective CAM solution can make or break a business. It’s the financial advantages that are of main concern. It’s the incentive of knowing how to save money by controlling costs associated with facilities, parts and labor. This trio of asset management key points is typically where the problems related to cost-effectiveness begin.

CAM is a sensitive formula that is successful when everything is funneled through a system that works efficiently. A core function of that formula – relevant to price control – is lowering maintenance costs. This is usually priority No. 1. This includes watching the following components: inventory and depreciation, scheduling of repair, logistics, utilization, monitoring (safety and tracking), total lifecycle, performance management, capital planning, and support.

To further control costs, it’s imperative that a software solution assist with increasing maintenance resource utilization. This relates to being aware of costs related to facilities, parts and labor. However, it’s also necessary to have a solution that helps improve equipment up-time. Having a working organization that creates a system that sets a standard for quality control will save dollars on a long-term basis.

To read more, click here.

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.

Lunch and Learn?

ryan.alford — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 22:24:39 +0000

InsightSoftware.com is hosting several “Lunch and Learn” events in the Maryland and Virginia areas. Discover how Insight is quickly becoming the reporting application of choice among the JD Edwards community.

Here’s the lineup:

Baltimore MD Lunch & Learn May 13th 2010 – http://events.linkedin.com/Lunch-Learn-Insight-Software-Brij/pub/306856

Tysons Corner Lunch & Learn May 12 2010 – http://events.linkedin.com/Tysons-Corner-Lunch-Learn-Insight/pub/306851

Richmond VA Lunch & Learn May 12th 2010 – http://events.linkedin.com/Richmond-Virginia-Lunch-Learn-Insight/pub/306846

We look forward to seeing you!

Are you interested in joining our LinkedIn group? Although we host this group for our customers, we also want new and interested participants to join.

Click the following link to register: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2555288.

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.

InsightSoftware.com Debuts its Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP) Module for JD Edwards

ryan.alford — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 20:48:25 +0000

InsightSoftware.com, the leading provider of business process optimization software, announced the availability of Insight’s MRP module for JD Edwards. The MRP module brings added visibility to JD Edwards’ forecast and planning data.

“With better insight to information, customers can achieve more accurate forecasts and optimal planning of material and resources,” said Glenn Wirick, Director of Consulting Services at InsightSoftware.com. “Not only do our clients see a reduction in costs, but they gain improvements in delivery performance which leads to increased customer satisfaction.”

Insight software users control the information in their reports without having to rely on valuable IT resources. Enhancing access to relevant and meaningful MPS, MRP, DRP and CRP data puts the power of information into the hands of decision-makers. Insight’s interactive inquiries allow users to address material and capacity issues proactively, before they affect downstream processing. Understanding where inefficiencies and resource constraints occur allows for retooling of processes to increase profitability and enhance customer service.

Insight’s online inquiries enable reports to come to life. Simply click on summary level information to view the detailed data that make up a forecast, plan or bill of material. Comparisons across plants or product lines are a breeze with Insight. Pivot data to easily spot shortages and bottlenecks. Furthermore, charting and graphing functionality makes it easy to evaluate trends and understand short and long term capacity requirements. This ensures ongoing availability of material and labor resources.

To learn more about Insight’s MRP module, visit: www.InsightSoftware.com/jde/mrp.

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.

Why can’t we all just Collaborate?

ryan.alford — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 22:48:08 +0000

Here are a few Collaborate events and free Webinars to keep on your radar:

InsightSoftware.com’s clients are invited to partake in free drinks at our beach cabana during Collaborate 2010 (shoes optional)

Join InsightSoftware.com during Wednesday evening’s beach party at the Mandalay Bay Beach from 6:30-8:30pm. We rented a private beach cabana, cabana No. 8 (next to the Surf Cafe) for our customers. We will have a complimentary drink cart for those that have our drink tickets. Please stop by our booth, No. 1419, in the Exhibition Hall to obtain your free tickets. A small token of our appreciation for you, our customers.

Don’t forget, we are giving away an Apple iPad. It’s a beauty. We are all drooling over it. Drop your business card off at our booth for your chance to win. It’s really just another bribe to see your smiling faces at our booth, No. 1419.

Attend one of our several 2010 Collaborate presentations for additional chances to enter-to-win:

Session 75850: Financial Reporting Within the Public Sector (with AMX International) – Monday, 4/19/10, 3:45-4:45 p.m., Room: Jasmine A
Session 76650: Health Checks for JD Edwards EnterpriseOne (with Titan Technologies) – Monday, 4/19/10, 2:30-3:30 p.m., Room: Mandalay Bay Ballroom 1
Session 74550: World FASTR Reports Done Funner, Faster & Easier (a Customer Presentation by Golden State Water) – Wednesday, 4/21/10, 10:30-11:30 a.m., Room: Jasmine F
Session 77180: Take the Pain Out of Budgeting (a customer presentation with Bal Seal Engineering) – Thursday, 4/22/10, 11:00-12:00 p.m., Room: Jasmine H
Session 4769: Transform Your Financial Statement Generator (FSG) Processes – Thursday, 4/22/10, 12:15-1:15 p.m., Room: Reef D

Free Public Webinars:

Get more from your JD Edwards Human Resources and Payroll investment

When: April 29, 10a-11a MT

Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/239761578

Managing and paying your staff is one of the most important areas of your business. Stop spending time dumping sensitive data into Excel. Stop waiting weeks for custom reports. InsightSoftware.com’s Employee Lifecycle Solution provides powerful, simple, and secure access to essential human resource and payroll information, allowing you to be far more effective in much less time. This Webinar will provide you with an overview on how you can easily overcome challenges in validating your employee setup, benefit enrollment and payroll entries. You will see how real-time, online inquiries can help you be more efficient and answer questions quickly. For more information on InsightSoftware.com’s Employee Lifecycle solution, visit: www.mini.InsightSoftware.com/we/employee.

Transform your Financial Statement Generator (FSG) process with Insight

When: April 30, 10a-11a MT

Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/234336394

Fast-track your Oracle FSGs in an Office 2007-style environment. Automatically check for reporting integrity issues. Transform boring report definitions into elegant interactive reports. Augment your reports with hundreds of new reporting features. Drill-down from any level to live transactions in a single click. Leave technical FSGs behind with a true end-user reporting solution.

Insight’s hassle-free solution:

15 minutes to install and configure before running your first report
Import FSGs in seconds
Instantly share reports with other users
Highly intuitive
Minimal training required
No additional IT infrastructure necessary

For more information on your free FSG integrity check, visit: www.InsightSoftware.com/fsgchecker.

Customer Training Webinar:

Enhance your Reports with Links and Drill Down Capabilities

When: April 15, 10a-11a MT

Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/504735891

Improve your productivity and streamline your processes with Insight’s built-in drill-down functionality. The advantage of Insight’s online reports and inquiries is that you can click on a figure and drill-down and through to the live, originating transaction. This Webinar will give you some tips on making drill-downs more intuitive and easier for your users. In addition, you will learn how to create report links to other meaningful information including advanced linking capabilities. To view past, recorded presentations and register for upcoming sessions, visit us at www.InsightSoftware.com/webinars.

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.

Supplier Management: Quick time-to-benefit is the key to happiness

ryan.alford — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:27:38 +0000

Nobody wants to wait months to receive benefits after purchasing a supplier management solution. It’s a big frustrating mess. Although, a number of traditional approaches address at least some of the information challenges; the financial benefit is often not realized for many months after installation.

For example, a traditional approach to improving access to supplier performance information is to develop sets of custom reports. Development of such reports cost tens of thousands of dollars, months to create, requires IT resources for report development, and delivers static reports that only answer a pre-defined set of questions.

Business Intelligence (BI) is another traditional approach used to reduce the information gap. However, once again, these systems are very expense to implement, take months to develop, require IT resources for report development, and do not deliver the visibility required to optimize operations.

No matter the traditional reporting approach, a supplier management process is left running suboptimally due to ongoing information challenges. These challenges are generally met with unsanctioned data dumps to Excel, which lead to data inaccuracy and hours of unnecessary effort on the part of business users.

According to Information Week: “When it comes to BI, no option has been more deployed than integration with Microsoft Excel. Fifty-seven percent say they’ve implemented desktop integration [to Excel].”

To read the entire Supplier Management e-Book, click here.

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.

March is Rich with User Groups and Events

ryan.alford — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:04:37 +0000

The InsightSoftware.com team is busy during the month of March. Check out our list of events below:

Rocky Mountain Regional User Group – March 12

The purpose of the Rocky Mountain Regional User Group (RUG) is to foster communication between users with similar experiences and challenges in their workplace. On March 12, come share experiences and best practices relating to your use of Oracle (JD Edwards and PeopleSoft) software. If you are not a member and would like to attend a meeting before you decide to join, please contact the Membership Coordinator for a reservation. You can find the contact information by pointing to “About Us” and clicking on the “Board of Directors”. For more information, please email info@cormug.org and visit http://www.cormug.org.

DC Oracle Applications User Group – March 18

Join InsightSoftware.com on March 18 at Maggianos Chevy Chase in Washington, D.C., for a day of information and sharing related to Oracle products. Upgrades can be a cumbersome and complicated process. Don’t miss our presentation “Simplify your R12 Upgrade – FSGs Made Easy.”

JD Edwards NJ/NY Regional User Group – March 19

Attend the NJ/NY Regional User Group on March 19 for a day of networking and informative presentations from Oracle and their partners. Our keynote session will be “Corporate and Applications Strategy” by Rick Potter, Oracle Sales Consulting Senior Manager. Stop by InsightSoftware.com’s booth: We are featuring our Supplier Management solution.

Southwest Regional OAUG – March 19

Simplify your report creation process and enable your end-users to be self-sufficient while still under the control of IT (no rogue reports and prevention of spreadsheet madness). Attend InsightSoftware.com’s session, “Financial Reporting Made Easy,” presented by Danny Nguyen.

We encourage you to verify the integrity of your current Financial Statement Generator (FSG) reports, import and fix them in Insight. Run our free FSG Integrity Checker to see how your reports measure up by visiting http://www.insightsoftware.com/fsgchecker or contact Jon.Wayman@InsightSoftware.com.

Join us for an all-day event full of training, networking and the latest news from Oracle at the Hilton Irvine/Orange County Airport. To register, visit http://www.sroaug.com.

InsightSoftware.com’s North American User Group – March 21-23

Don’t miss the launch of Insight Version 10, featuring a new user interface, community portal, integrated reporting, business optimization solutions and many new features.

The 2010 North American User Group has been expanded to two full days, with a mixture of general sessions and four “break out tracks” tailored to your experience with Insight, area of expertise and ERP system.

Optionally, you may want to attend our CPE certified hands-on training workshops on Wednesday, March 24. Attend our popular “Power User Workshop,” complete with a hands-on look at version 10. Newer Insight users will benefit from our “Functional Training Class”.

For more information on InsightSoftware.com’s NAUG, visit http://www.insightsoftware.com/naug.

Cactus League User Group – March 22

Why not kick off our first meeting of 2010 at one of Scottsdale’s luxury resorts? You deserve a heaping dose of posh and pampering as you expand your JDE knowledge and networking base. Join InsightSoftware.com on March 22 from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa at Gainey Ranch. The agenda will include presentations on “Reducing Costs during Upgrades,” “JDE Security/Compliance” and “Utilizing JDE for Customer Relationship Management.” To register for this event, visit http://questers.questdirect.org/e/in/eid=160.

OBUG Benelux Connect – March 24

Come and hear Rene van Sandijk (Vanderlande Industries) and Barend Jan Klijnsma (Cadran Consultancy BV) talk about real-time reconciliations, data integrity and reporting for Oracle and JD Edwards. At this session learn how Vanderlande solved the problem of accessing JD Edwards 8.12 in real-time in order to fulfill all their operational reporting needs – from project cost management, reconciliation and reporting to full financial, distribution and manufacturing. See how end-users intuitively and securely create and run precisely the inquiries and reports that they need without the need to involve IT. The presentation will also include a demonstration of the reporting solutions, which Vanderlande has developed using Insight. More information http://www.obug.nl/.

Pac Rim User Group – March 25

This full day includes training, networking and the latest news from Oracle at the Comfort Suites in Tukwila, Wash. Meet the new board and get ideas on how to utilize JDE from Oracle, vendors and your fellow customers. To register for this event, visit http://bit.ly/9y8Cvw.

For more information on InsightSoftware.com’s list of events, visit http://www.insightsoftware.com/events.

Author: ryan.alford

Ryan is the Internet Marketing Manager for InsightSoftware.com.