HOW IT WORKS

MULTIDIMENSIONAL FRAMEWORK

WORKBOOKS, VIEWS

ROLES

HIERARCHIES AND LEVELS

MEASURE AGGREGATION AND SPREAD

KPIS

PLANNING PROCESS

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

MULTIDIMENSIONAL FRAMEWORK

Information is stored and represented based on the multidimensional framework which enables to place the data in hierarchical arrangement.

The multidimensional framework allows a quick and efficient data loading and exporting and also „slicing and dicing” of data. Slicing means that data can be sliced into single dimensions for easier analysis and the data can view one page at a time (in the worksheet). Dicing means that Data can be „diced” into subsections of multiple dimensions; dicing the data provides the user with the means to work with manageable chunks of data at lower levels.

WORKBOOKS, VIEWS

A planner uses a workbook to build and maintain plans throughout the season. The workbook is a user-defined data subset (of a master database) that includes selected dimensions levels, this is useful because the user can have a better overview about data and the calculations in the workbook can be performed more quickly. These workbooks consist of views and graphical charts used for planning, viewing, and analyzing business measures. Workbooks organize related planning information and divide levels of user responsibility. This framework allows a user to easily view, create, modify, and store data sets that are common to repeated tasks. Views can be customized for each user (rotating, pivoting, format functions etc.)

ROLES

PlanR’s process involves multiple user roles. These roles work together to pass targets and approve the new plans at different levels of the product, location and time hierarchies. The process of using multiple roles divides the planning process into logical sections. There are two types of users in PlanR:

Top Down: These users are usually planning directors or planning managers. They create the overall targets for the company down to group/department level and set top-down group level targets for the bottom-up role.

Bottom Up: These users are usually merchandise planners. They create retail plan plans for approval by the top down role.

HIERARCHIES AND LEVELS

The standard set of planning hierarchies is supplied with PlanR: Calendar, Location, and Product.

Levels are qualities of an item that define the structure and roll up within the hierarchies. Hierarchies are typically loaded from another operational system. The standard set of hierarchy levels can be for example: Year, Quarter, Month and Week in the Calendar hierarchy; Company, Division, Group, Department, Class and Sub-Class in the Product hierarhy; or Company, Chain, Channel, District and Store in the Location hierarchy.

MEASURE AGGREGATION AND SPREAD

Users may edit data at many levels of each dimension (product, location, and calendar). If the data is modified at an aggregate level (a level with one or more lower levels beneath it), the modifications are distributed to the lower levels within the hierarchy. This function is called spreading. If data is modified at a level that has a higher level above it (parent), the data changes are reflected in those higher levels. This is known as aggregation. Each measure that is used in the solution is assigned a default aggregation and spreading behavior.

KPIS

The indicators are special types of information what the retailers want to store, calculate, display at specific positions along one or multiple hierarchical levels, to manage a retail plan. The planning tool contains standard set of indicators.

Workbook templates contain indicators and KPI-s which support the creation of the new plan. Thely help to predict and manage the future, maximize sales and profits, maximize return on investment, increase profitability and also minimize markdowns and out of stocks.

PLANNING PROCESS

PlanR allows business users to go through the pre-configured process flow. We analyzed the planning workflow of various leading companies which enabled us to implement best practices that are required for an excellent planning user interface.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

PlanR is a cloud-based SAAS solution with all the benefits (like data security) of Azure. The following services operate in the background:

SQL server, that handles the data
Application service that provides the user interface
Active directory that handles user roles and authentications.