getting responsive on dynamic alerts

Successful management calls for fast decision-making, based on sound information. But that doesn’t work when it can take hours or days to convert large amounts of data into useable information. You need mechanisms both to sift and to speed things up – and the answer is automatic dynamic alerts and workflow. There are becoming increasingly important for today’s faster-paced manufacturing environment, which is ever more beset with demands for faster time-to-market, reduced lead times and even more stringent cost controls – plus the demands of faster supply chains through the web and e-business. Steve Banker, supply chain consultant at analyst ARC, reckons “the current state of play is a bit Mickey Mouse, when compared to what the process automation suppliers can do. New value chain (encompassing all suppliers and customers) process management solutions combine visibility with alarms on key supply chain events, as well as workflow-based decision support. If a vital shipment of raw material to the factory is delayed, selected production managers are alerted.” But he continues: “While such alerts are a positive initial step in creating more efficient value chains, the alerts lack the complexity and power of those used in advanced automation systems.” Alerts constitute an area serviced by such enterprise (ERP) vendors as SAP, Intentia, SSA and JD Edwards, with Banker adding TranSafe, an application-hosted solution offered by GeoSphere, one of the leading suppliers of advanced alert solutions to the automation industry. Now Sage Enterprise Solutions (formerly Tetra) is entering the dynamic alerting sector with v2 of its Sage Enterprise ERP suite. Sage Enterprise Solutions’ managing director Andy Gass says, “Existing batch systems of raising alerts report after the event. With dynamic alerting the message appears where it needs to go: it’s focused and becomes part of the supply chain.” Nick Rawls, collaborative-commerce evangelist at JD Edwards, agrees: “Merely sending an email or text message is not enough in a modern supply chain. The alerts need to be automatic, intelligent, optimised and created in real-time based on what’s actually happening at that moment in the supply chain. The recipient should be able to click on the alert and be taken into the software and be shown the exact problem that needs to be solved. Once solved, the messages should automatically self-retract.” Gass again: “Suppliers can access that data: before raising purchase orders, emails are sent to suppliers thus shortening the supply chain. Alerts happen automatically and the system is proactive not reactive.” Massive time savings One of Sage’s customers is cosmetics industry container manufacturer RPC Cresstale. Finance manager Graeme Ratcliffe says, “The time we used to spend on generating reports can now be invested directly in our business. e-commerce fails where companies generate demand they cannot meet efficiently. Before offering e-commerce facilities to customers, it’s essential that internal procedures and back-office systems are watertight. The Sage system we now have in place is helping us achieve that goal. “Previously we had to work in batch mode, with delays before the reports emerged – by which time the data was out of sync with events. With Sage Enterprise and Microsoft SQL Server, we can obtain up-to-the-minute reports exactly when we need them. We can go straight to the data we need without time-wasting duplication and menu navigation.” And he adds: “As well as standard warnings, such as informing us when minimum stock levels are reached, we can use ‘Business Alerts’ to streamline our manufacturing facility. Now, for example, a delivery of materials can immediately trigger the start of a production run. Report generating used to consume large amounts of time – up to two hours every day for our customer services department alone. That time has now been totally freed up, so staff can concentrate their attention where it brings the best return – on our customers and the business. You can imagine the impact that has had.” Steve Tattum, Sage’s principal manufacturing consultant, adds: “The overall trend is to move from systems information being an internal requirement to passing information to partners outside the organisation in a friendly manner.” “We are developing web-based products,” says Gass. “Web-based solutions are perfect in theory but don’t have a good time-to-market currently. Accessing via the web means you have to go into the system, make enquiries and know what you’re enquiring about. Alerts involve a pre-determined set of control points and sending out information from them. And information can be delivered in different ways – email, on mobile phones as SMS text messages, personal digital assistants, flat files or on a web page.” “Alerts are not pre-defined, and trigger points are different for every organisation,” says Tattum. “Alerts are dynamic – for example, rates of usage changing, forecasts from MRP files, and using database data out of CRM (customer relationship management) packages, all combine to produce a report that usage is increasing, but has not been planned. Management is immediately informed, so there are no surprises.” Sage has implemented its alerts at the database level using Oracle. “The first thing is we identify the opportunity to change and improve the business,” says Gass. “We identify the opportunity to manage the business more effectively. Users know the key pressure points in the organisation. Information is held in databases which is linked to form alerts.” For example, Sage customer, mower manufacturer Mountfield, has a seasonal business. Conventional re-order points wouldn’t work very well, but a dynamic system of alerting does. For the user, it’s simple to change parameters. The advantage is users don’t need to know how to write SQL, since a statement builder is embedded. Indeed, dynamic alerts equate pretty well to proactive supply chain management. “In a complex supply chain environment, alerts bring to people’s attention what’s going on dynamically in real time,” says Gass. ARC’s Banker makes some key recommendations. “Manufacturers need to realise that much better alerting is possible than is typically practised. Criteria for selecting a supply chain software supplier should include the supplier’s willingness and ability to provide more complex alert capabilities.” But, he adds, “Higher-level alerting capabilities will need greater integration with execution and automation systems. The more data touch points, the more companies will be able to implement predictive alarming. Integration with a wider variety of value chain partner data touch points will be a key technological hurdle. Supply chain, e-business marketplace, infrastructure and automation companies could benefit from collaborative product development alliances to address this need.” His colleague Simon Bragg adds just one caveat: “These alerts are difficult. It’s really easy to report on what happened. It’s much harder to report on what didn’t happen. The interesting stuff is what didn’t happen.” That’s a sage comment.