Data is the biggest challenge of every single supply chain planning or optimization project.

A disproportionate amount of time is spent gathering, auditing, synchronizing and completing large volumes of data usually coming from different sources and in different formats.

If users will have to spend hours working with and preparing the data required to build a new scenario, it really won’t matter how good or optimal the solutions are, or how powerful the analytics. They simply don’t have THAT much time, and will eventually go back to the good old Excel model. It wasn’t perfect, it was far from optimal, but it sort of worked, (at least enough to satisfy the boss).

Making life easier for our users by conquering the data challenge is by far the heaviest component of our projects.  It requires adapting Opti-Net™‘s programs, logic and functionality to automate as much as possible all the data related tasks necessary to create and optimize scenarios.

This ‘logical’ element of the data component will determine the eventual success of an implementation. For it to work well it must be customized in order to reflect the data environment and planning features of the client organization.