In this release, we focused on improving our dashboards even further. We have received a lot of feedback on the dashboard improvements in our June 2019 release. Many of you pointed out that your scorecards were still missing KPI widgets. We decided that KPI widgets should be THE topic in this release.
New KPI Widgets
KPIs are widgets to measure performance against a fixed target and the previous period. KPIs are ideal for scorecards as they show if a supplier is on target and if the supplier is improving.
This example shows a lead time KPI that measures the lapse between production start and finish in Prescience. Let’s take a moment to quickly understand how the widget works.
KPI Targets
The title includes the target which is what the widget measures against. For lead time lower values are better, i.e. the widget is green when the value is on or below target. Conversely, the widget is red when the value is above target, as shown below:
Please note that some KPIs work oppositely. For example, the fulfillment KPI implies that higher values are better. As a result, values on or above target makes the widget green, whereas values below target turns it red.
Periods
KPIs currently support daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly period formats. The widget displays the chosen period above the widget value. The example below shows a weekly widget with data from week 33 of 2019. This implicitly means the screenshot is from week 34 as the widget value always corresponds to the previous period. Similarly, a monthly KPI displayed in August will show a value using July data, and so forth.
KPI Changes
Seeing changes is useful to show if suppliers improve or start to underperform. For example, average lead time is 1.3 days shorter in week 33 than in week 32, which is a -7,8% reduction. This is useful information.
List of KPI widgets
To round of the KPI widget introduction here is a list of the KPI widgets implemented so far:
Production Module:
- Fulfilment rate (%)
- Average production lead time (days)
- Cycle time (days)
Inventory Module:
- Average inventory (units)
Forecast Module:
- Approval rate (%)
- Average approval lead time (days)
If you have suggestions for the next KPIs we should implement, please let us know. 😀
Forecast Approval Tree Map
This release includes a forecast approval treemap that shows forecasts by status. As a result, you know who approved or rejected their forecast and how many are still pending. Simply click a data bucket to expand it for a full list of locations.
TIP: in expanded mode, the location names are clickable and link directly to the forecast.
On/Off Stock Actions
This release provides manual actions for taking entities off stock. Previously, entities were only removed from stock when they were shipped in the logistics module.
You can use this feature to remove e.g. scrapped entities. Similarly, you can remove entities manually if you wish to maintain finished goods inventory without using the logistics module.
In the inventory module, open the context menu and click “Actions” -> “Remove from stock”.
Or in the entity modal simply click the “Remove from stock” button.
It is also possible to reverse the action to put an entity back on stock. This will work without further actions if the entity was manually removed. However, if the entity was shipped via the logistics module, the entity must first be unshipped.
Minor Improvements
Finally, here is a list of other minor improvements included in the August release:
- Added Workflows, Processes and Data form tabs to the Master Data page. This is where configs can be found when self service goes live.
- Fixed “Days on stock” in the inventory module so it sorts correctly.
- Added “Mapping” column to the grid in the production module to display entity mapping.
This is it for now, we hope you will enjoy the new features.
And as always, if you have feedback or questions either leave a comment or reach out to me directly.
