Oracle NetSuite Demand Planning, Implementation & Business Growth

The key to consistent business growth is information: Right information, at the right time, for the right cause.

Assume there is a shoe manufacturer, who makes affordable sneakers. What if that manufacturer is able to know that a particular country is about to make sports a compulsory subject and soon, every student will be buying sneakers in order to attend sports classes.

That shoe manufacturer can not only plan the production accordingly, but also put in place a stellar supply and distribution process for ensuring maximum sales.

 

In short, he can make a fortune.

 

What if we say that such prediction of demand is now possible with Oracle NetSuite Cloud ERP, and that information can literally change everything about your business.

 

This is how it will happen, for your business.

 

What Is Demand Planning?

 

Demand Planning means understanding and predicting what your customers will demand in the future. Businesses deploy demand planning to optimally manage their inventory, supply chain and pricing positions to ensure maximum profit, at minimum investment.

 

Understanding the need and relevance, Oracle NetSuite offers a complete module for demand planning, that uses business intelligence, historical sales data, customers’ preferences and the global trends to find out which product will be in demand, in which market, and for how long.

 

NetSuite’s Demand Planning module ensures that you are always one-step ahead of your competitor, and that you are always ready for any surge in demand, at any point of time.

 

How NetSuite Demand Planning Works?

 

Demand planning is a combination of science, mathematics and commerce, whose ultimate aim to predict the demand, and enable the business to make appropriate plans to ensure that the demand is met and satisfied.

 

Here are the 5-step process based on which NetSuite’s Demand Planning works:

 

Calculate Demand

 

Using a number of planning methods, the ERP system will calculate the exact demand for the products that are sold by the business.

 

Among these methods, the critical planning methods include linear regression and moving average methods. In linear regression, the algorithm uses the previous demand data (monthly, quarterly, annual) to calculate demand, whereas in moving average, the average of all historical demands are calculated to find the stock level needed and required.

 

Sales forecast is another very powerful planning method to find out the future sales demand. Seasonal average is used for seasonal trends (festivals, events) to find out the demand.

 

Generate Demand Plans

 

Based on the demand predictions, the demand plans are generated and presented to the management in different ways and angles. For every demand, a plan is made to fulfill that requirement, generate supply plans, and how inventory will be managed. Based on the demand plans, the subsequent purchase orders, transfer orders and work orders are generated.

 

Calculate Supply

 

Once the demand plan is finalised, the process to ensure seamless supply is triggered. Calculating supply is the 3rd major step in the entire process of demand planning.

 

Businesses need to find out the exact inventory position, and the availability of raw materials or finished goods to calculate supply, based on the demand plans.

 

Generate Supply Plans

 

In the Oracle NetSuite software, generating supply plans is a quick and seamless process: Using the Item Settings in the Demand Plans, the required supply plan can be generated via single click. At this stage, the management can include exceptions, rules and workflow approvals for the final approval.

 

Approve

 

Based on the supply plans generated, the system will generate either planned orders, released orders or firm orders, and this leads to the start of fulfillment process.

 

This was just a glimpse of how Oracle NetSuite’s Demand Planning works.

 

For more detailed information about the entire demand planning process, and how your business can take advantage of the Oracle NetSuite demand planning module, consult with Inspirria today.

 

Book a no-obligation free assessment of your business right here.