To put it into perspective, Kinaxis RapidResponse is the umpteenth improvement of the former webPLAN, a Microsoft Windows NT-based groupware suite for manufacturing planners that was introduced back in 1995. The solution would extract data from the host MRP-ERP system, and then quickly regenerate the changed materials plans. The intent was to allow a planner to create or simulate a new plan, and share it with other planners, managers, customers, and suppliers before implementing the it. A slew of additional modules that have since been added to this core tool have supported the expanded decision structure and audience (i.e., multiple planners, multisite master production scheduling [MPS], and capacity requirements planning [CRP]) needed to approve and act on a new production schedule in an informed manner.
The next step for Kinaxis was to build a new type of multi-enterprise manufacturing and fulfillment solution that would knit together the abundant existing information from disparate transactional sources, and then quickly drive better short-term manufacturing decisions and actions. Ideally, users could start with an “as planned” single version of the truth, continually update this version of the truth with real-time data feeds, and finally drive a collaborative decision-making process across the action team.
This is where Kinaxis RapidResponse comes in—not to replace planning, forecasting, or execution systems, but rather to leverage these systems. Namely, a Web-based adaptive response management solution may be a more appropriate approach because these solutions can leverage data from the existing transactional systems, provide real-time analysis of events, and suggest courses of action. In addition, these solutions can provide role-based views of supply chain information to the extended supply chain members across multiple sites, anywhere in the world, and through any browser.
In the early 2000s, Kinaxis announced its intent to deliver its solution on the Microsoft .NET Framework. The initial extensible markup language (XML) Web services developed using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET provided an XML interface to Kinaxis RapidResponse Server. This XML interface–enabled server is the underlying platform that provides real-time adaptive planning and trading partner collaboration over the Internet, shared by thousands of employees and trading partners. The XML interface has since been offered as a component of Kinaxis RapidResponse Server, which leverages the capabilities of the Microsoft BizTalk Server and SQL Server to provide business-to-business (B2B) transaction services and XML event services for real-time distributed collaboration. Other enhancements included a simple object access protocol (SOAP)–compliant XML interface for open access to the platform from both .NET and Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE)–based applications.
The basic concept of Kinaxis’s value proposition comes down to the following tenets: 1) powerful, fast, and continuous analytics in the background; 2) the ability to perform multiple what-if scenarios; and 3) the linking of these scenarios to a Microsoft Excel-like user interface (UI), given that this is the most common data analytics tool. To deliver this, RapidResponse leverages the following three key technologies that enable manufacturers to abridge the dreaded and inevitable reality-gap situation, and respond swiftly to today's problems:
1. Active Spreadsheets with AlwaysOn Analytics
Active Spreadsheets provide Web-based global access to live data feeds from ERP, demand planning, SCP, warehouse management system (WMS), product lifecycle management (PLM), and other enterprise applications. The Active Spreadsheets technology presents enterprise data in a “walk-up-and-use-it” familiar interface, which significantly reduces the initial learning curve. The spreadsheets provide role-based, user-friendly screens with synchronized data feeds. These data feeds are extracted from ERP data and tools designed to enable action teams, including schedulers, planners, buyers, customer service representatives (CSRs), managers, suppliers, and so on.
Active Spreadsheets is automatically and continuously populated with up-to-the-second live enterprise data feeds. When data comes from multiple sources, say from different parts of the business in house or from supply chain partners, the system automatically and “quietly” (behind the scenes) consolidates this information in one place, thereby ensuring a single version of the truth. Even if several users are working with Active Spreadsheets, each user maintains the same single version of the truth via the same view, and even when the data is in the midst of changing, since a change in any cell is almost instantly affected across the spreadsheets of other participants. Such instantaneous updates align action teams around a consistent, continuously updated view of the impact that changes in supply and demand will have on their operations in a familiar, intuitive spreadsheet view.
The next step for Kinaxis was to build a new type of multi-enterprise manufacturing and fulfillment solution that would knit together the abundant existing information from disparate transactional sources, and then quickly drive better short-term manufacturing decisions and actions. Ideally, users could start with an “as planned” single version of the truth, continually update this version of the truth with real-time data feeds, and finally drive a collaborative decision-making process across the action team.
This is where Kinaxis RapidResponse comes in—not to replace planning, forecasting, or execution systems, but rather to leverage these systems. Namely, a Web-based adaptive response management solution may be a more appropriate approach because these solutions can leverage data from the existing transactional systems, provide real-time analysis of events, and suggest courses of action. In addition, these solutions can provide role-based views of supply chain information to the extended supply chain members across multiple sites, anywhere in the world, and through any browser.
In the early 2000s, Kinaxis announced its intent to deliver its solution on the Microsoft .NET Framework. The initial extensible markup language (XML) Web services developed using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET provided an XML interface to Kinaxis RapidResponse Server. This XML interface–enabled server is the underlying platform that provides real-time adaptive planning and trading partner collaboration over the Internet, shared by thousands of employees and trading partners. The XML interface has since been offered as a component of Kinaxis RapidResponse Server, which leverages the capabilities of the Microsoft BizTalk Server and SQL Server to provide business-to-business (B2B) transaction services and XML event services for real-time distributed collaboration. Other enhancements included a simple object access protocol (SOAP)–compliant XML interface for open access to the platform from both .NET and Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE)–based applications.
The basic concept of Kinaxis’s value proposition comes down to the following tenets: 1) powerful, fast, and continuous analytics in the background; 2) the ability to perform multiple what-if scenarios; and 3) the linking of these scenarios to a Microsoft Excel-like user interface (UI), given that this is the most common data analytics tool. To deliver this, RapidResponse leverages the following three key technologies that enable manufacturers to abridge the dreaded and inevitable reality-gap situation, and respond swiftly to today's problems:
1. Active Spreadsheets with AlwaysOn Analytics
Active Spreadsheets provide Web-based global access to live data feeds from ERP, demand planning, SCP, warehouse management system (WMS), product lifecycle management (PLM), and other enterprise applications. The Active Spreadsheets technology presents enterprise data in a “walk-up-and-use-it” familiar interface, which significantly reduces the initial learning curve. The spreadsheets provide role-based, user-friendly screens with synchronized data feeds. These data feeds are extracted from ERP data and tools designed to enable action teams, including schedulers, planners, buyers, customer service representatives (CSRs), managers, suppliers, and so on.
Active Spreadsheets is automatically and continuously populated with up-to-the-second live enterprise data feeds. When data comes from multiple sources, say from different parts of the business in house or from supply chain partners, the system automatically and “quietly” (behind the scenes) consolidates this information in one place, thereby ensuring a single version of the truth. Even if several users are working with Active Spreadsheets, each user maintains the same single version of the truth via the same view, and even when the data is in the midst of changing, since a change in any cell is almost instantly affected across the spreadsheets of other participants. Such instantaneous updates align action teams around a consistent, continuously updated view of the impact that changes in supply and demand will have on their operations in a familiar, intuitive spreadsheet view.
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