VCP 12.2 release and EBS11i source?

Key points to remember:

• VCP 12.2.X release will not be supported with EBS11i source, for customers who wish to upgrade to VCP12.2.X release in future will need to upgrade their EBS platform to either 12.1 or 12.2. 
• Customers wishing to stay put on EBS 11i will have to stay on VCP12.1.X version and on Demantra 7.3.1.X version.
• Latest released supported version for EBS11i source is VCP 12.1.3.8 and Demantra 7.3.1.4

Note: Demantra 7.3.1.5 is in making and should be released soon. Also Demantra 12.2.1 release is expected to be released sometime this year. New Demantra CDP module announcement though makes release of Demantra 12.2 during this FY improbable. 

Consumer Driven Planning Module announced @ VCP Summit

Oracle announced two new Exa system offerings which will be released towards end of FY 2013. The intend is to provide customers with Exa enterprise systems with packaged solution with faster planning capabilities.

• Consumer Driven Planning(CDP) on Exa
• Performance Driven Planning(PDP) on Exa

Consumer Driven Planning module will use Demantra system capabilities on top of Exa systems to empower customers with a system which will be significantly faster(10hours to 10 mins kindda) and will be capable to handle huge volume of consumer level POS data. Oracle indicated that CDP will be a new module(the name may change though) under Demantra Suite offering and should be released along with VCP 12.1.3.9. Later R12.2 release will embed this new module along with PDP module offering. 

Initial release of Demantra's CDP module will mainly support:

 - POS based forecasting at multiple levels within a single Demantra instance. 

 - Store level data storage and forecasting

 - Bottoms up forecasting using Sell Thru data

 - Sell-in forecast derivation based on Sell Thru forecast

 - Store life cycle management (new store launch, store closures etc) 

 - Multi Channel Sell-in calculation based of consumption data

 - Replenishment planning 

 - Configurable Safety Stock calculations(simple rule based to statistical based)

Later releases are planned to support packaged PTP and DSR Exa systems. 

Oracle understands that some Demantra customers like Electronic Arts have already implemented similar processes using Custom configurations and integration. This new module is supposed to provide such functionality out of the gate in a packaged Exa Enterprise system for customers ease. We will wait to see more information and details about the new modules from Oracle soon. 

Oracle's first "Value Chain Summit" is here..

Join fellow users, partners, and luminaries for the Oracle Value Chain Summit in San Francisco to learn how Oracle is helping companies transform supply chains into value chains to gain competitive edge. This thought leadership..

Click on link below to get more details of the event..

http://www.oracle.com/webapps/events/ns/EventsDetail.jsp?p_eventId=157624&src=7531558&src=7531558&Act=50

Trends for 2013: 'Big Data' Gets Bigger - eMarketer

"Big Data" brings great insights.. turning these insights into actionable items can lead to significant benefits for retail and CPG firms.

Emarketer.com captures the current and future probable state of Big Data in their recent article. Click on the link below to read the complete article.

Trends for 2013: 'Big Data' Gets Bigger - eMarketer

Demantra 7.3.1.3 & BranchId Multiplier parameter

Version 7.3.1.3 takes away branch Id multiplier parameter from Demantra's engine setup, new engine execution process determines number of branch Ids by itself. Though 7.3.1.3 version is seen with setting.xml file still containing the parameter due of ignorance probably, 7.3.1.4 version is fixed and doesnt have this parameter listed.

New process looks at predictable number of combinations and available number of engines in distributed engine environment to determine division of branches. This change eliminates any wrong manual settings of this parameter which used to degrade engine run performance.

Btw, Demantra's R12.2 release is still out in horizon and hopefully will be available for implementations in 2013 soon.

Demantra DB Connection Issue Resolution

This morning, ran into an issue with my local Demantra install. When connecting to Business modeler I got a DB error " ORA-12154: TNS:could not resolve the connect identifier specified." 

Additionally found that TOAD wont connect to my local DB 11g install too, giving the similar error. Checked that my DB services were running fine and TNSPING was responding well too. 

Decided to bounce my DB using cmd prompt and found below error while doing it:

ORA-00065: initialization of FIXED_DATE failed 


Recalled that last I used my DB I changed my DB settings to make it fixed date environment for some work and shutdown my DB with FIXED_DATE settings. 

To resolve the issue, I took the option of creating a new PFILE using SPFILE and then edited the PFILE to take out the FIXED_DATE settings from it. Later I was able to make this change permanent by creating SPFILE using the PFILE. 

CREATE PFILE FROM SPFILE;

Once created look for file named “initXXX.ora” where XXX stands for DB service name. e,g. VCPDB in DB Home install directory. Take out the FIXED DATE setting from init file and try starting server using :

SQL> startup pfile='uo1\dbhome_1\database\INITXXX.ORA' ;ORACLE instance started.

For making this change permanent:

CREATE SPFILE from PFILE ='u01\dbhome_1\database\INITXXX.ORA' ;

RESTART again to use the SPFILE for starting the DB. 

And... I am back in action with my local DB and Demantra install. :) 

APCC 12.1.3.8

APCC 12.1.3.8 Release Features:

- This release comes with enhanced and improved usability of Advanced Planning Command Center module. Within APCC, Supply Chain Analysts in this version have ability to:
- edit material plan to modify supply and demand
- edit resource plan to modify resource availability
- utilize item simulation set for mass item attribute maintenance
- utlize Orders UI to firm and release orders
- re-run a plan and release the plan for execution

- Embed Demantra worksheets in APCC reports: Ability to access and update Demantra worksheets while being logged into APCC. Uses Demantra anywhere feature and requires both APCC and Demantra applications SSO enabled.

Demantra 7.3.1.4 is supported with APCC 12.1.3.8, also note that APCC 12.1.3.8 is certified on OBIEE 11g.

Demantra 7.3.1.4 is now Available

The latest release of Demantra in form of version 7.3.1.4 is now available, this release while in waiting of 12.2 release has now made some of the new UI changes available. This release is more focused on further improving user's experience with worksheet UI by allowing usage of new and better promotional calendar. Drag and drop kind features along with ability to change font/color/3D graphs make Demantra worksheet look and feel better.

Utilizing Demantra anywhere concept, one can also embed now a Demantra worksheet into APCC reports. This would allow S&OP users to easily access Demantra data and also allows them to make changes to facts using APCC reports itself. No need to navigate back and forth between screens anymore.

Refer to Metalink note id 1490558.1 for more details and complete listing of key features.