Enterprise Systems Gaps
X2Order uses enterprise planning systems information to provide visibility into sales order status previously unavailable.
Enterprise systems such as ERP/MRP address the needs of only production-floor workers — and not even all of those. Because it does not monitor the activities of office and non-production workers, the status of an order is unknown until it is time to pick and ship the items.
In contrast, ForeSight interacts with all workers involved in the whole order process, interacting with them to track the progress of actual customer orders from receipt through shipment. This provides a unique, order-centric view of both production and office tasks unavailable from planning systems alone. When problems are detected, ForeSight sends alerts long before shortfalls happen, and provides priority task lists of the tasks required to resolve problems.
In addition to providing actionable information that keeps everyone informed of order status and what is complete or remains to be done, ForeSightallows managers and planners to test changes in a "what-if" analysis. This lets them see the impact of alternatives on the entire book of business before modifications are implemented. It answers such questions as:
- What should I be working on?
- What happens if I "borrow" parts from another order to expedite this one?
- Will we have enough widgets in inventory next month?
- Will we be able to ship this new customer's order when they want it?
What will we have to do to meet their needs? - Our supplier is backlogged; what should we do?
- Will we need to schedule overtime next week?
- Where are our bottlenecks?
- Mary's on leave; what would she have done in this situation?
- If I bump up the priority on this order, how will that affect the other orders in the queue?