The Supply Inventory Cube

Fact Table Grain

At each snapshot, one row is created in the fact table for every stock keeping unit. Each row contains information on measures connected with the inventory for a stock keeping unit (Product dimension), your own or a customer’s business (Business Node dimension), and a time stamp (Time dimension).

The measures for Tied Up Capital require that Product Standard Costs are configured in PipeChain Supply. The measures for Volume Value Weighted averages require that Volume Values (or Product Standard Costs and Volumes) are configured in PipeChain Supply. This configuration can be automatic using the standard Product Definition transaction.

PipeChain Analyzer requires that at least one snapshot is made per day. For performance reasons, this is normally done at "night time". You may make several snapshots per day, provided that the inventory level (“balance”) is continuously updated in PipeChain, i.e. that both received goods and outbound deliveries are registered in PipeChain. An average value during business hours may give you a better picture of the inventory than the day's final value, however at a performance cost.

If you prefer that your inventory and outflow is reported against the previous day (as the previous day's finishing value), there is a property "UsePreviousDateForInventoryPoll" which may be set to "1" (default is "0" <=> "use the date of the poll"). In case your balances are not available and updated until AFTER the Analyzer Poll background job is run, you may even want to set this property to "2" (days).

Dimensions

Five dimensions are available in the Supply Inventory cube. They are Business Node ("per Site" or "with Sites"), Delivery Unit, Product, Replenishment Types and Time. You can use the dimensions simultaneously by analyzing combinations of the options listed below.

Replenishment Types is particularly useful as a filter dimension, e.g. to avoid non SMI cases when analyzing Service Level.

Business Node per Site – With this dimension you can analyze the inventory by supplier/customer and supplier/customer group, per site.

Business Node with Sites – With this dimension you can analyze the inventory by supplier/customer and supplier/customer group, aggregated over all sites.

Delivery Unit – With this dimension you can analyze the inventory of specific delivery units.

Product – With this dimension you can analyze the inventory of individual products, product groups or all products for each site.

Replenishment Types – With this dimension you can analyze the inventory of SMI or non SMI products.

Time – With this dimension you can analyze the inventory at different points in time or over different periods of time. Drill up or down between Year - Quarter - Month - Day or Year - Week - Day.

Note that it is possible to EXCLUDE certain business nodes and products from Service Level measures. This is configured in PipeChain Supply, per Business Agreement or Delivery Agreement. Typically, you may want to exclude a new supplier in a start-up phase.

Inventory

Inventory is presented in three different ways in PipeChain Analyzer. The Tied-Up capital is the average inventory calculated in currency, the Run-out time is calculated in days and the inventory level is calculated in units.

Stock measures are presented for All records as well as for Active records. A record is considered inactive if it has no outflow - i e Stock Days exceed the "Stock Days Limit" parameter, or balance is zero but the Meter is green. Run-out time is ONLY presented for Active records.

Many measures (e g in "units" or "currency") are summed over all dimensions except time, but averaged over time. These are called "Sum".
Some measures (e g in "days") are averaged over all dimensions. The ones using straight averages are called "Avg", the ones using volume value weighted averages are called "Vvw".
A few measures are summed over all dimensions (including time dimension), these are called "Tot".
A few measures are counts, called "Cnt". These are summed over all dimensions.

Measures - Tied-Up Capital:

The Tied-Up Capital KPI lets you follow up on how much capital is tied up in stock. These measures are summed over all dimensions except time, but averaged over time. Please note that your system needs to support the Product Standard Cost to be able to use these KPIs. All (curr) values are presented with two decimals.

Sum (curr) - Stock, All – the value of all the goods in stock, i.e. available inventory. This is the same as the “Balance” in PipeChain multiplied by the Product Standard Cost.
Sum (curr) - Stock, Active – the value of the active goods in stock, i.e. available inventory that has any outflow.
Sum (curr) - Stock-in-Transit, All – the value of all the goods contained in shipments.
Sum (curr) - Stock-in-Transit, Active – the value of the active goods contained in shipments.

Measures – Run-out time and Weighted Run-out Time:

There are two measures that deal with Run-out Time: Average Run-Out Time and Volume Value Weighed Run-Out Time (Avg (days) and Vvw (days)). Both give you the average run-out time over all dimensions, but the latter is weighted by the volume value of the product. When analyzed at the fact table grain level, both measures have the same value, but if you want to analyze the average run-out time for more than one product, Volume Value Weighted is preferable. Both measures can be analyzed for more than one business node (i.e. one customer site or your own business) at a time. To be able to use the Volume Value Weighed Run-Out Time PipeChain Supply must hold the volume value (or product standard cost and volume).
All (days) values are presented with one decimal.

Avg (days) - Critical Time
Avg (days) - Safety Time
Avg (days) - Max Time
Avg (days) - Lead Time
Avg (days) - Stock, Active - the average run-out time (duration) for active products.
Avg (days) - Stock-in-Transit,Active - the average run-out time (duration) of the active goods contained in shipments.
Vvw (days) - Critical Time
Vvw (days) - Safety Time
Vvw (days) - Max Time
Vvw (days) - Lead Time
Vvw (days) - Stock, Active - the volume value weighted average run-out time (duration) for active products.
Vvw (days) - Stock-in-Transit,Active - the volume value weighted average run-out time (duration) of the active goods contained in shipments.

+ Example

Measures - Inventory Level:

Inventory Level is a KPI that lets you follow how the inventory level of your own and your customers’ products changes over time. These measures are summed over all dimensions except time, but averaged over time. All (units) or (Delivery Units) values are presented as integers.

Sum (units) - Safety Balance - the average value of the parameter Safety Balance, if used.
Sum (units) - Max Balance - the average value of the parameter Max Balance, if used.
Sum (units) - Shortage
Sum (units) - Stock, All - the total inventory level in units.
Sum (units) - Stock, Active - the active inventory level in units.
Sum (units) - Stock-in-Transit, All - the total balance of the goods contained in shipments.
Sum (units) - Stock-in-Transit, Active - the balance of the active goods contained in shipments.
Sum (units) - Last Reported Balance - Sum (Delivery Units) - Stock, Active - the inventory level (balance) counted in delivery units.
Sum (Delivery Units) - Stock, All - the total inventory level (balance) expressed in delivery units.
Sum (Delivery Units) - Stock, Active - the active inventory level (balance) expressed in delivery units.

Measures - Inventory Flow:

The flow measures are summed over all dimensions except time, but averaged over time.
The currency or unit measures are summed over all dimensions.
All (units/day) values are presented with one decimal.

Sum (units/day) - Flow Meter - the value of the flow meter (outflow demand).
Sum (units/day) - Received Qty - calculated by the Analyzer based on stock difference and outbound deliveries.
Tot (curr) - Real Outflow - the total amount of real outflow (see below) multiplied with the product standard cost.
Tot (units) - Real Outflow - normally calculated as "Balance yesterday - Balance today + Received quantity". It is also possible to set up PipeChain Supply so that the value in stead is fetched from PipeChain Supply.
Tot (curr) - Received Qty - the total amount of all the received deliveries at the customer multiplied with the product standard cost.
Tot (units) - Received Qty - the total amount of all the received deliveries at the customer.

Measures - other:

These measures are not meant be analyzed by themselves, but it may be meaningful to present them along with other measures.
All (rows) values are presented as integers.

Avg (curr) - Product Standard Cost - The actual Product Standard Cost. This measure is averaged over all dimensions.
Tot (curr) - Volume Value - The actual volume value. This measure is summed over all dimensions.
Cnt (rows) - All - The total count of records. This measure is summed over all dimensions.
Cnt (rows) - Active - The count of active records. This measure is summed over all dimensions.
Cnt (rows) - Inactive - The count of inactive records. This measure is summed over all dimensions.

Meter Status Monitoring and Weighted Meter Status Monitoring - Service Level

When analyzing Service Level, you normally use the Replenishment Types dimension as a filter. This is used to avoid non SMI cases, for which you generally prefer the Delivery Precision measure.

The Meter Status Monitoring measures are the measures for showing the service level. These KPI's show you what status your inventory has had over time, in terms of what colors the Duration Meters of your products have had. It measures the percentage of a specified time period that the Duration Meter for a certain stock keeping unit has been red, yellow, green or blue. The measures handle the Safety Balance, Max Balance and Green Balance parameters.

The measures listed below are averaged over all dimensions, either straight averages or volume value weighted averages. The measures are available both for All data and for Active data only. The sum of corresponding measures (Red + Yellow + Green + Blue) is always 100%. "Empty" may well be a larger value than "Red", since the meter will be green if there is neither balance nor outflow.
All (%) values are presented as percentages.

Avg (%) - SL Red Meters , All – the percentage of all rows where the Duration Meter was red (at each snapshot, one row is created in the fact table for every stock keeping unit).
Avg (%) - SL Yellow Meters, All – the percentage of all rows where the Duration Meter was yellow.
Avg (%) - SL Green Meters, All – the percentage of all rows where the Duration Meter was green.
Avg (%) - SL Blue Meters, All – the percentage of all rows where the Duration Meter was blue.
Avg (%) - SL Yellow + Green Meters, All – the percentage of all rows where the Duration Meter was green or yellow. This is one (of four) recommended KPIs to use for measuring Service Level.*
Avg (%) - SL Empty, All – the percentage of all rows where the run-out time was 0 or less.
Avg (%) - SL Red Meters , Active – the percentage of active rows where the Duration Meter was red (at each snapshot, one row is created in the fact table for every stock keeping unit).
Avg (%) - SL Yellow Meters, Active – the percentage of active rows where the Duration Meter was yellow.
Avg (%) - SL Green Meters, Active – the percentage of active rows where the Duration Meter was green.
Avg (%) - SL Blue Meters, Active – the percentage of active rows where the Duration Meter was blue.
Avg (%) - SL Yellow + Green Meters, Active – the percentage of active rows where the Duration Meter was green or yellow. This is one (of four) recommended KPIs to use for measuring Service Level.*
Avg (%) - SL Empty, Active – the percentage of active rows where the run-out time was 0 or less.
Vvw (%) - SL Red Meters, All – the volume value weighted percentage of all rows where the Duration Meter was red.
Vvw (%) - SL Yellow Meters, All – the volume value weighted percentage of all rows where the Duration Meter was yellow.
Vvw (%) - SL Green Meters, All – the volume value weighted percentage of all rows where the Duration Meter was green.
Vvw (%) - SL Blue Meters, All – the volume value weighted percentage of all rows where the Duration Meter was blue.
Vvw (%) - SL Yellow + Green Meters, All – the volume value weighted percentage of all rows where the Duration Meter was green or yellow. This is one (of four) recommended KPIs to use for measuring Service Level.*
Vvw (%) - SL Empty, All – the volume value weighted percentage of all rows where the run-out time was 0 or less.
Vvw (%) - SL Red Meters, Active – the volume value weighted percentage of active rows where the Duration Meter was red.
Vvw (%) - SL Yellow Meters, Active – the volume value weighted percentage of active rows where the Duration Meter was yellow.
Vvw (%) - SL Green Meters, Active – the volume value weighted percentage of active rows where the Duration Meter was green.
Vvw (%) - SL Blue Meters, Active – the volume value weighted percentage of active rows where the Duration Meter was blue.
Vvw (%) - SL Yellow + Green Meters, Active – the volume value weighted percentage of active rows where the Duration Meter was green or yellow. This is one (of four) recommended KPIs to use for measuring Service Level.*
Vvw (%) - SL Empty, Active – the volume value weighted percentage of active rows where the run-out time was 0 or less.

* Since PipeChain Supply is a tool that enables the supplier to fulfill both Safety and Max time/level requirements, we strongly believe that both red meters and blue meters should be penalized. In some cases, blue meters may be regarded as far less significant than red. If so, the two "Red Meters" measures can be used, but note that these show the inverse of a Service Level KPI.

Below is an example which explains what is meant by “weighing” the service level. The example uses the green %, but the same applies to all the other pairs of KPIs belonging to the Service Level category. Also see the description of each measure.

+ Example