Supply Order Automation with Prophet Software

Prophet by Baxter is a software as a service (SaaS) focused on field service inventory planning and execution to optimize service parts management operations. Prophet’s Distribution Center module uses a forward-looking model that calculates an optimal safety stock level and monthly forecasts based on needs in the field. It then recommends a schedule of supply orders based on that level of safety stock, the forecasted demand, and the lead time from the supplier for each material. This schedule determines when orders should be placed and keeps inventory levels from dropping below the safety stock level. Based on this logic, if a forecast has been determined to be trustworthy, target stock levels have been approved, and accurate supplier data has been provided for each material, the supply order recommendations can be trusted by extension. Once fully trusted, these orders should operate with little to no manual intervention, and should be automated for efficiency. Automating supply orders is the most productive configuration for the supply ordering process and is a Baxter Best Practice that has been proven to yield optimal results. Prophet enables supply order automation in several ways:

• Repair Planning. Managing repair cycles is a key element of most service parts planning organizations as it’s often more cost-effective to repair defective parts than to purchase new material. Prophet is designed to forecast future returns, calculate repair yield rates, and determine material availability for generating repair orders.
• Optimized Orders. Configuration settings use material and supplier data such as order processing costs when calculating an economic order quantity which minimizes the combined costs of orders and carrying cost. Granular inputs efficiently optimize supply orders by defining order multiples, minimum/maximum periods of supply, and minimum/maximum order quantities.
• Part Chaining. Prophet accounts for part supersession by aggregating the on-hand balances of all inventory in the chained relationship and by automatically optimizing the process of transferring demand requirements of an outdated, inferior material to substitute, superior materials.
• Automatic Order Approval. Prophet can be configured to support the automatic approval of supply orders so that suggested order changes can be automatically approved and sent to the external order execution system, without any planner intervention. Ideal material candidates for Auto-Approval include materials with consistent demand, high volume, and low costs.
• Order Modification/Adjustments. In a dynamic planning environment, changes to the demand forecast or changes to on-hand inventory can create situations where Prophet now predicts shortages or excess based on current confirmed orders. Prophet’s Push, Pull, Cancel functionality that has the capability to optimally alter the dates of supply orders in these shortage or excess scenarios. This logic can be used to automatically determine whether a confirmed supply order can be pushed outside of lead-time, pulled inside of lead-time, or cancelled
• Supplier Communication. Prophet’s Supplier Web Portal allows a more streamlined electronic workflow for purchase planners and their suppliers, providing a means of communication and acknowledgment of initial purchase orders and requested changes to existing purchase orders.
• Supplier Assessment. Prophet’s supplier performance reporting shows the monthly percentage of late orders for each supplier and is a useful tool for reviewing the accuracy of the supplier’s quoted lead-times. Utilizing the Supplier Performance report Best Practice can reduce stockout events and help planners validate lead times provided by suppliers.
• Demand Source Locator (DSL). Prophet by Baxter’s Demand Source Locator (DSL) is an optional module that enables alignment of the part sourcing process (execution) with the service parts planning process. DSL’s part sourcing process utilizes service level commitment, part number, part chaining, demand location (postal code/ city/state) or contract number along with a business rule strategy to identify the best site (or alternate part) to fill the service request.