USE CASE
Production, Materials and Purchasing Forecast
Planning combines orders, history, stock, bills of materials, and purchasing in separate sheets to build a monthly scenario.
In brief. This use case consists of assessing how to: integrate sources, estimate demand and requirements, compare scenarios, and prepare a reviewable plan.
How it works today
Planning combines orders, history, stock, bills of materials, and purchasing in separate sheets to build a monthly scenario.
Where time is lost
Numbers change in one sheet, but material requirements and purchasing plans do not update together.
What can be automated
Integrate sources, estimate demand and requirements, compare scenarios, and prepare a reviewable plan.
How a workflow could work
A practical flow takes inputs from the relevant sources, checks them against agreed rules, performs routine actions, and sends uncertain cases to a person.
What still needs a person
Planners review assumptions, exceptions, and purchasing or production decisions.
Systems that may be involved
ERP, sales, inventory, BOM, and purchasing.
When it is worth assessing
When each planning cycle consolidates the same sources again to compare scenarios.
What not to assume
Forecast quality depends on source data and does not guarantee future accuracy.
How Smartservices approaches it
We map the existing process, verify data and system access, define controls and a human review point, then scope an integration or automation around the actual workflow.
Questions to ask before starting
Can this work with our current systems?
It depends on available APIs, exports, permissions, and data quality. We check those constraints before choosing an integration.
Will people still review exceptions?
Planners review assumptions, exceptions, and purchasing or production decisions.
What is needed for an initial assessment?
A sample of the current inputs, the steps people perform, the systems involved, and the most common exceptions.