Foreword
For a general introduction to Replenishment, have a look at Replenishment Planning in 30 seconds.
In this article, we'll look at the module in more detail. Replenishment Planning is a two-stage process: First, recommendations from our AI is reviewed and Accepted as a recommendation that should be implemented. Second, these recommendations need to get Approved, and then they will be implemented.
In most companies, the two steps are done by different people: a supply chain analyst or a stock manager reviews and Accepts. A purchasing manager or someone in Accounting looks at the accepted recommendations and Approves them for execution.
Depending on your chose integration between remi AI and your ERP system, approved recommendation get transfer back into your system and result in actual orders and payments. It is therefore important to understand that Accepting Recommendations is purely with Remi AI, without any real-world consequences. But Approving Recommendations will result in real orders being placed and real money being spent, if your system is setup as such.
If you're a system administrator, make sure that your staff with the relevant credentials understand the implications of their actions.
If you're a user, make sure that you know exactly which actions are reversible, and which actions cause the creation of a legal contract with a vendor, with real money to be spent.
Step 1: Review and Accept Recommendations
[In a larger organization, this step is typically done by a supply chain analyst, storeroom manager, or similar role. No money is spent. Think of this as submitting an internal purchasing requisition.]
In this example, the user has chosen to view the recommendations as a grid (see top left), and they have further chosen to group the products by Category (select from Vendor, Location, and Category.
On the top right, we further see the symbolic flow process flow: The system makes recommendations that need to get accepted and approved and eventually dispatched to the relevant system.
By Accepting a recommendation, we move it from stage 1 to stage 2.
Note: the Recommendation Grid shown above is the default view. There is also a Recommendation Table available optionally.
Step 2: Approve and Dispatch Recommended Changes
[In a larger organization, this step is typically done by a purchasing manager or a person in the Accounting department. This has a direct financial business impact and money gets spent. Think of this as placing a purchase order with a vendor.]
Approving the previously accepted replenishment orders is straightforward. First, if you're part of a smaller organization, and you are also the person who accepted the recommendations, you can simply select all and click approve. The two-step process mainly prevents placing orders by mistake.
If you're in a larger organization, and the recommendations were accepted by someone else, review them in detail. As mentioned above, this approval will result in an order being place, for the amount shown on the right in the column "Investment".
There are two ways to work through the list:
- You can read through the items one by one, and select the green checkboxes on the left for each product that you intend to approve. Once you're done, you click the green Approve button at the bottom.
- Another approach is to click on the green button on the right. This will immediately approve that item and remove it from the list.
Both approaches are equivalent, and the choice is a matter of personal preference. Note that you can always tweak the specific quantity ordered by adjusting the amount in the Quantity column. If the system recommends ordering 15 widgets, but you heard from Jim in Sales that they are about the enter a large order for 10 widgets, you can simply change the amount to 25, and that information, which the AI was not aware of, is now included as well. Similarly, you can reduce the amount if you think the AI or your inventory person was a bit too optimistic.
Replen Settings - the underlying data
The last tab in Replenishment is Replen[ishment] Settings. Here you see all SKUs, and the key data for each SKU, like current stock, service level, etc.
Clicking on any SKU/product will take you down into the individual Replenishment page.