Most of us are aware Master Data Management is not just managing data, but it’s beyond just MDM, it actually requires use of technology, data integration tools & processes to create and maintain consistent and accurate list of master data in organizations. Master Data Management or MDM typically called as might become a nightmare for many organizations either large or small if it’s not planned and implemented at the right time. So how organizations need to plan for it?

3 Steps to Plan for Master Data Management

1. Identify Master Data Requirements – First and foremost thing when you have decided to go for master data management is the need to evaluate your existing systems, processes, infrastructure, organization structure and more, then try to find out if your organization actually requires an MDM and start identifying the requirements by asking questions as what’s are the business values to be achieved with this information from MDM & more.

2. Business Process Requirements – Once you have identified your MDM requirement your next immediate things to do is to start asking questions related to business process like what needs to be managed, who would be managing the MDM, what are the processes to be considered, what are the integration tools required, who can access the information, what’s the format of display, who can alter or edit the information, how to maintain the master list should it be in single format or multiple formats/copies, what locations to be maintained and more.

3. Type of Analytical requirements – Next would be to find out what types of analytical requirements for your organizational MDM plan like for areas as business intelligence & management reporting for accurate information for various roles and responsibilities.

From these steps and information start building the MDM project plan & look out for vendors like IBM, Informatica, Oracle, SAP & others who can implement MDM for your organization. During the next few years Master data management might become mandatory due to increase in mergers & acquisitions worldwide. Developing a strong MDM for large or small business helps in organizations success.

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All major auto manufacturing companies either large or mid size have implemented JIT (Just in Time) concept for their manufacturing units across the globe. JIT was pioneered, implemented and practiced by Toyota few decades back. JIT (Just in Time) concept is nothing but ensuring inventory to be available on time for its manufacturing or assembling units. Though these manufacturing organizations use JIT concept do they need sales & inventory forecasting software as they run on JIT (Just in Time).

Four Reasons why it’s crucial:

• Accurate inventory forecasting – For organizations running on JIT system it’s very important to have its inventory to be forecast accurately to keep its manufacturing or assembling units be running on schedule or the system would get collapsed due to wrong forecasting methods.

• Critical components on JIT – Not all components can be made to run on JIT system as few of the components play a critical role in final output of the product. So it’s better to have forecast these components on higher level for usage at critical juncture with a small percentage of inventory in the system

• Collaborating with Suppliers – Suppliers supplying components or materials to JIT (Just in Time) organizations need to collaborate with vendors for accurate forecasting of components or materials and need forecasting software which works with suppliers and vendors IT infrastructure.

• After Sales Service – Although JIT (Just in Time) can be implemented for manufacturing components what about for after sales service? For parts to be used in after sales service organizations cannot implement JIT (Just in Time) as it would cripple the entire system of service and organizations image. So in order to have better after sales service support organizations need forecasting software with sufficient inventory levels for day to day operations.

JIT (Just in Time) has been implemented successfully by few major manufacturing units across the globe, but not 100% successful. So manufacturing organizations need forecasting software for forecasting inventory required for its day to day operation, critical components & components for after sales service.

For more on inventory level forecasting visit www.mydbsync.com

Most of the large & medium size manufacturing companies & retail chain stores have inventory forecasting software’s for forecasting inventory & future sales number based on past data, industry trends & economic conditions All statistical based inventory and sales forecasting models or software’s aren’t 100% accurate but have you ever thought this inventory forecasting software’s fail completely.

 3 reasons for failure:

• Negative sales – In many products based organizations sales happens during last few days of the month or year for achieving numbers. Few of these sales are called negative sales as they would be reversed back at a later date. Does your sales and inventory forecasting software accept stock reversing if yes then it failed to forecast sales accurately? So the sale happened isn’t actual sale and all forecast done for future dates in invalid due to negative sales. Do you still rely on the data?

• Promotional offers – Does your sales and inventory forecasting software consider your organizations promotional offers while forecasting sales and inventory? If yes, what’s the base for such forecasting as each promotional offer is unique to attract more and more customers and varies depending on the sales trend, market scenario and geography?

• Newly Launched products. All products have specific product life cycle from launching stage, growth stage, maturity stage and finally phase out stage. But few products are launched which wouldn’t fall into any existing product category as they have been launched to create a new product category itself like world cheapest car. In such new launches does your forecasting software forecast sales & inventory. If yes what’s the basis for such forecasting or does it considers competitors most similar products. If yes it’s not forecasting for your product but for your competitor products. Do you really need such forecasting data?

Considering these facts under which sales and inventory forecasting software’s fail, let’s assume we would soon have sales and inventory forecasting software which forecasts up-to 99.99% accurately.  Till then we need to rely on our old forecasting software’s only.

For detailed sales &inventory forecasting software visit www.mydbsync.com 

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Quality of data plays a major critical role in industries like retail, telecommunications & financial services with large customer base.  Most organizations falling under these industries in a rush to capture market share and to add new customers give secondary thought to quality of data captured, leading to substandard customer data with inaccurate, duplicate & outdated customer details.

Inaccurate or poor customer data is due to non standardization of data capturing process or format, multiple data capturing points across the organization & data storing in incompatible systems and formats.

Organizational impacts due to poor data quality

• Business performance – Due to duplication of data it’s difficult for marketing to cross sell other products and services, profiling and segmentation of customers leading to decrease in business performance
• Customer retention – Due to poor data quality cost of customer retention is high as it requires multiple interactions with customers to understand their actual requirements which would have been solved with  accurate data and past transaction details
• Customer Mapping – Due to multiple entries of same customer with contradicting details it would lead to wrong mapping of customer s with wrong product or service leading to valuable customer loss and revenue to organization

So organizations with large customer data should ensure their data capturing methods are standardized across all data capturing points with latest data integration software for a satisfied customer and profitable organization.

Learn more about data integration by visiting www.mydbsync.com

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Have you ever imagined few years back that our world would see faster changes in technology front with newer and better products and features? Yes, let’s accept the fact that we are in world with fast changes in technology right from accounting software to various payment modes by customers and organizations.

All nonprofit organization are run by donations made by its members and non members in various modes of payments like cheques, credit card, debit card, mobile banking, online banking, PayPal & other modes.  Currently QuickBooks online edition accepts payments only through credit card payment by its donors, members & non members.

Reasons why QuickBooks should incorporate these features in QuickBooks online edition

• Higher ROI (Return on Investment) – All nonprofit organization either small or large look for return on investment as they rely only on donations. If these latest payments modes are automated rather than manually entering them it would reduce a substantial amount of time and money for the organization
• Lower TCO (Total cost of ownership) – Most accounting software vendors like QuickBooks and others would always reply on lower TCO for their customer to be more competitive in the market. By these features automated payments modes the cost of ownership would reduce drastically for customers

We would soon see a world without any cheque payments either by organizations or customers. To be in tandem with the changes in payment modes by customers and organizations QuickBooks need to incorporate these features as quickly as possible in QuickBooks online edition to be ahead of its competition and being a next generation company for its customers.

Compared to few years back we are now in an ever changing business world on real time basis and to this fast changing dynamic world even retail chain stores from hyper markets to smaller retail stores & manufacturing companies have implemented sales & inventory forecasting software for quick and easy forecast either web or desktop based. Most of these forecasting software’s are developed with all the modern statistical forecasting techniques with features as inventory in hand, forecasting inventory required, scalability, stock level alerts & minimum customization.

But what’s the next level of forecasting for more accurate inventory levels?

• Anticipating the unexpected – Few of the larger retail chains around the world have customized their inventory forecasting models with anticipating unexpected and alternatively  have incorporated solutions in forecasting software. But what about the same features availability for small to medium size retail stores. If yes at what cost?

• Collaborate with suppliers in sales, planning and inventory forecast – In today’s scenario it’s impossible for any manufacturer to manufacture all the items they require and the same has been outsourced to suppliers. Does your inventory planning software consider suppliers inventory too for your organizations inventory forecast? If not include them

• Include your customers in planning your sales & forecasting inventory – All types of retail stores and manufacturing organization have loyal customers with regular purchase patterns.  Can your inventory forecasting software include your customer’s future requirements by understanding their purchase patterns? If yes then your forecasting software is ahead of it’s time

All the sales & inventory forecasting software’s currently available in the market do have forecasting sales & inventory capability confined to internal organizations inputs* only. If these software’s are included with all the next level forecasting inputs at affordable prices then it would change the way forecasting in done by collaborating with partners, suppliers & customer’s on real time basis.

For more detailed sales & inventory forecasting software visit www.mydbsync.com 

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