Overview: An overview of the Value Chain Planning suite, the Rapid Planning product, and the relationship between the Rapid Planning product and the Advanced Supply Chain Planning product.
Implementation: The process to implement Rapid Planning. It includes how to use Rapid Planning to simulate solutions to late-breaking issues since the last Advanced Supply Chain Planning run.
Plan Analysis: The user interface views that you use to analyze and execute plan results and how to perform late demand diagnosis.
You also need:
Oracle Value Chain Planning Collections Implementation Guide
Oracle Rapid Planning Installation Guide
See: Oracle Value Chain Planning Collections Implementation Guide, Overview of Value Chain Planning Suite.
The planning server works with source (execution) systems. It receives supply and demand execution information from the source systems and releases supply orders to the execution systems.
You can create and launch plans in Oracle Rapid Planning. Analyze the results and release recommendations to the execution system.
You can also use Oracle Rapid Planning simulation. Copy and re-generate plans to:
Create alternative scenarios
Simulate them
Compare metrics to help select the best one
Data comes to the planning server through the collections process.
After the collected data is in the planning server, you can use it to run a baseline supply plan.
You can copy the baseline plan as simulation plans and modify them to create alternative scenarios, for example, disable a component and change the working days.
You can change data individually or by using a mass update. Store your changes in simulation sets and apply them to the simulation plans.
The planning solver is the engine that performs the planning process.
Use the Rapid Planning workbench to:
View plan inputs
Simulate changes
Create, manage, and launch plans
It contains analytic displays and drill-down capabilities.
More than one planner can work on the same plan at the same time
You can see key performance indicators and metrics:
For one plan
Compared among multiple plans
For your favorites, for example, resources and suppliers
Use them to choose the best plan to use from among the alternative scenarios.
Oracle Rapid Planning provides analysis for key business decisions, for example, clear-to-build analysis and late demand diagnosis.
Using the clear-to-build analysis and simulation, you can:
Determine which orders have all their material so that you can release them to production.
Identify which critical orders you need to pull in to meet service level or revenue targets, and identify what changes you need to make to the schedule to manufacture them.
Using late demand diagnosis and constraint details, you can drill from a late order to the root cause then to actions to solve the issue.
You can release plan recommendations, for example, changed purchase orders, work orders, and transfer orders, to the execution system.
The data that Rapid Planning needs is part of the collected data that is common to all Oracle e-Business Suite Value Chain Planning Products.
You use the Rapid Planning Workbench to release recommendations and publish data from Rapid Planning to the e-Business Suite execution products.
The planning solver is the engine that performs the planning process.
Since it emphasizes quickly solving issues and processing simulations, its plans' results may not be the same as Oracle Advanced Supply Chain Planning plans' results.
The Planning Solver plans order-by-order based on demand priority.
Once the Planning Solver has planned an order, it locks the resources and material that it used so that other orders cannot use them. It rarely disturbs the plan for a higher priority order in the service of a lower priority order.
The Planning Solver attempts to minimize plan nervousness – small changes in input data causing large changes to output.
You can run rapid plans that are:
Unconstrained: You have unlimited capacity.
Constrained – enforce capacity constraints: Capacity constraints take precedence over demand due dates.
The Planning Solver plans:
Alternates: Bills of material, components, and resources
Effectivities: Component and process
End item substitution
Order modifiers
Safety stock and safety lead time
Coproducts and by-products
Firm orders
Planning time fence
Calendars: Manufacturing, shipping, and carrier
Supplier capacity
It does not plan:
Hub and spoke planning
Minimum transfer quantity
Aggregate resources
Sequence dependent setups
Shelf life
Collections run periodically based on business requirements.
The frequency of collection depends on how many and how critical are the transactions that you post in the e-Business Suite execution system. Oracle recommends that you run either a targeted collection or a complete collection on a daily basis.
Before solving a plan, you set plan options. They control:
Plan behavior
The organizations
The demands
There are some plan options that default from profile options.
The Plan launch process starts the planning solver. It takes the data from the planning server, nets supplies, and schedules them.
You can plan in these modes:
With snapshot: The solver retrieves collected data from the planning server. Use it for a complete re-plan or when the collected data is changed since the last re-plan.
Without snapshot: The solver does not retrieve collected data from the planning server. Use it to re-plan after changes that you make in Rapid Planning Workbench.
Incremental planning: The solver does not retrieve collected data from the planning server. It freezes certain demands and supplies before netting.
When you launch plans with the option to save it to archive, you can analyze it in the APCC dashboards.
Review APCC Demand and Supply Dashboards and RP metrics and KPIs on the Rapid Planning Workbench.
You can compare simulations with the baseline plan to help find the best scenario to release to the execution system.
Review and accept the plan recommendations and reschedules.
You or the planning solver can release planned orders and reschedule schedule receipts for make, buy, and transfer items to the e-Business Suite execution system. The release process creates purchase requisitions, work orders, and transfer orders. The reschedule process changes work orders, purchase requisitions, and purchase orders.
To start using Rapid Planning, you use this process.
Architecture
You can use a centralized or decentralized deployment. You need to understand the architecture and technical options.
Sizing Template
To size, use the ESG Reference Architecture sizing tool. You answer questions and it suggests a hardware and software configuration.
Installation and Configuration
You need to install and configure software in support of Oracle Rapid Planning.
Collections
This brings the input data that the solver needs from the execution system.
Integrations
You can integrate Rapid Planning with other Oracle products:
Oracle Advanced Supply Chain Planning
Oracle Demantra Demand Management
Oracle Demantra Sales & Operations Planning
Oracle Advanced Planning Command Center
Oracle Inventory Optimization
Oracle Global Order Promising
Plan Definition and Modeling
You must decide whether to use unconstrained or constrained plans and set the plan options.
General Features
You evaluate Rapid Planning features and decide whether to use them. For example:
Safety Stock
Fixed Days Supply
Enforce Sourcing Splits
Clear To Build
Demand Pull-ins, Upside Processing, and Order Priorities
Phantoms
Flow Manufacturing
Daily Bucketing
Firm Supplies
Creating Supplies
Alternate Supplies
Bottleneck Resource Planning
Substitution
Supplier Capacity
Planning Time Fence
Configure to Order
Default Order Sizing
User Interface Modeling
The views, actions, exceptions, and metrics in Rapid Planning are the tools for your planners. Become familiar with them and decide on your processes.
Simulations
You can simulate unanticipated events in the business environment and respond to them. By comparing multiple simulation plans with the baseline plan, you can make the best decision for execution.
Best Practices
To have best performance of your Rapid Planning functions, attend to Oracle recommendations.