1 Noteworthy Enhancements

Oracle Retail Analytics and Planning 24.2.401.0 is a Critical Update.

This guide outlines the information you need to know about new or improved functionality in the Oracle Retail Analytics and Planning applications update and describes any tasks you might need to perform for the update. Each section includes a brief description of the feature, the steps you need to take to enable or begin using the feature, any tips or considerations that you should keep in mind, and the resources available to help you.

Column Definitions

• Feature: Provides a description of the feature being delivered.

• Module Impacted: Identifies the module impacted associated with the feature, if any.

• Scale: Identifies the size of the feature. Options are:

  • Small: These UI or process-based features are typically comprised of minor field, validation, or program changes. Therefore, the potential impact to users is minimal.

  • Medium: These UI or process-based features are typically comprised of field, validation, or program changes. Therefore the potential impact on users is moderate

  • Large: These UI or process-based features have more complex designs. Therefore, the potential impact to users is higher.

• Delivered: Is the new feature available for use immediately after upgrade or must the feature be enabled or configured? If no, the feature is non-disruptive to end users and action is required (detailed steps below) to make the feature ready to use.

• Customer Action Required: You must take action before these features can be used. These features are delivered disabled and you choose if and when to enable them.

Table 1-1 Noteworthy Enhancements

Feature	Module Impacted	Scale	Delivered	Customer Action Required?
Inventory Planning Optimization (IPO) Cloud Service-Inventory Optimization Enhancements
Location Lists for Replenishment Rules	Inventory Planning Optimization (IPO) Cloud Service-Inventory Optimization	Small	Yes	No
Batch Run Name Change	Inventory Planning Optimization (IPO) Cloud Service-Inventory Optimization	Small	Yes	No
Net Inventory Metrics	Inventory Planning Optimization (IPO) Cloud Service-Inventory Optimization	Small	Yes	No
Retail Insights Cloud Service
Retail Home Content Updates	Retail Insights	Small	Yes	No
Replenishment Policy Reporting	Retail Insights	Small	Yes	No
Retail Predictive Application Server Cloud Edition Server Enhancements
Dashboard Build Improvement	Admin	Small	Yes	No
Batch Restart Enhancement	Admin	Small	Yes	No
System Workbook Staging Enhancement	Admin	Small	Yes	No
Retail Predictive Application Server Cloud Edition Client Enhancements
Allow Non-Admin Users the Ability to See the Task Status Dashboard	Usability	Small	Yes	No
Improvement in Product-Level Selection During Placeholder Creation	Usability	Small	Yes	No
Assortment Planning Enhancements
Add Item Level Unit Price and Cost	Assortment Planning	Small	Yes	No
Merchandise Financial Planning Cloud Service and Assortment Planning Cloud Service Enhancements
Improved Naming Convention of Markdown & Inventory Devaluation	MFP	Small	Yes	No
Update in Base Intersection of ‘Enable OP Approval Task’ Template	MFP	Small	Yes	No
Default Measure Update in Merchandise Financial Planning Template	MFP	Small	Yes	No
Cost of Goods Sold Calculation Update	MFP	Small	Yes	No

Inventory Planning Optimization (IPO) Cloud Service Enhancements

Location Lists for Replenishment Rules

In the AI Foundation Strategy & Rules UI, location groups are provided as criteria for replenishment rules. These location groups are sourced from location lists in the AIF data warehouse, which is populated from Merchandising Foundation Cloud Service or from a file.

Batch Run Name Change

The names generated for optimization batch runs contain the business date of the run instead of the system date when it was executed.

Net Inventory Metrics

New columns are added to the Replenishment Policies screen in the Inventory Planning Optimization (IPO) Cloud Service-Inventory Optimization UI to show the inventory values, such as Net Inventory Position and Net On-Hand Quantity.

Retail Insights Enhancements

Retail Home Content Updates

The following updates have been made to Retail Insights (RI) content exposed through the Retail Home application:

• The pre-built RI filters for tile analyses have been corrected to work with the latest version of Retail Home tile filters.

• A new tile template for top items with item images has been added in the RI catalog samples.

• The Top Items tile in the RI dashboards in Retail Home uses the new top items report template.

Replenishment Policy Reporting

Retail Insights has a new folder of metrics for replenishment policy reporting, which uses the output of the Inventory Optimization process in AI Foundation. These metrics were previously available as a database view in APEX, but they are now part of the standard RI reporting metrics.

Retail Predictive Application Server Cloud Edition Server Enhancements

Dashboard Build Improvement

When users share the same positions for a dashboard workbook, this is now built only once. This build is then duplicated to that group of users. This improves the overall build time of dashboards during batch processing.

Batch Restart Enhancement

When restarting a failed batch step, that step now continues from the failed sub-step rather than starting from the beginning of the parent step. This improves performance.

System Workbook Staging Enhancement

Performance has been improved by staging RHS measures prior to building. This reduces the re-fetching of common measure data across system workbooks. Adoption of this feature requires batch control file changes, which are documented in the Retail Predictive Application Server Cloud Edition Administration Guide.

Retail Predictive Application Server Client Enhancements

Allow Non-Admin Users the Ability to See the Task Status Dashboard

With this release, non-admin users can view the task status dashboard. Users can view the status of the tasks initiated by them; such as, workbook build, commit, and so on. This helps users track the progress of tasks and take action, if needed.

Improvement in Product-Level Selection During Placeholder Creation

While using placeholder creation, the users can now select the parent product position, which makes it easier for users to assign the right product hierarchy to the placeholder. Also, when the user selects a parent position, the child positions are filtered to make selection easier. For example, when the user selects class A, only the sub-class entries associated with class A are displayed for selection, rather than all sub-classes.

Assortment Planning Enhancements

Add Item Level Unit Price and Cost

This adds an optional, file-based RAP interface to add an Item level unit price and cost to use if the item/location level unit price and cost is not available from the source systems.

Merchandise Financial Planning Cloud Service Enhancements

Improved Naming Convention of Markdown & Inventory Devaluation

With this release, the naming convention of Markdown and Inventory deviation has been updated to Markdown POS and Markdown Permanent respectively. This makes a clear distinction between point-of-sale markdowns against permanent markdowns.

Update in Base Intersection of ‘Enable OP Approval Task’ Template

The base intersection has an ‘enable OP approval task’ template across the Merch plan and location plan and has been updated to ‘Half Yearly’. This change helps align the base intersection between admin template and approval templates. This will also help admin users to make correct selections easily.

Default Measure Update in Merchandise Financial Planning Template

Shrink R% & Shrink C% is now updated as a default measure rather than Shrink R and Shrink C respectively

Cost of Goods Sold Calculation Update

The calculation of cost of goods (COGS) sold has been updated in MFP Retail. The planned cost of shrinkage is used in calculations instead of Shrink R. This change provides more accurate results.