1 Noteworthy Enhancements

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.

Important:

Due to the highly extensible nature of the Retail Analytics and Planning suite of cloud services, scheduled updates to its application features can affect your custom scripts, reports, datasets, and other objects added in the Innovation Workbench and Oracle Analytics Server. The customer is solely responsible for regularly backing up all custom objects created across the suite of Retail Analytics and Planning (RAP) cloud services and ensuring that these custom objects continue to function as intended after each major update. Oracle does not maintain backups of custom objects in a way that enables their individual restoration if they are lost or corrupted. For example, if a custom script is deleted by a user or modified in a way that makes it non-functional, Oracle cannot restore it without rolling back the environment to an earlier point in time (before the changes occurred).

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.

  Feature	Module Impacted	Scale	Delivered	Customer Action Required?
  Analytics and Planning (RAP) Enhancements
  Oracle Analytics Cloud Availability	Analytics and Planning	Medium	Yes	No
  Integration and Interface Updates	Analytics and Planning	Small	Yes	No
  Data Streaming Web Services	Analytics and Planning	Medium	Yes	No
  Planning Integration Changes	Analytics and Planning	Small	Yes	No
  RAP Data Dictionary	Analytics and Planning	Small	Yes	No
  Inventory Planning Optimization (IPO) Cloud Service Enhancements
  Location Delivery Schedules and Closures	Optimization	Medium	No	Yes
  Intra-day Inventory Updates	Integration	Medium	No	Yes
  User Allocation from ASN, or Warehouse On-Hand	Inventory Planning	Large	Yes	No
  Store Rounding Thresholds	Optimization	Small	Yes	Yes
  Pack Tuning Objective	Optimization	Small	Yes	Yes
  Order Multiple Override Rule	Optimization	Small	Yes	Yes
  Enhanced Time-Phased Inventory Planning View	Inventory Planning	Large	Yes	No
  View Warehouse Source Inventory	Inventory Planning	Small	Yes	No
  Lifecycle Pricing Optimization (LPO) Cloud Service Enhancements
  Manage LPO Recommendations: The User Filter	Manage LPO Recommendations	Medium	Yes	No
  Manage LPO Recommendations: Sidebar Redesign for Key Actions	Manage LPO Recommendations	Medium	Yes	No
  Manage LPO Recommendations: Collapsible and Scrollable Summary Panel	Manage LPO Recommendations	Small	Yes	No
  Custom Budget: Integration of MFP Budgets in LPO with Price Zones	Manage LPO Recommendations: Custom Budget	Medium	Yes	Yes, review and update the configuration flags as needed.
  Custom Budget: Support for Multiple Price Zones and Locations	Manage LPO Recommendations: Custom Budget	Medium	Yes	No
  Manage LPO Recommendations: Pivot Table Enhancements	Manage LPO Recommendations: Pivot	Small	Yes	No
  Manage LPO Recommendations: Computed Columns Now Included in ‘Export to Excel’	Manage LPO Recommendations: Computed Columns	Small	Yes	No
  Improved Markdown Elasticity Calculation in Lifecycle Forecasting Method	Lifecycle Forecasting	Medium	Yes	No
  Rules Management: Displaying Rule Criteria ID and Rule Value ID	Rules Management	Medium	Yes	No
  Rules Management: Multiple Node Selection for Price Zone in Rule Criteria	Rules Management	Medium	Yes	No
  Rules Management: Remapping Rule Criteria and Values Directly in the Edit Rule Interface	Rules Management	Medium	Yes	No
  Improved Handling of Incomplete Optimization Runs in POM	POM Batch Run - PRO_OPT_JOB	Small	Yes	No
  Retail Insights Cloud Service Enhancements
  Oracle Digital Assistant Updates	AI Services	Small	Yes	No
  AI Assistant for Oracle Analytics Cloud	Reporting	Small	Yes	No
  Assortment Plan Reporting	Reporting	Small	Yes	No
  Inventory Replenishment Reporting	Reporting	Small	Yes	No
  Unavailable Inventory for Pack Items	Reporting	Small	Yes	No
  Additional Metrics and Attributes	Reporting	Small	Yes	No
  Retail Predictive Application Server Cloud Edition Server Enhancements
  Ability to Add Custom Hierarchies	Hierarchy load	Medium	Yes	Yes
  Improved Measure Export	Batch	Small	Yes	Yes
  Retail Predictive Application Server Cloud Edition Client Enhancements
  Improved Bulk Selection of Positions in the Wizard	RPAS UI	Small	Yes	No
  Improved Special Filters	RPAS UI	Small	Yes	No
  User Preference: Local Language	UI	Small	Yes	No
  Assortment Planning Cloud Service Enhancements
  Single Store Exception	Assortment Strategy and Assortment Fit	Medium	Yes	Yes
  Cross Category Line Review	Assortment Fit	Small	Yes	Yes
  Like Item Capability	Item Flow	Small	Yes	Yes
  Merchandise Financial Planning Cloud Service Enhancement
  Markdown Export to Lifecycle Planning Optimization (LPO)	Merchandise Financial Planning	Small	Yes	No

Analytics and Planning Enhancements

Oracle Analytics Cloud Availability

For entirely new provisioned instances only, this release of Retail Analytics and Planning (RAP) applications replaces Oracle Analytics Server (OAS) with Oracle Analytics Cloud (OAC). Existing RAP customers will remain on their current OAS environments at this time, with no changes to the server version or configurations. Migration of existing customer environments from OAS to OAC is a separate process that is not performed by this application update.

Integration and Interface Updates

This release of Retail Analytics and Planning (RAP) applications includes the following updates to data integrations and commonly used batch programs in the AIF DATA batch schedule:

• The job RA_ERROR_COLLECTION_JOB has been added as the final step of all AIF DATA standalone processes for loading fact data and should be enabled by default. This job is mandatory for maintaining the W_ETL_REJECTED_RECORDS table.

• The ETLREFRESHGENSDE_JOB has been modified to stop extracting certain parameters from Merchandising that were not being used in downstream applications, such as PRIME_EXCHNG_RATE and MULTI_CURRENCY_IND. Job failures relating to this parameter extraction have also been resolved.

• A new standalone process RDE_SLSMKDNILDSDE_INITIAL_ADHOC has been added for extracting markdown transaction history from TRAN_DATA_HISTORY.

• A new nightly and standalone batch job W_RTL_PLAN6_PROD6_LC6_T6_FS_SDE_JOB has been added for extracting the MFP markdown budget plan to RI.

• A new set of jobs are added to the nightly batch for staging and loading the W_RTL_CUSTOM_HIER_MAP_F table that is used for custom Planning hierarchies.

• A new standalone job PURGE_ODI_LOG_JOB has been added to weekly maintenance processes (and is enabled by default) for deleting old ODI execution logs that result from AIF DATA batch runs.

This release also includes the following notable changes to common batch processes in the AIF APPS batch schedule:

• RSE_SPREAD_APPD_RDF_FCST_TO_DAY_JOB is enabled by default based on the status of job IO_CREATE_BATCH_RUN_JOB.

• Add a standalone job RSE_COLLECT_GLOBAL_STATS_ADHOC_JOB for refreshing global statistics on demand.

• Added a new flow AIF_MAINT_CYCLE for scheduling recurring runs of RSE_COLLECT_GLOBAL_STATS_ADHOC_JOB.

Data Streaming Web Services

This release introduces a new way to load data for Retail Analytics and Planning solutions through ReSTful web service APIs. The APIs provide a streamlined method for ingesting data into the RAP data warehouse in near-real-time and for propagating that data to certain AI Foundation applications so they can immediately leverage the data. Not all interfaces will support data streaming in this release; it is focused on specific key functional areas such as purchase orders and allocations. Any usage of this data within RAP applications (except Retail Insights, which automatically leverages all data warehouse updates) is noted as part of the application-specific enhancements and documentation.

Data streaming services allow you to make updates to specific data warehouse tables outside of the nightly batch, while also preserving those changes for automatic inclusion in the next nightly batch cycle without providing the same data again. You can also leverage this data in custom extensions in Innovation Workbench that require more frequent updates. RAP documentation is updated with details on the usage and functionality of the data streaming processes.

Planning Integration Changes

The following changes have been made to the integration between the RAP data warehouse and Planning applications in this release:

Interface	Change Summary
Transfers (W_PDS_INVTSF_IT_LC_WK_A)	New configuration PDS_TRANSFER_SOURCE_TYPE defines whether the source system is MFCS or NON-MFCS and alters the extract accordingly to account for differences in the data format. Default is NON-MFCS, which matches current behavior.
Inventory(W_PDS_INV_IT_LC_WK_A)	New column PURCH_TYPE_CODE added, representing the purchase type of the item/location, such as Consignment or Concession.
Markdowns(W_PDS_MKDN_IT_LC_WK_A)	Reworked the extract to handle job failures resulting from too many weeks of data being moved in a single execution.
Item Differentiators(W_PDS_DIFF_D)	Resolved issues that prevented custom differentiators (beyond the basic size and color attributes) from integrating correctly to PDS.
Item Location Ranging(W_PDS_IT_LC_DV)	Exposed a new integration view for item/location ranging and status flags for Planning (as a custom configuration only).
Custom Hierarchy Mapping(W_PDS_CUSTOM_HIER_MAP_FV)	Exposed a new integration view for custom hierarchy intersection mappings for Planning (as a custom configuration only).

RAP Data Dictionary

The RAP Data Interfaces Guide has been converted into a new interactive workbook that is published with our standard Oracle Analytics catalog to all newly provisioned environments. The new workbook is available at: /Shared Folders/Custom/AI Foundation/RAP Data Dictionary. The data dictionary leverages the reporting capabilities of Oracle Analytics Cloud to provide an easily searchable and customizable view of the data interfaces used by all RAP applications, with options to display and export specific file specifications matching the older format found in the Data Interfaces Guide, if required.

The RAP Data Interfaces Guide has also been updated for this release but will stop receiving updates once the Data Dictionary is available to all customers. In this release, the Data Dictionary is only available in new environments having Oracle Analytics Cloud.

Inventory Planning Optimization (IPO) Cloud Service Enhancements

Location Delivery Schedules and Closures

Location delivery schedules and company or location closure information will enable IPO to better automate executable orders, ensuring orders are not raised for days that a location is closed for shipping or receiving. This data, set up in the Oracle Retail Merchandising Foundation Cloud Service, is used by IPO when determining valid review days and expected delivery dates. Closures will impact review period duration in forecast-based replenishments.

• To enable the use of delivery schedules, update the RSE_CONFIG parameter: IO_DELIV_USE_SCHEDULES.

• To enable the use of location closures, update the RSE_CONFIG parameter: IO_DELIV_USE_CLOSURES.

Intra-Day Inventory Updates

Scheduled purchase order and warehouse inventory updates throughout the day give the inventory planner the ability to rapidly complete the end-to-end allocation journey, as well as generate ad hoc recommendations based on the latest warehouse inventory information.

User Allocation from ASN, or Warehouse On-Hand

The user-driven allocation workflow is enhanced to include allocation of warehouse inventory and Advance Shipping Notice inventory. The inventory planner can choose to allocate Purchase Order, Advance Shipping Notice, and on-hand inventory together or separately.

Store Rounding Thresholds

Rounding thresholds is able to be applied to all orders. The threshold is a percent that indicates the point beyond which a location's need should be rounded up to an order multiple, rather than rounded off.

Pack Tuning Objective

Inventory planners can influence pack quantity recommendations by setting a pack tuning objective rule. This rule informs the optimization of the business goals for meeting size need where need is disproportionate to pack quantity.

When creating a rule, select between:

• Over Allocate: to ensure the need of all sizes are met. The packs allotted may exceed the need of some sizes to ensure the need (for example, weeks of supply) of all sizes is met.

• Under Allocate: to never over allocate any size. The packs allotted will come as close as possible to meeting the size needs. However, no size’s quantity may be exceeded.

• Balance: to meet all size needs as closely as possible; some sizes might be over allotted while some are under.

If no rule is created, the default is Balance.

Order Multiple Override Rule

Inventory planners can influence quantity recommendations by overriding location order multiple rules. Where inventory is selling slower than planned, decreasing the order multiple for specific locations can ensure better availability and sell-through.

Enhanced Time-Phased Inventory Planning View

The time-phased inventory plan can now be reviewed at any level of the product and location hierarchy. A new pivot table view will allow rapid selection of the review level and pivoting product, location, time, and metrics.

View Warehouse Source Inventory

Non-replenished warehouse source inventory will now be displayed in the time-phased inventory plan. This provides the inventory planner with complete insight to inventory availability.

Lifecycle Pricing Optimization (LPO) Cloud Service Enhancements

Manage LPO Recommendations: The User Filter

The User Filter (also known as the Big Filter) in the Manage Recommendations screen can now be accessed through the new Filter button in the top left corner of the screen. This button displays the number of filters currently applied (for example, "4 Filters"), giving immediate feedback about the current view.

Additionally, when hovering over the filter button, a summary panel appears, listing all selected filter criteria, such as Merchandise Level, Season, Effective Week, Price Zone, and so on, making it much easier to review active filters at a glance without having to open the full filter panel.

To save a filter, the filter name can be entered in the ‘User Filter’ panel, followed by clicking the Save button.

Manage LPO Recommendations: Sidebar Redesign for Key Actions

The way key actions such as Price Override, Date Override, Accept/Reject, Custom Budget, and Finish (example screenshot) are accessed from the Manage Recommendations table have been updated. Instead of appearing as pop-up dialogs, these actions are now shown in a contextual panel on the right side of the screen. By making this change, greater visibility to the underlying data is provided while edits are made. The overall user experience is also more streamlined and visually consistent, allowing actions to be completed with fewer interruptions.

Manage LPO Recommendations: Collapsible and Scrollable Summary Panel

The summary panel in the Manage LPO Recommendation screen can now be collapsed to display a single row of key metrics, with the option to scroll vertically to view additional metrics. This enhancement provides a cleaner interface to focus on primary information first when managing recommendations.

Figure 1-1 Summary Panel in Expand Mode

Figure 1-2 Summary Panel in Collapse Mode

Custom Budget: Integration of MFP Budgets in LPO with Price Zones

Previously, MFP budgets for promotions and markdowns could not be ingested directly into LPO when LPO is set up for Price Zones. Instead, users were required to provide budgets through a file interface at the Price Zone level. Because MFP does not offer direct support for Price Zones, this integration has been enhanced. Now, markdown budgets are spread down to the store level within MFP and sent directly to LPO. These store-level budgets are then automatically aggregated by LPO up to the Price Zone or other higher location hierarchies, as needed for pricing optimization.

Please note that support for legacy approach is maintained. The existing W_RTL_PLAN1_PROD1_LC1_T1_FS interface remains available for customers who do not use MFP or require backward compatibility.

To use the new functionality, following configurations must be set:

• RSE_BDG_PLAN_MFP_INTEGRATION_FLG:

  • Set this flag to Y to indicate that budget data will come directly from MFP.

• RSE_RI_BUDGET_PLAN_SRC:

  • Default value is RI_PLAN1. When the direct MFP integration is turned on, this should be set to RI_PLAN6. All new customers are encouraged to use this new interface.

Direct Integration Limitations

• When integrating MFP budgets at the subclass level or higher, the Price Zone Group must also be mapped at the subclass or higher level. Assigning budgets at the SKU level is not supported.

• The ability to use item-list based Price Zone Group is disabled when integrating with MFP budgets. This remains available only when using file interface.

• When the user wants to use budgets in the LPO optimization batch runs, then the budgets should be sent at the product run setup level or lower (above recommendation level).

Custom Budget: Support for Multiple Price Zones and Locations

Previously, custom budget used the selection of price zones/locations specified in the 'big' user filter and thus was limiting which price zones or locations are used in the custom budget optimization. With this update, the user can select a subset of price zones or locations in the custom budget screen itself, allowing the user to apply custom budget to a set of price zones or locations, vastly improving efficiency. When a custom budget is submitted for all or selected price zones or locations, the total budget amount is automatically allocated to those selected, streamlining the budget management.

• Figure 1: Custom Budget Window for all price zones - Total Budget: $229,650,000.00.

• Figure 2: Only 11 price zones are included.

• Figure 3: Total Budget is updated to $32,340,000.0 based on the selected price zones.

Manage LPO Recommendations: Pivot Table Enhancements

The Pivot action is now available directly from the table toolbar in the Manage Recommendations screen. When opening the pivot table, users will find that default selections for rows, columns, and data are preloaded, giving a helpful starting point and making it faster to begin analysis without needing to set up the structure from scratch. A

Additionally, pagination has been introduced in the pivot table. Rather than showing all rows at once, results are now broken into manageable pages. This makes it much easier to navigate large data sets, improves performance, and reduces load times when working with extensive recommendation data.

Manage LPO Recommendations: Computed Columns Now Included in ‘Export to Excel’

The Manage LPO Recommendations table has been enhanced so that computed columns for Promo, Markdown, and Regular are now included when exporting to Excel. Once a computed column has been created and selected for display in the table using the Manage Columns option, it will automatically be added to the exported Excel file.

Improved Markdown Elasticity Calculation in Lifecycle Forecasting Method

Lifecycle forecasting method now features an enhanced markdown elasticity estimation process to identify when the effect of a markdown is observed. The update introduces a new parameter MKDN_TIMEWINDOW_LAG_TKT_PRICE, which allows this forecasting method to detect markdown windows when price changes occur very late in a week and the price impact is observed in the following week. This will ensure that markdown elasticities are calculated even when there is a lag observing the impact of a markdown.

Rules Management: Displaying Rule Criteria ID and Rule Value ID

The management of rule criteria in the Rules Management of Control and Tactical Center has been improved to enhance efficiency and organization when working with pricing and other rules.

One important update is the display of Rule Criteria ID and Rule Value ID for each rule. With this change, every rule criterion and its associated values can be uniquely identified, making business rules easier to trace and manage. For example, as seen in the screenshot below, a single Rule Criteria ID (such as 450) is now mapped to multiple Rule Value IDs. This allows users to quickly see which sets of criteria are associated with which rule values at a glance, supporting better rule tracking.

Rules Management: Multiple Node Selection for Price Zone in Rule Criteria

Previously, only one value could be chosen per rule criteria requiring separate rules for each Price Zone that needed to be included. With this enhancement, up to 50 price zones can now be selected at once while creating a rule criterion. This enhancement allows for faster rule setup, reducing manual effort.

Rules Management: Remapping Rule Criteria and Values Directly in the Edit Rule Interface

Rule criteria and values assigned to a rule can now be remapped directly within the Edit Rule interface. This means that if a different criterion or value needs to be assigned to a rule, it can be done without deleting and recreating the rule. To perform this action, select the rule, click the edit icon, which will open a selection window where a new option can be chosen and assigned as shown in the below screenshots. This enhancement has been provided to streamline the process of updating rules while ensuring the underlying business logic remains clear and traceable.

Improved Handling of Incomplete Optimization Runs in POM

As before, the rule criteria and values themselves can be edited directly from the Rule Criteria and Rule Value options within Rule Builder. This allows any underlying criteria or value definitions to be updated at the source, ensuring that changes are consistently reflected wherever those criteria or values are used across different rules.

Retail Insights Cloud Service Enhancements

Oracle Digital Assistant Updates

The Oracle Digital Assistant (ODA) chatbot used by AI Foundation has a new skill, which allows it to query the entire Retail Insights presentation catalog of metrics and attributes. When you select the AIF DATA context in the chat interface, you can ask questions about anything you have access to in RI and get a natural-language response, giving your users direct access to their business data without having to leave the application or open reports. This feature will only be available in newly provisioned environments that have Oracle Analytics Cloud.

AI Assistant for Oracle Analytics Cloud

The Oracle Analytics Cloud AI Assistant is an AI-powered tool that helps you build and refine visualizations for your workbooks. For Retail Insights, a subset of key metrics and attributes have been indexed for use with the AI Assistant. Current guidelines for Oracle Analytics suggest limiting the indexing strategy to approximately 500 metrics per subject area to ensure optimal performance and accuracy of results. To cover the most use cases, foundational metrics like Net Sales Qty and Net Sales Qty LY are indexed, but other variations such as Net Sales Qty YTD will not be indexed. This allows the AI assistant to form calculations and build visualizations using those base measures which you may then extend yourself by adding the results to the workbook for editing.

For the complete list of metrics and attributes indexed for use with the AI Assistant, refer to the Retail Insights Metrics and Attributes Catalog available in My Oracle Support. This feature will only be available in newly provisioned environments that have Oracle Analytics Cloud.

Assortment Plan Reporting

New metrics have been added to RI’s planning fact for assortment and item plans (the Plan5 folder in the default configuration) to align with the latest Assortment Planning (AP) application workflows. This update exposes the measures added to the default AP plan export in recent releases:

• Assortment Fit Current Plan (AF CP)

• Assortment Fit Working Plan (AF WP)

• Item Flow Current Plan (IF CP)

• Item Flow Working Plan (IF WP)

• Recommended Sales Potential Current Plan (RC CP)

The new measures are available in the Plan5 folder in RI and is prefixed with the 4-letter codes noted above. These changes do not affect existing data in the Plan5 interface, as the new AP measures are also added using new version numbers that do not overlap with OP or CP plan versions.

Inventory Replenishment Reporting

The MFCS integration of unavailable inventory data to RI now includes pack item quantities on the existing W_RTL_INVU_IT_LC_DY_FS interface (previously only non-pack items were being extracted). The integration of this data will automatically occur after the upgrade, using standard incremental extract logic. If you have any immediate need for pack item records in RAP, then you may need to perform a full extract of the fact data as part of one nightly batch run to re-sync the data warehouse to MFCS. This is done using the System Options for the AIF DATA schedule in POM, setting the RDE extract parameters to F for full extract for one night only.

Unavailable Inventory for Pack Items

The MFCS integration of unavailable inventory data to RI now includes pack item quantities on the existing W_RTL_INVU_IT_LC_DY_FS interface (previously only non-pack items were being extracted). The integration of this data will automatically occur after the upgrade, using standard incremental extract logic. If you have any immediate need for pack item records in RAP, then you may need to perform a full extract of the fact data as part of one nightly batch run to re-sync the data warehouse to MFCS. This is done using the System Options for the AIF DATA schedule in POM, setting the RDE extract parameters to F for full extract for one night only.

Additional Metrics and Attributes

In this release, the following additional changes have been made to various facts and dimensions in Retail Insights:

Functional Area	Change Summary
Price Optimization Run Alerts	New logical joins added to the Price Optimization Product and Regular Price Optimization Product dimensions for reporting on alerts at the item level.
Purchase Order	New attribute added for Order Exchange Rate, which can be integrated from the ORDHEAD table in MFCS.
Sales	New metrics added for time-phased variations of Known Customer Count, such as Known Customer Count YTD.
Sales Optimization	New metrics added for regular/promotion sales units from the AIF optimized sales history output view.

Retail Predictive Application Server Cloud Edition Server Enhancements

Ability to Add Custom Hierarchies

RAP architecture has been enhanced to allow customers to add custom hierarchies. Using this architecture customers can now load custom hierarchies to RI and from RI to PDS and RDX to be used by multiple planning solutions.

Improved Measure Export

The export of measure feature has been improved to allow users to append a timestamp even when the output file name is different. Earlier users were able to append a timestamp only when the measure name and file name were same.

Retail Predictive Application Server Client Enhancements

Improved Bulk Selection of Positions in the Wizard

The wizard has been enhanced to support bulk selection of positions. Instead of selecting positions individually, users can now paste the required position labels into the bulk selection dialog, which automatically selects all matching positions. This improvement streamlines the workflow and reduces the time required to select multiple positions.

Improved Special Filters

Special filters can be set to default state of ON/OFF. Earlier users were able to toggle the default state OFF to ON, but default ON was read only. This has been improved to allow the user to toggle when default state is ON/OFF.

User Preference: Local Language

Users can now select their preferred language from the Preferences dropdown on the top right of the screen, instead of the browser locale setting.

Assortment Planning Cloud Service Enhancements

Single Store Exception

Assortment Planning workflow has been improved to allow users to work on exception use cases. Users can now set global rules for attribute exceptions, item-store exceptions, and store inventory exceptions.

• Global Rules for Attribute Exceptions – Users can set global rules for product attribute-Store combination notifying the workflow that the specified stores should not carry any products having the exception attributes.

• Item-Store Exceptions – With the Assortment Fit workflow, user can exclude chosen item-store combinations so that these item-stores do not receive the assortment. Users can also include chosen item-stores combinations into the assortment, allowing the exception stores alone to receive additional assortment.

• Store Inventory Exceptions – In Item flow workflow, users can set different receipt parameters for chosen item stores so that these stores receive inventory differently. Users can choose to have early delivery, frequent drops, or additional presentation/safety stock for selected stores.

Cross Category Line Review

The Assortment Planning Workflow enables users to conduct cross‑category reviews to ensure assortments are planned in alignment with how customers shop for complete looks. Approved assortments across multiple departments can be evaluated to confirm that the right products are available in stores at the appropriate time. For example, users can verify that sufficient bottoms are planned to complement assorted tops, or that adequate accessories are included to accompany assorted dresses. The Cross‑Category Line Review provides a holistic view of the assortment, helping to prevent lost sales caused by incomplete product offerings in the store.

Like Item Capability

The Item Flow workflow includes a like‑item capability that allows users to associate newly created items with existing, similar items during the final step of assortment planning. Users can copy plans from a like item into the new item, eliminating the need to return to earlier steps to generate and plan it. This enhancement streamlines the process and ensures new items are efficiently integrated without repeating the full planning sequence.

Merchandise Financial Planning (MFP) Cloud Service

Markdown Export to Lifecycle Planning Optimization (LPO)

With this release, planned markdown budgets can be exported to the Lifecycle Planning Optimization (LPO) solution. Merchandising plan (MP) current plan (CP) markdowns are exported to LPO using the batch process. The MPCP markdowns are spread to sub-class/store/week level during export based on the last year version of metric. Admin users can enable the batch process using the MFP Batch Set-up view.