Seminar paper

For the degree programme Business and Engineering

Digital Inventory Monitoring

In cooperation with
B/S/H/ Hausgeräte GmbH, Bad Neustadt

Author: Matriculation number:

Daniel Valinger 3419062
Constantin Rappert 3419141
Daniel Grosch 3419013
Akbike Nugumanova 3819112
Akshitha Jagadeesan 3817083
Executive Summary (Akbike Nugumanova)

Executive Summary (Akbike Nugumanova)

The B/S/H manufacturing facility in Bad Neustadt oversees the production of more than two
million vacuum cleaners a year. The large scale of production including a wide variety of
offered contributes to the complexity of the stock management system. Raw materials are
procured from all around the world, and the lead time for certain incoming goods exceeds
several months. The Corona crises of recent years restricted the goods flow which only added
to the challenges of warehouse management. Managing an inventory of this scale requires a
hands-on approach to the stock levels of the individual parts for early issue detection and
prevention of goods shortage. Currently, the stock management decisions are made based on
the manually compiled and analysed data sets. This method is not only time and energy-
intense but also leaves room for errors and oversight of the inventories requiring a closer look.
The goal of this project is to create an inventory monitoring system that is intended to replace
the practice in place and offer an automated solution to the problem. The specifications for the
program determined in collaboration with the supervisor define its key functions as well as the
desired contents of the dashboards. The program is expected not only to reflect current stock
levels but to forecast their fluctuations up to several months in advance leaving a sufficient
period for placing and receiving orders from international suppliers.
A monitoring program with such functions can be designed using the Business Intelligence
software. These tools collect and process a larger amount of data to present actionable
information that allows users to make informed business decisions. A variety of business
intelligence tools available on the market were considered for use in the project, and their
comparative analysis has been carried out. The choice of a working environment was dictated
by supported data systems and data visualisation options, where Microsoft Power BI showed
the marginal advantage for the execution of the concept. The resulting inventory monitoring
tool processes data from SAP and Excel systems to provide an overview of the present and
predicted stock levels. Forecasting future inventory stock levels is crucial for planning
warehouse activities for the upcoming months, and one of the designed dashboards offers a
view of predicted stock levels from one to five months forward. Colour-coded scales
demonstrate the current and future stock levels in reference to target inventory levels. This
user-friendly feature allows users to easily identify potential stock issues and quickly act upon
it. Additionally, the dashboards support a variety of filtering options, allowing users to filter
among many products and focus on an area of concern.
The program fulfils the established project goals and incorporates all mandatory specifications,
providing an effective and concise alternative to the practice in place and facilitating more
informed inventory management decisions.

2
Fehler! Verweisquelle konnte nicht gefunden werden.

Table of Contents
Executive Summary (Akbike Nugumanova) .............................................................. 2

List of Figures ................................................................................................................ 5

List of Tables ................................................................................................................. 6

1 Introduction (Daniel Valinger)............................................................................... 7

1.1 Topic ............................................................................................................................ 7

1.2 Research Question .................................................................................................... 8

2 Situation Analysis (Daniel Valinger) .................................................................. 10

2.1 Current Situation...................................................................................................... 10

2.2 Aspired Situation ..................................................................................................... 11

2.2.1 Project Goals ............................................................................................................................. 11
2.2.2 Requirements for the Business Intelligence Tool ................................................................ 12
2.2.3 List of Requirements ................................................................................................................ 16

3 Literature Review (Daniel Grosch) ..................................................................... 18

3.1 Warehouse Management ........................................................................................ 18

3.2 Inventory Monitoring ............................................................................................... 18

3.2.1 Definition .................................................................................................................................... 18
3.2.2 Issue Monitoring ....................................................................................................................... 19

3.3 Inventory Forecast ................................................................................................... 21

3.3.1 Methods ..................................................................................................................................... 21
3.3.2 Improve Forecast Accuracy with Demand Sensing ............................................................. 22
3.3.3 Technology for Inventory Forecasting ................................................................................... 23
3.3.4 Warehouse Simulator Software .............................................................................................. 24

4 Evaluation of Monitoring-Programs (Akshitha Jagadeesan) ......................... 25

4.1 Definition of Business Intelligence Tools ............................................................. 25

4.2 Benefits of Business Intelligence Tools ............................................................... 26

4.3 Comparison .............................................................................................................. 28

5 Structure and Functions of the Dashboards (Constantin Rappert) .............. 33

5.1 General ...................................................................................................................... 33

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Fehler! Verweisquelle konnte nicht gefunden werden.

5.1.1 Background and Layout ........................................................................................................... 33

5.1.2 Filters .......................................................................................................................................... 34

5.2 Landing Page ........................................................................................................... 35

5.3 Target ........................................................................................................................ 37

5.4 Availability ................................................................................................................ 38

5.5 Dispatcher................................................................................................................. 39

5.6 Demand per Month .................................................................................................. 40

6 Discussion & Outlook (Akbike Nugumanova) .................................................. 42

6.1 Evaluation ................................................................................................................. 42

6.2 Further Improvements............................................................................................. 44

7 Bibliography .......................................................................................................... 46

8 Appendix................................................................................................................ 49

9 Affidavit .................................................................................................................. 53

4
List of Figures

List of Figures

Figure 2-1: Mind map (own representation) ................................................................................... 12

Figure 2-2: Possible dashboard view (own representation)......................................................... 13
Figure 2-3: Stock circulation (Demand Solutions, 2019) .............................................................. 15
Figure 3-1: Business control hierarchy (Tomlinson, 1994) .......................................................... 18
Figure 4-2: Ratings of compared BI tools (Best BI Tools 2022 | Top Business Intelligence
Software, 2022)................................................................................................................................... 31
Figure 4-1: Overall view ratings of BI tools (Best BI Tools 2022 | Top Business Intelligence
Software, 2022)................................................................................................................................... 32
Figure 4-3: Magic quadrant for analytics and BI platforms (Bansal, 2019) ............................... 32
Figure 5-1: Connecting the datasets (own representation) .......................................................... 33
Figure 5-2: Header (own representation)........................................................................................ 34
Figure 5-3: Landing page general (own representation) .............................................................. 35
Figure 5-4: Code for "Colour Bestand" (own representation) ...................................................... 35
Figure 5-5: Code for "Colour Reichweite" (own representation) ................................................. 36
Figure 5-6: Target goals general (own representation) ................................................................ 37
Figure 5-7: Availability general (own representation) ................................................................... 38
Figure 5-8: Code for "Bestand/Planbestand" (own representation)............................................ 38
Figure 5-9: Dispatcher general (own representation) ................................................................... 39
Figure 5-10: Demand per month (own representation) ................................................................ 40
Figure 5-11: Demand per month+5 (own representation) ............................................................ 40
Figure 5-12: Code for amount "Monat+5" (own representation) ................................................. 41
Figure 5-13: Code for "Colour_Bedarf+5" (own representation) ................................................. 41
Figure 8-1: Background (BSH Stories, 2022) ................................................................................ 49
Figure 8-2: Menu button (own representation) .............................................................................. 49
Figure 8-3: Menu segment (own representation) .......................................................................... 49
Figure 8-4: Delete filters button (own representation) .................................................................. 50
Figure 8-5: Values for "Bestand akt" (own representation) .......................................................... 50
Figure 8-6: Data colours "Bestand" (own representation) ............................................................ 50
Figure 8-7: Values for "Reichweite akt" (own representation) ..................................................... 51
Figure 8-8: Data colours "Reichweite" (own representation) ....................................................... 51
Figure 8-9: Values for the map (own representation) ................................................................... 52

5
List of Tables

List of Tables

Table 2-1: Package unit types (BSH, 2021) ................................................................................... 14

Table 2-2: List of requirements (own representation) ................................................................... 17

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Introduction (Daniel Valinger)

1 Introduction (Daniel Valinger)

1.1 Topic

“When it comes to vacuum cleaners, no one is so quick to fool BSH employees at the Bad
Neustadt location. Over 9,000 units of different models and colour variants run off the
production line here every day and are sold all over the world”. (bsh-group.de, 2014).
According to its own data, the company manufactures more than 2,000,000 vacuum cleaners
with more than 300 different unit variants each year at its location in Bad Neustadt (bsh-
group.de, 2014). It is not hard to see that with such a large production volume and the variety
of products involved, there is an enormous complexity in the warehouse.

This problem was exacerbated by the effects of the Corona crisis. According to the Federal
Statistical Office, the demand in the manufacturing sector exceeds the supply possibilities by
far, while the production rate has continued to decline since the beginning of 2020
(Statistisches Bundesamt, 2021). The reason for this is the scarcity of raw materials and
intermediate products. Electronic components from Asia are particularly affected by this. The
result is rising prices for the affected product groups (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2021).

The shift in the consumption structure associated with the constraints of the Corona crisis also
has an impact on the BSH location in Bad Neustadt. Thus, although the demand for vacuum
cleaners is increasing, the production volume cannot be increased by extending the delivery
times of pre-products. The result is chaos in the warehouse. The workload for Dispatchers is
becoming increasingly confusing. As a result, the workers need new instructions and
information about the inventory on a daily basis. Questions such as: “Will security stocks fall
short in the near future?” and “Which suppliers from which regions should be examined more
closely” need to be answered.

As a result, a concept needs to be developed to link different stock data and to make the work
more transparent. Thus, the topic of this seminar work is the conception of an inventory
monitoring program, which should serve as a tool to illustrate the stock dynamics.

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Introduction (Daniel Valinger)

The official project description is:

“The objective of monitoring inventories of purchased and in-house manufactured parts is

not only to track the monetary values of the inventory but also to be able to intervene at an
early stage if the inventory exceeds certain limits. For this purpose, the current inventory
as well as the future planned deliveries must be considered. Defined ranges per country of
origin of the material provide the target Determine for the dispatcher whether he or she is
within the target range for his or her material groups. With the help of the business
intelligence tool “Microsoft Power BI”, a digital inventory monitoring is to be set up that
combines data from different systems via interfaces and enables daily inventory monitoring.
In cooperation with the company, different views and dashboards are to be developed that
enable a target group-specific representation in Power BI. In addition, the project aims to
investigate the possibilities of predictive capability for future stock development by Microsoft
Power BI using AI.“

1.2 Research Question

Before defining the research-question and starting with the first steps of finding a solution, a
basic understanding of the topic must be developed. Therefore, fundamental questions need
to be clarified.

1. What is meant by inventory monitoring?

“Monitoring in general is the direct systematic recording, observation, measurement and
controlling of an occurrence or process by means of technical aids or other observation
systems” (Gabler Lexikon, 2021). Thus, the monitoring itself only serves as a tool for
observing processes, so that the observer or the user of the monitoring system can
intervene in the process if necessary. In our project, an example of a process to be
observed would be the underrun of safety stocks. A visualization in the monitoring system
could show which material groups have already fallen below or will fall below the border in
the future. The task of an inventory monitoring program in the context of our project is the
collection and recording of data and the resulting representation for the user. Basically, the
development of an observation tool. The programs eligible for the project are programs
such as “Microsoft Power BI”, a so-called business intelligence tool.

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Introduction (Daniel Valinger)

2. What is a Business Intelligence Tool?

“Business Intelligence (BI) is a technology-driven process for analysing data and
presenting actionable information that helps executives, managers and other end users
make informed business decisions” (Hummeltenberg Wilhelm,2021). The tools themselves
collect data from different systems so that the user can use it for analysing the information
and gain insights from these. The aim of these business intelligence tools is to facilitate
decision-making processes and to handle large amounts of data in a user-friendly manner
using different data visualizations and dashboards. Dashboards are merely customizable
user interfaces that target a particular way of viewing the data. This could be, for example,
a map in which the user can sort suppliers by their country of origin.

This is an application project about the design of a monitoring program. This raises the
question of which business intelligence tool should be used and how it should be structured so
that it also fulfils its usefulness. The hereby resulting research question is:

“How must a Business Intelligence Tool be designed, which visualizes the current
inventory dynamics and forecasts the future inventory development?”

This research question was chosen because it contains the most important requirements for
the monitoring program and does not specify questions that still need to be answered, such as
the choice of program or the way of its design. The research question and the requirements
for the monitoring system from the following situation analysis form the basis for the research
and the creation of a solution concept.

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Situation Analysis (Daniel Valinger)

2 Situation Analysis (Daniel Valinger)

Before any solution can be found, the current situation and its problems must be clarified. In
the following, the concept of a solution variant can be compared with the desired situation and
the resulting demands on the program.

2.1 Current Situation

As already mentioned, an inventory monitoring system processes data from different sources,
which later in the form of dashboards should help the user to interpret the data. In the previous
situation, this had to be done manually. This means that individual data from different systems
had to be collected depending on the intended use.

To gain insights into the warehouse situation, the viewer had to compare individual data from
the different data sets. As a result, stock levels were difficult to measure, and future stock
developments could not be accurately estimated. Considering that stocks must be analysed
and discussed daily with the responsible dispatchers, this results in an enormous amount of
work. The biggest obstacle is extracting the data from SAP and Excel. These are adapted to
their own system and must be converted for daily viewing. For example, quantities are given
in monetary value. However, the monetary value may fluctuate and thus does not provide
information on the quantity of products. If we continue to consider the current monetary value
of the warehouse, the number of units varies with each price change of the supplier. To
minimize this daily workload, a monitoring system is required, which independently updates
the quantities of the inventory. Further requirements arise in the next section from the desired
situation and the project goals.

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Situation Analysis (Daniel Valinger)

2.2 Aspired Situation

Regarding the current situation and its problems, one can draw a comparison with the desired
situation, which results in the requirements the monitoring system must fulfil. But bevor that,
the first question to be asked is: “What is the desired situation?”. This question can be
described with the following project goals.

2.2.1 Project Goals

The discussions with the supervisor and the definition of the project resulted in the following
points, which can be stated as the project goals:

1. Compatibility of the Business Intelligence Tool with raw data from Excel and SAP
2. Automatic updated data sets for the daily discussion of the warehouse situation
3. Representation of stocks in the warehouse compared to the safety stock
4. Forecasts for the development of the stock including the representation of ranges.
➔ Ranges should describe how many days materials need until they fall below
the safety stock level
5. Usage of customized interfaces by filtering options.
The filter options should be at least the following:
- Dispatcher
- Supplier
- Country of Origin
- Product Code/ Description

The aim is to create a dashboard, with which the user receives the important information from
all the available data, by using the filter option. Hereby he should have the possibility to directly
see the current stock situation and identify product groups in which he must intervene.

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 Situation Analysis (Daniel Valinger)

2.2.2 Requirements for the Business Intelligence Tool

Since the goals of the project are defined, requirements for the program can be derived. These
got collected in the following mind map.

Figure 2-1: Mind map (own representation)

This mind map shows three different groups of requirements. General requirements as well as
requirements for the visualization of the dashboards. These influence the choice of the
Business Intelligence tool. Hereby derive requirements for the data sets that must be available
to the system to implement dashboards in the program, which fulfil the aspired project goals.

1. General requirements
The General Requirements are based on the desire to form a daily monitoring system. The
idea behind this is that the raw data required for the program only need to be inserted once.
Afterwards the Tool should update the data independently. The latest time to update the
system is the daily meeting of the supervisor with the corresponding dispatcher at 8 AM.
To meet this requirement, a Business Intelligence Tool must be selected, which is
compatible with the raw data from Excel and SAP.

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Situation Analysis (Daniel Valinger)

2. Requirements for the visualization of the dashboards

The visualization of the dashboard depends on the choice of the program. However, since
this is only determined at a later point in time, only the desired task of the dashboards can
be described at this point. Furthermore, the requirements should not restrict the manner of
design. This led to the two main tasks: “The presentation of the current stock level” and
“The presentation of the forecasted stock development”. Both dashboards are to be
compared with the safety stock of the affected materials. The dashboard for the current
inventory should therefore represent the proportion between the stock level and the safety
stock. The dashboard for the forecast inventory range should calculate the range of the
materials.
Regarding the analysability of the dashboards, a filtering option for the dataset should
make it easier to view individual subgroups. For example, if the user of the dashboards
wants to know whether materials from a particular supplier will become scarce in the future,
the filter option should show him the current inventory situation and the forecast inventory
situation of all materials that can be assigned to the supplier (see figure 2-2).

Raw Data

Dispatcher: None
Country of Origin: China
Filter-Options
Supplier: E.G.O Elektro-Geräte AG
Product Code: 8001081421 = Kabel, UI XSR0

Stock level for: Kabel, UI XSR0

1200

1000

800 Possible
Safety Stock Dashboard
600
View
400
!
200

0
now in 1 month in 2 months in 3 months in 4 months in 5 months

Figure 1:2-2:
Figure possible Dashboard
Possible View view
dashboard (own (own
representation)
representation)

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Situation Analysis (Daniel Valinger)

3. Required data
As already mentioned, one of the tasks of the dashboards is the representation of the
current and the forecasted stock compared to the safety stock. Data sets are required for
this to be implemented in the Business Intelligence Tool. This raises the question:

“What data is required at least to meet the requirements of the dashboards?”

First, basic information’s need to be considered. This includes information about the goods
themselves, which means we need at least the description of the materials and the product
code. Furthermore, relevant information about the materials for the respective viewer must
be attached. One of them is the product group of the material. These are purchased goods,
raw materials, and semi-finished goods. The other set of Information is the type of
packaging units, which give the dispatcher specifications for the storage of the product.
The packing unit types are divided into the following groups:

G01 G02 G03 P01 – P08 1E1 1E2 1E3 - 1E9 1|1 1|2 / 1|4

Meshbox ¼ ½ Europalett Oktabin Big One-Way- Cassette Cassette

Meshbox Meshbox Bag palett

C10 - C40 S32 - 1F1 - 1MK - 2MK B02 R01

S33 1F4

Cardboard Box Barrel Copper Bag Role

box bucket

Table 2-1: Package unit types (BSH, 2021)

In addition to this basic data, the filter option in the dashboard also requires the number of the
respective dispatcher and the information about the supplier of the material. This includes the
description of the supplier, its associated code, and the country of origin of the product.

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Situation Analysis (Daniel Valinger)

Once this information is available, the presentation of the stock and the forecasting of the stock
can be started. The basis of the dashboard is the inventory level at the desired times. With the
additional information on the safety stock for the respective product, the first dashboard with
the representation of the stock can be implemented. But what is the safety stock needed for?
For this purpose, the following picture is to be considered:

Figure 2:2-3:
Figure Stock Circulation
Stock (Demand
circulation Solutions,
(Demand 2019) 2019)
Solutions,

The purpose of the safety stock is to prevent empty stocks. For this purpose, the demand from
materials must first be derived from the completed orders. The higher the number of orders,
the more materials are needed and the faster the inventory is used up. This is shown in the
diagram by the red arrow. The higher the consumption, the steeper the arrow tilts towards the
X-axis. To ensure that the stock is not completely used up and therefore the production does
not have to stop, the minimal stock level from the time of re-order must be determined, which
should be sufficient for the next delivery. This amount is the safety stock. The higher the safety
stock, the greater is the scope for delayed delivery times.

In our project, the stock level and the safety stock are therefore required to represent the
current stock situation. To forecast the development of the inventory and the associated
assessment of the range, the consumption of goods per day for the next five months is required
from the enclosed data from SAP and Excel.

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Situation Analysis (Daniel Valinger)

2.2.3 List of Requirements

To develop a concept after the requirements have been defined, a list of requirements has
been created in cooperation with the supervisor. It records all the listed requirements for the
Business Intelligence Tool, so that during the creation of the program it can be compared
whether the program has been successfully implemented. Requirements are separated into
optional and requested. The optional requirements serve as ad-on, but do not determine the
successful design of the tool and the dashboards.

Group:
List of Requirements
3
Project Title: Digital inventory monitoring
Research Question: How must a Business Intelligence Tool be designed, which
visualizes the current inventory dynamics and forecasts the future inventory
development?
Type Source
Description of the requirements
No. optional/ Annotations Date coach/
(qualitative)
requested team
General requirements
(Daily by 8 AM
1 requested Automatic updates 27.10.2021 coach
at the latest)
Combining data from different (SAP and
2 requested 27.10.2021 coach
systems Excel)
Use of the number of units instead (Number of
3 requested of the monetary value of the pieces in 27.10.2021 coach
warehouse pallets)
Provide the lasting capability of the
4 requested in pieces 28.10.2021 coach
stock
Visualisation of the programme
Display the current stock level in
5 requested / 28.10.2021 coach
reference to the safety stock level
including the
Display the predicted stock level in
6 requested stock of the 28.10.2021 coach
reference to the safety stock level
next 5 months
Provide visual feedback for goods colour coded
7 optional 28.10.2021 team
that reached the safety stock stock levels
Provide visual feedback for goods within the next
8 optional 28.10.2021 team
that will soon reach the safety stock month
According to
Support of a dynamic stock
9 optional the FIFO 27.10.2021 team
circulation
procedure
Possibility to sort data according
to the following criteria:
Material Group
Product code
10 requested / 27.10.2021 coach
Dispatcher
Country of origin
Supplier
Storage unit

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Situation Analysis (Daniel Valinger)

Providing a list of outdated parts as

11 optional / 28.10.2021 coach
part of the daily report
required data
Goods:
Description
Product code
requested
12 Product group / 28.10.2021 coach
Type of storage unit
Entrance date
optional Value
13 requested Dispatcher code / 28.10.2021 coach
Supplier:
Description
14 requested / 28.10.2021 coach
Supplier Code
Country of origin
Ranges of the stock in days: /
Entrance Date of the goods /
Safety stock per good /
15 requested 28.10.2021 coach
Stock level per good /
up to the next
Utilization of the goods
5 Months
Table 2-2: List of requirements (own representation)

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Literature Review (Daniel Grosch)

3 Literature Review (Daniel Grosch)

In this section we give you a brief overview of the areas of warehouse management, inventory
monitoring and inventory forecast methods.

3.1 Warehouse Management

Warehouse management is used to control, manage and optimise distribution and storage
systems. The management of storage quantities and locations as well as the disposition and
control of conveyances are part of the scope of Warehouse Management. Most systems work
with computer support. (vgl. ten Hompel and Schmidt 2005: 8).

3.2 Inventory Monitoring

3.2.1 Definition

Inventory monitoring is a real-time control option that meets requirements such as reduced
stock levels, customer delivery capability and access to more information. Inventory monitoring
covers three general areas. Raw materials and components, work in progress and finished
goods. Inventory monitoring provides a means of monitoring inventory levels within the
warehouse environment and supply chain. Monitoring and measurement is seen as part of the
overall process in inventory management. Inventory management is not inventory control.
Measurement and monitoring of inventory take place at every point in the supply chain.

Figure 3-1: Business control hierarchy (Tomlinson, 1994)

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Literature Review (Daniel Grosch)

The 4 levels of business control defined by Tomlinson, as shown in Figure 3-1, inventory
control is at the data level. Here, the activities are data-driven and deal with recording events
and short-term planning. Inventory control is used to maintain a concrete stock level and record
movements. Warehouse management is at the execution level. It deals with the optimal use
of resources and activities within the warehouse. In most cases, a warehouse management
system must be linked to an inventory control system. It is not the stock but the process that is
monitored by the best systems. To ensure the management of the business, it is important to
know what needs to be known about the stock at all times to ensure effective management of
the stock and reliable feedback. The role of systems is to monitor the process. It is important
for the accurate measurement of a warehouse's performance that changes can be monitored
more quickly. For this, the information must be up to date. To minimise errors and improve
efficiency, it is important to update information quickly. A higher level of computerisation
contributes to the use of more monitoring and measurement process automation. (vgl. Ballard
1996: 11-18).

„Information can be seen as the ‘lifeblood’ of a logistics and distribution system.” (Ruston,
Croucher and Baker 2017: 701).

3.2.2 Issue Monitoring

Issue management is used for the early detection of action relevant situations from the
organisation's environment. It is used to weigh up the career opportunities of public
communication for companies. For researchers, this tool enables precise analysis of the
regularities of media communication, communication condensations, issue careers, issue
diffusions and research into the interdependent dynamics of political systems, media systems
and economic systems. Issue monitoring works on the systematic identification and analysis
of issues and events. (vgl. Imhof and Eisenegger 2001: 1):

The combination of inductive and deductive issue monitoring characterises a promising model.
With comprehensive observations of the environment relevant to the organisation, inductive
issue monitoring detects problems as they arise. It does not look for specific communication
events. Instead, reference is made to an undirected elicitation process. All chains and series
of media contributions that extend over at least two editions of a publication and refer to the
same topic are considered communication events. No thematic restrictions are deliberately
imposed. These are ruled out because organisations thereby continually create their own
relevance structures by only re-enacting what is already known. Issue management analysis
procedures have methodological deficits in this respect. As a result, those developments for
which the organisation lacks terms remain unknown. On the other hand, the inductive method
offers the systematic recording of the entire range of previously defined issues. This makes it

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Literature Review (Daniel Grosch)

clear from which communication events topics come and which career patterns new and
already known communication events occur. For this purpose, the career dynamics of the
systematically acquired communication events are constantly monitored. On the basis of this
monitoring, a problem hierarchy is continuously created which forms the prerequisite for
realising and selecting diffusion dynamics of new and established problems. Inductive issue
monitoring thus forms an instrument for the targeted, methodically supported irritation of
companies that encourages them to question their own relevance structures and to
systematically redevelop them. Subsequently, within the framework of deductive issue
monitoring. the emerging problems from inductive issue monitoring, where the enterprise is
endangered, are subjected to a detailed analysis in order to discuss the urgency of the
problem. In order to precisely determine the urgency of a problem on the basis of established
analytical tools and accumulated experience, the basic idea of such a two-stage procedure is.
The early detection tool developed builds the deductive issue monitoring, with the inclusion of
the company's perspective in the investigation, on the inductive issue monitoring. Each issue
arising during issue monitoring is subjected to a comparative analysis. An analysis procedure
is based here on media communication of ongoing issues in the making and new issues that
have been captured by different media. It is clear that this inductive procedure makes high
demands on the source selection. The undirected scanning process presupposes a limited
source base. Inductive issue monitoring concentrates on media sources and bows to the
insight into the primary function of media-mediated communication as an instrument of self-
monitoring. It has the status of environmental monitoring system through constant observation
of various media. This makes them of great interest for the identification and analysis of social
developments. It is not the primary task of inductive issue monitoring to constantly surprise the
company with spectacular, new communication events. It is about pointing out dynamics in
and around events. In doing so, it can initially limit itself to the analysis of sources before it
comes to the deductive in-depth analysis. This results in an assessment of the relevance and
explosiveness of the event. The deductive procedure goes by strategic relevance. Results are
analysed on a selective basis. Three research objectives apply.

Career potential is understood as the diffusion of events. Here, deductive monitoring aims at
analysing the career and diffusion potential of strategic events in their interplay with media
systems and other subsystems of society. Relevance is measured by whether the public gaze
is sufficiently interested in it.

Secondly, the reputation effects associated with the event are not only of interest to the
organisation. This goal is called reputation potential. It is about getting a reliable view of the
willingness to support the actors. Reputational dynamics in positive or negative terms towards
the organisation are of interest here.

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Literature Review (Daniel Grosch)

Thirdly, deductive issue monitoring focuses on acceptance dynamics. In this objective,

reference is made to factual and decision-making issues. Here, it is a matter of weighing public
acceptance against factual concerns, violations or requests. Reputation and acceptance
dynamics thus influence each other.

The deductive analyses expand the source horizon, whereby further sources are included in
the analysis. With the analysis of deductive monitoring, relevant developments of strategic
events and implementation of main strategies are reflected. It is necessary to evaluate the
effects of the latter by means of instruments of reputation analysis. This is necessary to verify
the measures taken in order to show whether they have the desired effect. (Eisenegger 2008:
5-11).

3.3 Inventory Forecast

Inventory forecasting known as demand planning is data from the past, trends and known
upcoming events that are used to determine inventory needs for the future. Through these
forecasts, companies ensure they have enough products in stock to fulfil their customer orders.
This includes replenishment data such as timing, availability and lead time. (Herrmann 2011).

3.3.1 Methods

To some extent, all forecasts are formulaic. Trend, graph, quality and quantity are the main
methods for successful stock forecasting. The choice is made in favour of the most accurate
method based on existing market research, inventory issues, sales feedback, personal
insights, customer input and mathematical analysis.

Trend forecasts are made based on changes in demand for a product over time. Here, possible
trends, seasonal effects and irregularities are made based on past sales and growth data.
Sales data helps with this prognosis technique as it shows the buying behaviour of customers
and certain types of customers in the future. In this way, analysts can find new ways to market
and offer products.

Using the same data as trend forecasting, graphical forecasting can be viewed mathematically
and plotted graphically to show sales extremes. One advantage of the graphical forecast is the
visual representation. By extending a series of data points with a trend line, the graph can be
examined for some possible directions that might otherwise be missed.

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Literature Review (Daniel Grosch)

When historical data is lacking, some companies turn directly to their clients. Complex data
collection, also called qualitative forecasting, is the result of this, for example through focus
groups and market research. Models are then developed from this data.

Quantitative forecasting is more precise than qualitative research. This is based on numerical
data from the past. Time series forecasting is an example of this. Here, quantitative data is
taken from the past to develop a model. Future trends can be estimated in this way.

The choice is made according to available data and what data can be collected. Existing
companies should start with already collected data and follow the quantitative approach.
Collecting qualitative data, on the other hand, is interesting for newer companies. The best
forecasts are based on a mixture of methods and data types. The qualitative method provides
a starting point for modelling. By adding qualitative data, preferably industry-specific, the model
can be completed. The most difficult task here is to ensure that the constantly changing and
often unpredictable trends and market dislocations that can alter demand in an instant are
reflected by the model. Market research can help with small outliers to guide supply, for
example, when fashion trends change. Looking at multiple models based on his-tory
information and resulting scenarios are essential in addressing larger issues. Extreme demand
scenarios can also be created to identify potential demand. (Oracle NetSuite 2020).

3.3.2 Improve Forecast Accuracy with Demand Sensing

Demand generation helps us to identify short-term forecasts based on current trends in

customer orders. Shaping demand by capturing demand signals can be initiated as a strategic
action. Early warnings help to identify forecast errors and adjust short-term forecasts. Demand
assessment can thus be linked to forecasting accuracy.

Through consumer-facing data such as POS and market buzz, companies try to improve their
demand signals by increasing their forecast accuracy and thereby reducing inventory levels.
Early warning of forecast errors is important to determine if a demand adjustment is necessary.

The effective application of demand sensing can reduce forecast errors by up to 50 percent.
At the same time, inventory accuracy is increased by up to 20 per cent. This can reduce large
inventories by repositioning them in transit and balancing local inventories.

For short-term forecasting, the use of point-of-sale customer order data is suitable. It is a
common inventory determination in retail shops. Region, products sold, date, quantity and time

22
Literature Review (Daniel Grosch)

are important real-time information that POS data contains. To adjust short-term forecasts,
POS data can be compared to identify deviations from the agreed norm.

To identify demand for B2B manufacturers, it is important to analyse order history. POS data
is often unreliable for manufacturers who are further away from end customers, due to
inventory buffers along the supply chain. By analysing historical data, manufacturers can often
improve forecasting accuracy with demand forecasting techniques.

Many sectors of the economy are directly impacted by macroecological indicators. These can
often be linked to changes in end-user demand. To avoid overstocking or missed customer
orders, proactive steps can be taken to adjust short-term forecasts.

Tracking promotional offers from competitors is an important consideration. Sales forecasts

can be adjusted accordingly if marketers keep the impact of such promotions in mind to react
in time.

Inventory repositioning can take advantage of competitor stock-outs. Supply shortages shift
demand to alternative available products. By repositioning regional stocks, unexpected
demand can be met at short notice.

Adjustments to end-customer demand can help respond to competitive changes and natural
disasters in the short term. Weather-related changes affect seasonal industries. Short-term
sales forecasts can be an instrument of early warning here.

Demand assessment is generated from large amounts of structured and unstructured Big
Data. It is impossible to process and analyse these data volumes with conventional tools and
techniques. Expertise is needed to collect, capture, interpret and present this data for effective
implementation. (Singh, Sujit 2018).

3.3.3 Technology for Inventory Forecasting

To determine the quantity of products, companies relied on their experience and knowledge at
that time. This meant that less accurate sales calculations were made. With the advent of the
first computers, the first companies estimated their sales with the help of spreadsheet
programmes such as Microsoft Excel. Some companies still estimate their inventory with
Excel. This is not advisable for professional warehouses. Here, the use of special demand
planning tools as well as warehouse management tools would be recommended. The demand
planner should have a special demand planning software for this purpose. The software

23
Literature Review (Daniel Grosch)

accesses the ERP system as well as the warehouse management software to get information
from it. With the help of such software, the product demand is determined. Ideally, the
warehouse management software has a tool for data analysis of all movements in the
warehouse. In order to facilitate decisions on improvement measures, such software converts
data that is generated daily in the warehouse. This results in a sales forecast, which is later
transmitted to the ERP system and the warehouse management system. This is later used, for
example, to organise the processes in the warehouse. (Mecalux 2021).

3.3.4 Warehouse Simulator Software

Warehouse simulator software is used to virtually represent all components required for the
proper operation of a logistics facility. To predict whether logistical processes or storage
systems will have a positive impact on warehouse productivity or cause bottlenecks,
warehouse simulator software is used for a variety of tests to predict warehouse performance.
In the software, a digital model of the warehouse is created, which is supplemented with real
data about the logistics facility to predict workflows. This helps predict which solution needs to
be designed to best meet the warehouse's requirements. It can also be used to check the
cycles required to maximise the capacity of the warehouse. This makes it possible to react to
different scenarios. Even concrete situations such as an increase in orders due to Black Friday
can be predicted once the virtual representation has been created.

The warehouse simulation is used to plan, design and optimise the warehouse layout. The
supply chain improvement opportunities can be identified through the virtual representation
and help to use the existing workflows more efficiently. To determine the best storage system,
the software calculates a solution that fits all goods and workflows, considering the flow of
goods and available space. Depending on the warehouse dimensions, the floor conveyors can
be selected in the virtual display according to the specific requirements of the system. The
number of stacker cranes required can be selected as desired for automated warehouses. The
virtual model of a warehouse can predict which resources are essential for the implementation
of a task. The necessary personnel deployment can also be calculated. Through a 3D
representation, both warehouse workers and loading units are depicted in motion. This makes
it possible to simulate optimal movement flows in the facility, for example to avoid bottlenecks.
Subsequently, the daily tasks of the facility can be planned. Routes and processes can be
optimised to achieve a more efficient and profitable warehouse. (Mecalux 2022).

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Evaluation of Monitoring-Programs (Akshitha Jagadeesan)

4 Evaluation of Monitoring-Programs (Akshitha Jagadeesan)

In the following chapter, the top Business Intelligence Monitoring Programs will be compared
and evaluated based on their individual features. However, in order to do so, an explanation
will be given on what business intelligence programs/software/tools are, the benefits of these
and what is important in such tools.

4.1 Definition of Business Intelligence Tools

A business intelligence tool (BI tool) is a type of software used to collect, organize, visualize,
and analyse large amounts of historical, present, and future data generated by business
operations to identify trends and patterns to enable “actionable database-driven decision
making” (Best BI Tools 2022 | Top Business Intelligence Software, 2022) at the board level.
Because of this focus on the past, business analytics is sometimes referred to as descriptive
analytics that describes what has already happened in a business. A key benefit of BI tools is
that they bring data together in a central visual dashboard. Companies can share these
dashboards with management teams as reports. Many business intelligence tools today have
moved beyond the simple visual dashboards of the past to include predictive analytics
capabilities. Predictive analytics predict future business events based on past events and
artificial intelligence. The more data a business sends to a business intelligence solution, the
more predictive it will have. By studying a company's history, management can determine the
best course of action. As business intelligence tools improve, one can learn how to help leaders
improve decision-making. This is called prescriptive analysis. Prescriptive analysis considers
the possible outcomes of each recommendation and then suggests the best outcome the
computer thinks of (Goel, 2020) Business intelligence software has become an indispensable
tool in the toolbox of most corporate teams (Power BI vs Tableau: Top BI Tools Comparison
2021, 2022). Such business intelligence platforms include key features such as data
visualization, visual analytics, interactive dashboards, and KPI scorecards. Users can also
make their analytics processes efficient and accessible with automated reporting and self-
service predictive analytics in one solution (Top 14 BI Tools - The Best BI Software Review
List for 2022, 2022).

Controlling all business processes is becoming more and more difficult every year as the sheer
volume of data being generated poses challenges for businesses of all sizes. Ultimately,
organizations and businesses need help making sustainable and profitable decisions. With
the help of modern and professional business intelligence (BI) tools, any business user can
immediately solve any problem without the massive involvement of IT professionals. In

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Evaluation of Monitoring-Programs (Akshitha Jagadeesan)

addition, the self-service nature of these solutions allows users of all levels to access all of the
above features without any technical knowledge or special training. This makes it ideal for
democratizing data analytics and improving business performance. In fact, the most detailed
product details or specific behavioural reports are the result of data-driven analytics.
Companies large and small understand the importance of analytics as it plays a key role in
helping executives make better strategic decisions. Analytical reports show how well a product
performs in the field, highlight trends, and measure progress in terms of time, place, and other
important criteria. Detailed product analysis can reflect the health of the product, measure
demand in the market, suggest expansion opportunities, identify the causes of low sales,
predict how advertising campaigns can increase sales, and increase product sales. provide
actionable ideas. Businesses focus on using software and tools that can effectively drill down
into data and provide reliable and accurate data analysis. The purpose of analysing and
compiling data is to gather data to show patterns and to visually represent trends in how
products behave (Chakraborty, 2021).

4.2 Benefits of Business Intelligence Tools

Professional software and business intelligence tools offer many benefits, and some of them
follow here. It comes with all the data needed. Whether running a small business or a large
business, data is probably being collected from a variety of portals, ERPs, CRMs, flat files,
databases, APIs, and more. Managing all these sources and better understanding the
information they collect requires a high level of data mining. That's why modern data
connectors allow to centralize disparate sources and get a single view of all business
processes. Therefore, identifying problems and trends, performing cross-sectional analysis,
and acting are closely linked and entirely data driven. True self-service analytics provides
access to data. When everyone in the organization, within all departments has advanced
business intelligence software that allows them to independently explore data, the need to
request reports from IT is greatly reduced. This self-service BI approach gives businesses a
competitive advantage by giving every employee the right level of data analytics skills,
ultimately saving the company time and resources, and freeing the IT department to focus on
other important tasks (Top 14 BI Tools - The Best BI Software Review List for 2022, 2022).

Next, users can benefit from forecasting. Predictive analytics doesn't have to be the expertise
of a data scientist or analyst. By integrating the prediction engine, business users of all
backgrounds can easily gain insight into future scenarios and adjust their current strategies to
achieve the best results. On the other hand, AI-powered smart data alerts can prevent
anomalies that can occur when managing large volumes of data as business conditions

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Evaluation of Monitoring-Programs (Akshitha Jagadeesan)

change and detect and respond immediately to new trends and patterns. This technology
reduces manual tasks and automates processes, so employees have more time for other tasks
(Top 14 BI Tools - The Best BI Software Review List for 2022, 2022).

Additionally, manual steps are eliminated. While traditional business management tools
encourage the use of spreadsheets and static presentations, modern software eliminates
endless rows and columns and makes process automation easier. Tools update the KPI
dashboard with real-time data. One can also automate the reporting process at set time
intervals and easily view the results. It is easy to create powerful, interactive toolbars that allow
to interact with data directly from one screen by simply dragging and dropping values onto the
toolbar. Endless PowerPoint presentations are a thing of the past and allow for a much more
intuitive approach to data analysis (Top 14 BI Tools - The Best BI Software Review List for
2022, 2022).

From sales planning and customer behaviour analysis to real-time process monitoring and bid
optimization, a BI platform reduces business costs while accelerating planning, analysis and
reporting. According to a survey conducted by BI Survey, more than 50% of business
intelligence users say their top benefit is helping them cut costs and increase revenue. When
one can work quickly and accurately, significantly better business results can be achieved and
make profitable adjustments can be made. Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days
a week. Every organization has different needs, and the software-as-a-service model provided
by these tools provides full SaaS business intelligence with all data. Hosted in a secure online
environment. Depending on the needs, one can scale the software up or down according to
the company's specific needs. Because data is stored in the cloud, whether an administrator,
data scientist, analyst, or consultant, they have 24/7 access to the software and can take full
advantage of its rich self-service analytics capabilities. All that is needed is a browser and an
internet connection to make data available to all smart devices (Top 14 BI Tools - The Best BI
Software Review List for 2022, 2022).

Summary of advantages in short:

- Providing best business solutions
- Faster and accurate report creation
- Increasing operational efficiency
- Identifying new income opportunities
- Gaining visibility into operational efficiencies
- Internal decision-making processes and process optimization
- Highlighting areas for improvement

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Evaluation of Monitoring-Programs (Akshitha Jagadeesan)

(op business intelligence tools: compare & find what works best, 2022)

4.3 Comparison

The Business Intelligence software and tools that will be evaluated now, for the basis of
inventory management, are the following: Tableau, QlikView, MicroStrategy, SAS Business
Intelligence, and Power BI from Microsoft. All of this software allows for inventory management
or optimization and even more in detail supply chain analysis, which is the application that is
required for this particular project. As mentioned in the above chapters, a visualization of the
current inventory dynamics and a forecasting of the future inventory development has to be
carried out, and for this, the most appropriate BI tool has to be evaluated.

Tableau is a modern-day BI device that is utilized by many corporations and sticks out for its
aesthetics and layout, advanced through Pixar artists. Tableau has been around for greater
than sixteen years and sticks out for its ease of use. Even novices will now no longer have an
irritating first revel in with Tableau. Tableau transforms unstructured statistical records into
complete logical consequences offered as completely functional, interactive, and attractive
dashboards with numerous forms of graphics. Tableau is particular for its strong and
dependable performance. Compared to different famous programs, this device is speedy
regardless of huge quantities of information. Business customers can beautify their
understanding of information analytics and reporting and benefit many beneficial insights way
to Tableau's ever-developing network of specialists and businesses. Tableau gives an app for
iOS and Android that gives all of the functions of the computing device and online versions.
On the alternative hand, Tableau isn't always sufficient to provide a case-through-case method
to its customers. Thus, each company, no matter its wishes, has to buy the prolonged license
from the beginning (Masmoudi, 2021).

MicroStrategy is an analytics software program and mobility platform centred on

hyperintelligence, federated analytics, and cloud answers. Their mobile dossiers permit
customers to create interactive analytics books that render on iOS or Android gadgets, with
the capacity to increase MicroStrategy content material into their apps, using XCode or
JavaScript. One can download a sample app, MicroStrategy Mobile, or the library app, which
lets to apply analytics at the go. Both Capterra and G2Crowd give this tool 4.2 stars, making it
one with sturdy credentials withinside the BI market. The hyperintelligence characteristic pulls
information from more than one and turns it into applicable, click-unfastened insights, whether
or not it is a map on an internet site or an integration with a voice assistant. What's thrilling is
they offer contextual insights. All that one needs to do is hover over it, and it detects the

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Evaluation of Monitoring-Programs (Akshitha Jagadeesan)

applicable information proper at the internet site, apps, and gadgets are the use of. It affords
an information glossary, no matter the tools used, constructed on a semantic employer graph
that indexes all of the specific information structures and lets in visualization of the identical
information. As referred to earlier, a mobile deployment is likewise offered, permitting
customers to leverage present reports, dashboards, and visualizations in actual time, from any
area and device, with the capacity to expand and layout apps without code. Based on natural
language processing and machine learning, one could additionally combine voice technology
and chatbots inclusive of Alexa or Google Home. MicroStrategy gives a number of answers to
supply scalable, secure, flexible, and extensible cloud answers that meet the wishes of each
enterprise and IT departments. On the alternative hand, a few customers record a complicated
preliminary setup, because it calls for many stakeholders and deep understanding of the utility
itself. Ease of use is genuinely an issue that the software program lacks, knowledgeable IT
people will be required (Top 14 BI Tools - The Best BI Software Review List for 2022, 2022).

SAS Business Intelligence is a BI tool that gives several products and technology for data
scientists, textual content analysts, data engineers, forecasting analysts, econometricians, and
optimization modelers, amongst others. SAS Business Intelligence turned into based in the
Seventies and has an extended records withinside the marketplace, evolving its portfolio each
year. With a Capterra score of 4.3 and 4.2 on G2Crowd, this software program enjoys an
excessive stage of satisfaction. The key capabilities are the five principal themes, information
exploration with gadget studying support, textual content analytics capabilities, reviews and
dashboards for numerous devices, and integration with different packages. SAS' information
exploration gives automatic analytics powered via way of means of machine learning and
summarized in interactive visualizations. Interesting capabilities consist of Text Analytics,
which permits insights to be gleaned from textual content information along with social media,
and Location Analytics, which summarizes information in a geographic context. Dynamic
visuals are prepared into interactive reviews and dashboards, much like different tools and one
could additionally get admission to them through mobile devices (both Android and iOS). One
can combine SAS with Microsoft Office packages along with PowerPoint, Word, SharePoint,
or Excel with their Office Analytics solution, which permits them to view consequences without
delay withinside the Microsoft Office suite. The complexity of the product and its offerings, the
high price range, and the confined customization alternatives may be huge elements in
identifying whether or not this enterprise intelligence device is the proper choice, in step with
maximum reviewers on Capterra and G2crowd (Top 14 BI Tools - The Best BI Software Review
List for 2022, 2022).

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Evaluation of Monitoring-Programs (Akshitha Jagadeesan)

QlikView is one of the BI packages that Qlik gives as a part of its information analytics platform,
which specializes in fast improvement and guided analytics packages and dashboards. It is
primarily based totally on an associative engine that allows information discovery without
query-primarily based tools, doing away with the danger of information loss and misguided
consequences. With a terrific score of 4.3 stars on Capterra and 4.1 stars on G2Crowd,
customers are very glad about this product and its capabilities, making it one of the high-quality
BI tools. Some capabilities consist of associative exploration, visually highlighted dashboards,
associative engine, a dual-use strategy, and a platform for developers. QlikView’s associative
exploration characteristic is primarily based totally on easy choice and seek capabilities that
may be entered via way of means by users of all experiences. This makes it viable to view
applicable business information from more than one angle and gain new insights on an advert
hoc basis. Dashboards and guided evaluation are visually highlighted for customers at some
stage in information exploration. Advanced data coaching and connectivity with the Associative
Engine combines all information at the fingertips, without limits, irrespective of imperfections,
and with each click on withinside the interface. Qlik gives clients the capacity to increase
QlikView with different products in its portfolio to create custom dual-use strategies. Several
tools and assets are included for developers, consisting of the Qlik Branch Community, Qlik
Knowledge Hub, Qlik Branch Playground and Qlik Core documentation. One disadvantage is
that you ought to be inclined to discover ways to use this software program, because it calls
for technical know-how in lots of places, and it is able to be pretty pricey for small to mid-sized
companies (Top 14 BI Tools - The Best BI Software Review List for 2022, 2022).

Power BI is the data visualization program by Microsoft to work with the various analytical
tools. Power BI has many effective functions and gives many approaches to combine with
specific data. This program gives customers the capacity to create dimensions and new
relationships among tables without the want for an outside program. Some functions consist
of short breakdown of data, updating information, cross-platform accessibility, and low cost.
Easy access to information exploration that allows customers to make more and more
knowledgeable choices in reaction to enterprise wishes. Since now no longer each data
sources supporting live queries, Power BI affords an automated refresh characteristic on
dashboards that could be set to refresh many times a day, as per requirements. Unlike other
programs, Power BI gives an integrated export characteristic that helps now no longer simplest
embedded net applications, however additionally cell gadgets inclusive of Android, IOS and
Windows. Power BI is available in versions: Power BI Pro and Power BI Premium. The entry-
degree model is Power BI Pro, which helps you to use all of the functions withinside the Azure
cloud at a low fee in keeping with person in keeping with month. However, a chief disadvantage

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Evaluation of Monitoring-Programs (Akshitha Jagadeesan)

is the constrained customizability of the format for the carried-out charts, which may be irritating
for customers' particular wishes (Masmoudi, 2021).

Figure 4-1: Ratings of compared BI tools (Best BI Tools 2022 | Top Business Intelligence Software, 2022)

The following are the main features of the tools, which can be used for the comparison of the
individual BI programs.
- Advanced analytics
- Augmented analytics
- Dashboarding and data visualization
- Data management
- Data Querying
- Embedded Analytics
- Geospatial visualizations and analysis
- Internet of Things (IoT) analysis
- Mobile BI
- Platform Functions
- Reporting
- Availability and scalability
- Data sources connectivity
- Deployment options
- Extensibility
- OS support
- Security
- License type
- Professional services and maintenance
- Training
- User Support
- Vendor information

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Evaluation of Monitoring-Programs (Akshitha Jagadeesan)

(Best BI Tools 2022 | Top Business Intelligence Software, 2022)

With consideration of all these features and analysis an overall summary rating of the top 10
business intelligence software is shown in the figure below (figure 4-1). Apart from the five
tools that were elaborated upon, the other five listed here, and many more available in the
market are worth mentioning. As can be seen, Power BI ranked the best in comparison with
all these other software.

Figure 4-2: Overall view ratings of BI tools (Best BI Tools 2022 | Top Business Intelligence Software, 2022)

Figure 4-3: Magic quadrant for analytics and BI platforms (Bansal, 2019)
In conclusion, based on the comparison and also the magic quadrant above, it can be
concluded that Power BI by Microsoft is the best rated analytics and business intelligence tool.
Power BI offers the most variety when it comes to programs and has lot of dashboard creation
options at a reasonable price. Moreover, apart from the other BI options, Power BI offers an
inventory management solution. With this one can “monitor inventory levels in warehouses
versus trends for revenue across sales channels, review short-term cash requirements for
upcoming stock re-order programs and analyse key vendors, and look for procurement
discounting opportunities” (Kingpin, 2020). This provides for a strong base to work on this use
case of inventory monitoring for B/S/H, by creating dashboards and comprehensive real-time
visualisations to evaluate the value of inventory within the warehouse flours.

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Structure and Functions of the Dashboards (Constantin Rappert)

5 Structure and Functions of the Dashboards (Constantin

Rappert)

After it has now been decided that Power BI will be used for monitoring the company’s
inventory, the following part will give an overview of the actual realization of the program.
Hereby it will start by looking at all general functions at first and then dig deeper into the
individual dashboards.

5.1 General

The first step was it to import the data (figure 5-1), here two different Excel Sheets have been
used. The main one “Sheet1” has been provided by the company and includes nearly all the
relevant data that has been used. As this one includes the suppliers, just by their assigned
number, it wasn’t possible to show the suppliers’ location on a map. But as this was a requested
visualization, the Sheet “Lieferanten” needed to be used. This contains More information about
the supplier, including the country code. As both tables had one corresponding column, they
connected by drag and drop and now Power BI is able to work with all necessary information.

Figure 5-1: Connecting the datasets (own representation)

5.1.1 Background and Layout

To create a pleasant experience for the user, it has been decided to structure all dashboards
similarly, this starts with the background. Here a general picture (figure 8-1) with relevance for
the company has been chosen. The focus here was to keep it simple, so that it won’t draw too
much attention. It shows household appliances in front of a rather generic background. This
fitted the requirements perfectly.

The next step was to create a header (figure 5-2), which visualizes the topic of the whole
program. This has also been kept simple, by just using the company’s logo in the left corner
and having the text “Warehouse Management” on the other side. Overall, it is supposed to
remind everyone about the topic of the presentation as well as give outsiders, who have no

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Structure and Functions of the Dashboards (Constantin Rappert)

further insights, the opportunity to instantly get an idea what the meeting and the presented
data is roughly about.

Figure 5-2: Header (own representation)

In order to give every dashboard, the same general appearance, it has been decided to have
uniform spacing between all individual visualizations. This has been determined to be 30
pixels, there are only a few exceptions have been made. These will be highlighted and
explained in the given chapters.

5.1.2 Filters

The other big similarity between all dashboards is the filtering system. This includes a menu
button (figure 8-2), the actual filter segment (figure 8-3) and a button for removing all filters
(figure 8-4). The main goal is it, to enable the user to use multiple different filtering options,
without having to compromise a lot of space. To achieve this, it’s ideal to have a collapsible
menu, which can be opened if needed. To keep it visually appealing this is the first exception
for the spacing, so that all visuals will be 60 pixels away from the left border.

As soon as the user wants to have a more detailed look at the data, he has to click on the
menu button. This action will now show the full filter section, which includes various different
options. The first one defines the kind of product, so whether it’s a shipping part, a semi-
finished good or a finished good. The second option is to choose between different countries
of origin, there the user is able to select one or multiple ones, by clicking on the country codes
needed. The last two options are about the specific products as such. These can now either
be searched by their serial number or by their entered “Materialkurztext”. For these filters it’s,
possible to use a search function and thereby limiting the amount of scrolling needed. After
applying the individual filters, you need to click on the back-arrow, this will collapse the entire
menu and show the entire dashboard again. After discussing the data, it can be reset by
clicking the “Delete Filters Button”. This will unpick the chosen filters and show a view of the
entire material stock again. All these functions are being realized by the bookmark function.
There the designer has to select a view, decide which components of the dashboard should
be visual and assign this to one bookmark. For this application for each dashboard three
bookmarks (show filters, hide filters and reset filters) need to be designed individually and be
assigned to the according buttons.

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Structure and Functions of the Dashboards (Constantin Rappert)

5.2 Landing Page

Figure 5-3: Landing page general (own representation)

At the beginning the user will start on the landing page (figure 5-3), which is being designed,
to give a first general impression and navigate the user to all different dashboard views. The
navigation works, by clicking on the dedicated button on the right side and then you will be
sent to the according page. This works via the programs’ page navigation, where you can
simply choose the slide you would like to go to and assign this to the click of the button.

The rest of the space is being filled by three different visualizations. The first one is about the
current stock level and shows if the target stock is being reached or not. The input parameters
(figure 8-5) for the visual are for the value the “Gesamtbestand” (green), for the minimum value
the “Sicherheitsbestand” (blue) and for the target value the “Planbestand”. These ensure, that
the user will see the relation between the current stock and the planned stock and whether it’s
meeting the target or not. This is being used to have an insight into the current situation and
see if there is a need to put out a new order. To visualize a good and a bad situation by colours,
the visual’s colour needs to be assigned to a function that shows the relation between the stock
level and the target for it. This is being done by opening the visuals editing menu, opening the
“Data colour” tab and clicking on the fx-symbol (figure 8-6). Now a function (figure 5-4) it is
being based on needs to be chosen, for this the function “Colour_Bestand” has been created,
this just subtracts the values of “Planbestand” by the “Gesamtbestand” and then gives out a
value that will show the current state of their relation.

Figure 5-4: Code for "Colour Bestand" (own representation)

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Structure and Functions of the Dashboards (Constantin Rappert)

In case it’s a negative number, the visual will show as green and if it’s a high number, the visual
will be red. This concludes the entire “Bestand akt” visual. Generally speaking, it is there to
show the current stock compared to the planned stock and give visual feedback by its colour.
The next visualization is about the current reach of the products and whether the targets are
being met. Here the assigned parameters are (figure 8-7) for the value the average of
“Reichweite” and for the target the average of “Planreichweite”, both measured in days. For
showing the current state, its colour is also being connected to a fx-function (figure 8-8). This
time the assigned function (figure 5-5) is subtracting the “Reichweite” from the
“Planreichweite”.

Figure 5-5: Code for "Colour Reichweite" (own representation)

Now for negative values of the function, the visual will be coloured in green and vice versa.
Overall, the user is now able to see, if the target, that’s being aimed for is reached and will also
get visual feedback from the program.

To give a brief overview over the materials countries of origin, a map visualization has been
chosen. The here fore assigned values (figure 8-9) are for the location “Column 3” which is the
country code of the supplier and for the size the “Count of Material”. This will now create
bubbles on the map which are scaled by their size. The map visual will therefore give the user
an overview of the countries where the suppliers are working from and their importance. As
Power BI is well-designed, the user can now already click on a country of his choosing and will
be shown the individual data for this circumstance on the other visuals.

This concludes the appliance of the first page and the functionality of its visuals.

36
Structure and Functions of the Dashboards (Constantin Rappert)

5.3 Target

Figure 5-6: Target goals general (own representation)

The second slide (figure 5-6) has been created to get a deeper insight into the current state of
products coming out of different countries, having different product types or even single
products as such. To establish this, the same visuals as on the previous dashboards are being
used. On the one hand, the difference is that they are bigger and therefore will present the
information more clearly. And on the other hand, that the filter menu can now be used and
thereby give the user much more options for presenting specific topics. The visuals will change
according to the filters and give an overview of the selected parts.

From now on every page will have a separate second header, which includes the heading of
the current dashboard, the button for deleting the filters and an arrow to get back to the landing
page, from which the user can navigate to the next dashboard needed.

37
Structure and Functions of the Dashboards (Constantin Rappert)

5.4 Availability

Figure 5-7: Availability general (own representation)

The next slide is about the availability of the single products (figure 5-7). It’s structured in a
tabular form, which shows different criteria. The first two columns are about the material and
are being used to clearly identify and assign occurring problems to the according products.
This ensures, that the user will always be able to quickly see which products are problematic
and use their material number to do further research on the other dashboards. The next two
columns are showing the products’ creation date for the system and the delivery date they
should leave the facilities. These can be sorted by date and will therefore make it easy for the
user to see, which products have been in stock the longest and haven’t been updated since.
A date far in the past doesn’t necessarily mean, that a product has gone bad, but it will raise
awareness and ensure that the team should have a closer look at that specific product and
check if everything is working as planned and react accordingly. Meaning that in case of
outdated data, it needs to be refreshed and in case of damaged, forgotten or outdated goods
they need to be sorted out and the data needs to be refreshed accordingly. The last columns
are giving out the exact number of the current and planned stock level. To compare this in
actual numbers, a measure (figure 5-8) has been created, which shows how far the current
and planned stock levels differ. This subtracts the “Gesamtbestand” from the “Planbestand”
and thereby shows the difference between both.

Figure 5-8: Code for "Bestand/Planbestand" (own representation)

A positive value gives out the amount that the stored goods are above the planned one and
vice versa. The user can sort this column as well and thereby find out which products are
differing very much from the planned stock level, positive as well as negative. This ensures,

38
Structure and Functions of the Dashboards (Constantin Rappert)

that future deliveries can be coordinated accordingly and especially goods that are needed for
the future can be ordered soon enough. The filter options are working in this case as well and
ensure a deeper and more detailed look into the data.

5.5 Dispatcher

Figure 5-9: Dispatcher general (own representation)

The fourth dashboard (figure 5-9) realizes the companies wish to have a vision on the separate
dispatchers and the individual data of their products. Therefore, the same three previous and
most important visuals are used and expanded by two new options. This is a separate filter for
the dispatchers on the dashboard itself and a table which clearly shows the according products
with their number and name. This dashboard now enables the user to dig deeper into the
separate peoples in charge. If any further filtering options are needed, the user can apply more
specific filters and create a very specific view. Generally, this can be used to get an idea about
an employee’s general performance and in case of concerning numbers have a look at which
individual problems needed to be worked on.

39
Structure and Functions of the Dashboards (Constantin Rappert)

5.6 Demand per Month

Figure 5-10: Demand per month (own representation)

Figure 5-11: Demand per month+5 (own representation)

The final six dashboards all focus on the demand seen for a timespan. Hereby they reach from
the current month (figure 5-10) up to the current month plus the next five (figure 5-11). This will
give the user the ability to plan ahead and have an insight about the stock levels for up to five
months into the future. The structure includes a map of the products countries of origin, a list
with the material texts and numbers, a field for navigating between the different months and a
stock level indicator which changes according to the chosen timespan. For the navigation six
buttons have been created, which are placed in the top right corner of every dashboard. A click
on the according field will bring the user to the dashboard he wishes. The spacing here is 30
pixels to the other visuals and 15 pixels between the buttons.

By realizing the stock level indicator, a small challenge has come up. This means that it was
difficult to implement the excel data as is, because the demand for the material in each month

40
Structure and Functions of the Dashboards (Constantin Rappert)

wasn’t accumulated, but just the raw number of the parts being approximately used each
month. To fix this issue, quick measures were created, which represent the sum of all values.
This is being done by summing up the required “Verbrauchsmengen”. In the case of the last
forecastable month, this means that all values need to be summed up one by one figure (figure
5-12). In the case of earlier months, it’s the same function, but it just stops after an earlier
month.

Figure 5-12: Code for amount "Monat+5" (own representation)

To colour the visual in the according colour, depending on whether there are enough parts or
not, another five quick measures needed to be created. The focus with these is now to take
the earlier calculated demand number and compare it to the current stock. To do this, the
current stock level needs to be subtracted from the earlier calculated sum. In the case of the
sixth month (figure 5-13) this means that again all values need to be added and afterwards the
stock level is being subtracted.

Figure 5-13: Code for "Colour_Bedarf+5" (own representation)

For all other months the sum will end after the last month wanted. The values of this function
will now be assigned to the colour of “Bestand akt” and negative values will make it appear in
green whereas positive values will make it show red.

41
Discussion & Outlook (Akbike Nugumanova)

6 Discussion & Outlook (Akbike Nugumanova)

The goal of the project was to create a digital monitoring program reflecting the current
inventory dynamics and predicting its future developments. The designed application is
intended to replace the current practice of manually combining and analysing data from
different systems, such as SAP and Excel. So, the program must independently analyse the
combined data and provide a summary of the inventory stock levels and their prognosed
fluctuations, which is crucial for early issue detection and overall effective stock management.
The specifications for the program were curated in collaboration with the supervisor and
composed in the List of Requirements.

After researching the topics of inventory monitoring and the use of Business Intelligence tools,
the Power BI was chosen as an optimal working environment. It allows to easily connect data
from different sources and choose from a variety of customisable visuals for an interactive
interface.

6.1 Evaluation

The realisation of the program must be evaluated against the initially determined project goals.
The designed application visualises the current and future inventory levels, which covers the
scope of the research question. For a more detailed evaluation, the final product can be
compared to the List of Requirements which covers the general specifications as well as the
demands for graphic and descriptive contents. The List of Requirements is composed of both
mandatory and optional conditions which were proposed by either the supervisor or the team
members. The optional specifications are extra features meant to enhance the overall
performance of the program; however, they are not the indicator of a successful concept
realisation.

The inventory monitoring program successfully utilizes the data sets from SAP and Excel
systems to provide daily updates on the inventory stock levels. Rather than using the monetary
value of the inventory, the dashboards provide a quantitative overview of the stocks; and this
diminishes the impact of supplier price fluctuations on the value of the warehouse contents.

All the data imported from other environments is incorporated into the program and available
to users in a neat form. Depending on the available information, goods stored in the warehouse
are accompanied by a description and product code, sorted into product groups and storage

42
Discussion & Outlook (Akbike Nugumanova)

unit types. Separate dashboards are available for dispatchers (with dispatcher codes) and
suppliers (with supplier codes and country of origin).

The filtering feature of the application allows users to focus on smaller groups of goods or
check on concerning stock levels. It is possible to sort and filter data by product code, material
group, or country of origin.

One of the key goals for the application is forecasting a stock level for five months henceforth.
This is especially important for goods procured from foreign suppliers with a lead time of up to
three months. The composed dashboard offers a view of predicted stock levels from one to
five months forward. Additionally, the monitoring software calculates the lasting capability of
the stock in days. Users can see the entrance date, current stock level, target stock level, and
a predicted utilization of goods for the period of up to five months.

The safety stock is an excess inventory carried in the warehouse to prevent the shortage of
goods required for production. It serves as a safety net to ensure that the stocks do not run out
before the scheduled delivery, and the production process would proceed as planned. Target
stock level refers to the desired amount of inventory in the warehouse. The created dashboards
do not only display current and predicted stock levels but provide a visual reference to the
target stock levels in a form of colour-coded scales. This user-friendly feature allows to easily
identify potential inventory management issues and quickly act.

One of the add-on features is the easy identification of unutilized parts stored in the warehouse.
Outdated parts are easily overlooked during a manual analysis of data sets and can occupy a
limited space of the warehouse. One of the dashboards provides a list of inventories that are
not engaged in the production schedule and remain at the facility for an extended period. This
function does not determine the usefulness of listed parts but rather draws attention to the
potentially outdated and expandable parts which in turn encourages actions from the
management.

The only unrealized specification on the List of Requirements is an uphold of a dynamic stock
circulation. It would be beneficial to utilize products from the warehouse according to the FIFO
procedure, reducing the time individual parts spend in storage. Unfortunately, this feature has
not been incorporated into the final application.

43
Discussion & Outlook (Akbike Nugumanova)

The overall performance of the designed monitoring program fulfils the established project
goals and incorporates every predetermined requirement except one. However, the neglected
specification is optional and does not reflect on the realisation of the concept.

Additionally, the inventory monitoring program must be evaluated on whether it is eligible to be

implemented in the existing warehouse management framework. In this case, the comparison
is drawn against the system in place rather than curated List of Requirements.

Currently, the data is pulled manually from different systems to be analysed depending on the
intended purpose. Since only a limited amount of data can be manually processed at once,
this method encourages to focus on a smaller group of products and not the bigger picture.
The forecasting of stock levels is also done manually which leaves room for error. Overall, this
system is time and energy consuming and leads to accidental errors and oversight.

On the other hand, the inventory monitoring system independently analyses large sets of data
and presents concise and visual feedback on it. The data sets from SAP and Excel systems
must be manually imported into the program, but other than that the dashboards are compiled
without the user input. The interface is designed to be user-friendly, and additional features
contribute to the convenience of the program (such as filters, a list of outdated parts, a
reference to target stock levels). The dashboards are intuitive to use, and colour-coded visual
feedback allows a quicker understanding of the data. The filter options allow to review more
product groups at a shorter time and identify areas of concern five months in advance.

The designed Business Intelligence tool offers an effective and concise solution to the
problems of the existing system and covers all main functions of the inventory monitoring
system. Potentially unaccounted tasks will have to be carried manually or added to the existing
dashboards in future developments.

6.2 Further Improvements

Even though the created Business Intelligence tool achieves all project goals, there is room
for its further development out of the scope of this concept. The program is intended to aid in
the warehouse management at the facility and could include more elaborate features for more
optimal use of available resources.

Firstly, the only unrealized specification for this program – dynamic stock circulation – still holds
potential, and with proper development could be incorporated into dashboards. This would

44
Discussion & Outlook (Akbike Nugumanova)

ensure the use of products according to the FIFO procedure and shorten the time individual
parts spend between different stages of production.

A more ambitious enhancement is concerning the shelving space available in the warehouse.
The storage space at the facility is limited and required to contain different product categories:
incoming goods, semi-finished and finished goods; however, the implementation of a digital
inventory monitoring system could ensure a more optimal use of space. Incorporating the
“space occupancy” characteristics to the dashboards is a time-consuming task but it would
provide a calculated estimate of the warehouse occupancy. Also, it could be used as a point
of reference for a more favourable delivery schedule. However, the process is complicated by
the required appraisal of available storage space and consideration of storage unit types.

The scope of required developments would be determined by the operational use of the
program.

45
Bibliography

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banklexikon.de/definition/monitoringsysteme-70639 [19.01.2022]

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vs Domo - KDnuggets. [online] KDnuggets. Available at:
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Herrmann, Frank (2011): Operative Planung in IT-Systemen für die Produktionsplanung und
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Imhof, Kurt and Mark Eisenegger (2001): Issue Monitoring: Die Basis des Issues
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48
AppendixBibliography

8 Appendix

Screenshots

Figure 8-1: Background (BSH Stories, 2022)

Figure 8-2: Menu button (own representation)

Figure 8-3: Menu segment (own representation)

49
AppendixBibliography

Figure 8-4: Delete filters button (own representation)

Figure 8-5: Values for "Bestand akt" (own representation)

Figure 8-6: Data colours "Bestand" (own representation)

50
AppendixBibliography

Figure 8-7: Values for "Reichweite akt" (own representation)

Figure 8-8: Data colours "Reichweite" (own representation)

51
AppendixBibliography

Figure 8-9: Values for the map (own representation)

52
AffidavitAppendixBibliography

9 Affidavit

I hereby declare in my word of honour

• that I prepared this final thesis independently and without any outside help.
• that I used no sources or resources other than those indicated.
• that I marked any verbatim quotes and paraphrased text by other authors within the
work where they appear.
• that I did not submit it elsewhere for examination purposes.

I am fully aware that a false declaration will have legal consequences.

Ich erkläre hiermit ehrenwörtlich,

• diese Master-/Bachelor-/Seminararbeit selbstständig und ohne fremde Hilfe angefertigt,

• keine anderen als die angegebenen Quellen und Hilfsmittel benutzt,
• die Übernahme wörtlicher und sinngemäßer Zitate aus der Literatur an den
entsprechenden Stellen innerhalb der Arbeit gekennzeichnet,
• die Arbeit mit gleichem Inhalt bzw. in wesentlichen Teilen noch nicht anderweitig für
Prüfungszwecke vorgelegt zu haben.

Ich bin mir bewusst, dass eine falsche Erklärung rechtliche Folgen haben wird.

19.01.2022
Ort, Datum Unterschrift

The English text in this document only serves the purpose of providing
information
on the contents of the corresponding German text.
Only the German version of this affidavit is legally binding.

53
AffidavitAppendixBibliography

I hereby declare in my word of honour

• that I prepared this final thesis independently and without any outside help.
• that I used no sources or resources other than those indicated.
• that I marked any verbatim quotes and paraphrased text by other authors within the
work where they appear.
• that I did not submit it elsewhere for examination purposes.

I am fully aware that a false declaration will have legal consequences.

Ich erkläre hiermit ehrenwörtlich,

• diese Master-/Bachelor-/Seminararbeit selbstständig und ohne fremde Hilfe angefertigt,

• keine anderen als die angegebenen Quellen und Hilfsmittel benutzt,
• die Übernahme wörtlicher und sinngemäßer Zitate aus der Literatur an den
entsprechenden Stellen innerhalb der Arbeit gekennzeichnet,
• die Arbeit mit gleichem Inhalt bzw. in wesentlichen Teilen noch nicht anderweitig für
Prüfungszwecke vorgelegt zu haben.

Ich bin mir bewusst, dass eine falsche Erklärung rechtliche Folgen haben wird.

Rottendorf, 27.01.2022
Ort, Datum Unterschrift

The English text in this document only serves the purpose of providing
information
on the contents of the corresponding German text.
Only the German version of this affidavit is legally binding.

54
AffidavitAppendixBibliography

I hereby declare in my word of honour

• that I prepared this final thesis independently and without any outside help.
• that I used no sources or resources other than those indicated.
• that I marked any verbatim quotes and paraphrased text by other authors within the
work where they appear.
• that I did not submit it elsewhere for examination purposes.

I am fully aware that a false declaration will have legal consequences.

Ich erkläre hiermit ehrenwörtlich,

• diese Master-/Bachelor-/Seminararbeit selbstständig und ohne fremde Hilfe angefertigt,

• keine anderen als die angegebenen Quellen und Hilfsmittel benutzt,
• die Übernahme wörtlicher und sinngemäßer Zitate aus der Literatur an den
entsprechenden Stellen innerhalb der Arbeit gekennzeichnet,
• die Arbeit mit gleichem Inhalt bzw. in wesentlichen Teilen noch nicht anderweitig für
Prüfungszwecke vorgelegt zu haben.

Ich bin mir bewusst, dass eine falsche Erklärung rechtliche Folgen haben wird.

Schweinfurt, 01.02.2022
Ort, Datum Unterschrift

The English text in this document only serves the purpose of providing
information
on the contents of the corresponding German text.
Only the German version of this affidavit is legally binding.

55
AffidavitAppendixBibliography

I hereby declare in my word of honour

• that I prepared this final thesis independently and without any outside help.
• that I used no sources or resources other than those indicated.
• that I marked any verbatim quotes and paraphrased text by other authors within the
work where they appear.
• that I did not submit it elsewhere for examination purposes.

I am fully aware that a false declaration will have legal consequences.

Ich erkläre hiermit ehrenwörtlich,

• diese Master-/Bachelor-/Seminararbeit selbstständig und ohne fremde Hilfe angefertigt,

• keine anderen als die angegebenen Quellen und Hilfsmittel benutzt,
• die Übernahme wörtlicher und sinngemäßer Zitate aus der Literatur an den
entsprechenden Stellen innerhalb der Arbeit gekennzeichnet,
• die Arbeit mit gleichem Inhalt bzw. in wesentlichen Teilen noch nicht anderweitig für
Prüfungszwecke vorgelegt zu haben.

Ich bin mir bewusst, dass eine falsche Erklärung rechtliche Folgen haben wird.

Gerolzhofen, 04.02.2022
Ort, Datum Unterschrift

The English text in this document only serves the purpose of providing
information
on the contents of the corresponding German text.
Only the German version of this affidavit is legally binding.

56
AffidavitAppendixBibliography

I hereby declare in my word of honour

• that I prepared this final thesis independently and without any outside help.
• that I used no sources or resources other than those indicated.
• that I marked any verbatim quotes and paraphrased text by other authors within the
work where they appear.
• that I did not submit it elsewhere for examination purposes.

I am fully aware that a false declaration will have legal consequences.

Ich erkläre hiermit ehrenwörtlich,

• diese Master-/Bachelor-/Seminararbeit selbstständig und ohne fremde Hilfe angefertigt,

• keine anderen als die angegebenen Quellen und Hilfsmittel benutzt,
• die Übernahme wörtlicher und sinngemäßer Zitate aus der Literatur an den
entsprechenden Stellen innerhalb der Arbeit gekennzeichnet,
• die Arbeit mit gleichem Inhalt bzw. in wesentlichen Teilen noch nicht anderweitig für
Prüfungszwecke vorgelegt zu haben.

Ich bin mir bewusst, dass eine falsche Erklärung rechtliche Folgen haben wird.

Grafenrheinfeld, 04.02.2022
Ort, Datum Unterschrift

The English text in this document only serves the purpose of providing
information
on the contents of the corresponding German text.
Only the German version of this affidavit is legally binding.

57