Introduction to Demantra solutions and

tools
Module Goals
 Get an idea of what is common across our
implementations
 Get an idea of what a Demantra solution looks like
 Be introduced to Demantra vocabulary
 Be introduced to each implementation tool

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Basic commonalities, at 30,000 feet
 Understanding demand and using that to improve business processes
 Our customers: mostly manufacturers & distributors (rather than
retailers)
 Input:
– order data (from mfgr to retailer)
– POS data (retailer point of sale data)
– Syndicated (e.g., Nielsen) data
– Etc.
 Analytical Engine has two modes:
– DP: basic demand planning
– PE: forecasting with decomposition
 Possible outputs:
– Forecast that allows our customer to have just enough inventory
– Better sales promotions (in the case of PE)
– Etc.

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 Demantra Spectrum,
from the user’s point of view

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URLs for the users
 Collaborator Workbench:
– http://frodo/demantra/portal/loginpage.jsp
– Can launch worksheets from here
– Also for various collaborative tasks

 Web client:
– http://frodo/demantra/portal/partnerLogin.jsp
– Use to open worksheets directly

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User logs into Collaborator

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User clicks a worksheet,
launching it in a new window

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This is the Web client

 You can log into this

directly instead of
doing so via
Collaborator
 All Demantra (Web-based)
products and
applications include
the Web client
 There is one login for
the Web client, with
different features
depending on the
user’s license

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So what is a worksheet?

 A custom or semi-custom working environment

designed for the users’ specific business needs
 Here, users view and edit data. This includes:
– Viewing and adjusting the forecast
– Adding notes and attachments
– (For PE & TPMO) Creating sales promotions and running
simulations

 Except for TPMO and DSM, we do not have canned

worksheets

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Levels
 Territory and Retailer
are levels
 T1-World Brands Comb
is a member of the
Territory level
 Albertsons, Safeway,
and Winn-Dixie are
members of the
Retailer level
 A worksheet
aggregates and groups
according to these
levels
 As implementors, you
create the levels you
need
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Levels, another view

 This tree control is an alternative to the dropdown list on the

previous slide
 T1, T2, and T3 are members of the Territory level

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Series
 Plan $, Sales Quota, $
Sales Proj, and so on
are series
 Series contain data
 Each series can be
displayed a column in a
worksheet table
(and/or graphed)
 As implementors, you
create the series you
need

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Summary lines
 Summary lines
summarize data for
each series, within
context of worksheet
 Depending on
worksheet layout, a
table can contain
multiple summary lines
(e.g., subtotals of
various kinds)
 The definition of a
series describes how to
summarize it; not
always a sum

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Methods
 The user right-clicks a
member
 This displays a menu
 Everything on this
menu is a method
 Some of these are
predefined methods
that are available
automatically whenever
you create a level
 Others are custom,
created by you

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The forecast (partial example)

 Generated automatically, once weekly or once

monthly (typically)
 Details depend on which engine is used (DP or PE)
 Details also depend on what series you create and
how you set them up

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Simulation

 Useful if user has changed something that would affect the

forecast and user does not want to wait for next complete
engine run
 Simulation details are written to series, which is how the user
sees them

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Back to Collaborator…

 These are content panes

 They use levels and series
 Content panes are
simplified summary
versions of Demantra
worksheets
 As implementors, you
create the content panes

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Members Browser content pane

 This kind of content pane does not display series,

just an organization of data
 Provides the same right-click menu

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My Tasks

 My Tasks lists any tasks sent to this user

 Tasks are created automatically as needed by workflows
 Workflows are created by you, the implementors
– They may or may not involve user interaction like this
 Each user can control whether or not to display My Tasks

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Who’s Online

 Who’s Online shows the online/offline status of other users in

the same collaboration groups
 Each user can control whether or not to display Who’s Online

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A Look at Your Toolkit

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Worksheet/content pane editor

 In the Web client, this is available via the Worksheet menu

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Worksheet/content pane editor

 In
Collaborator,
this is
available via
the Edit button
in any content
pane

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Worksheet/content pane editor

 Allows you to
select series,
levels, and
other
elements that
already exist
in the
database
 You do not
define any of
those
elements here

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Business Modeler

 Desktop executable
 Not accessible to most end users
 Defines almost all things in a solution:
– Levels, series, other things used in worksheets
– Methods
– Engine configuration (forecast tree, parameter settings, causal factors)
– Integration
– User logins

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Workflow

 Web-based
 Not accessible to most end users
 Used to define and run workflows

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Engine Administrator

 Desktop executable
 Not accessible to most end users
 Used to run the Analytical Engine
 Also controls technical settings (for example,
which servers to run the engine processes on)

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Deprecated tools to ignore
 The BLE shortcut starts the
desktop BLE user interface, which
you do not ever need to use
– You might use the engine, but you
should call it via a workflow step instead
of using this UI
 The Scheduler shortcut starts a
desktop tool that you can use the
schedule database procedures.
– You should execute procedures from
within a workflow instead.
 For now, let’s not talk about what
the Business Logic Engine does or
why you want to run database
procedures

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The other shortcuts
 These shortcuts are created
only if you install Tomcat
 They start and stop Tomcat,
which acts as a web server
for a demo situation

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The other shortcuts
 These two shortcuts start the
engine in batch mode or in
simulation mode,
respectively (bypassing the
Engine Administrator user
interface)

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The other shortcuts
 Demand Planner is the
formal name of the old
desktop equivalent of our
Web client
 Hasn’t been extended in a
couple of years and does not
support many new elements
(such as promotions)

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The other shortcuts
 Demantra Anywhere is a thin
(pure-HTML) Web client
 Does many, but not all, of
the same things as
Collaborator and the full
Web client

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Other tools: adminLogin.jsp
 No shortcut for this one
 Uses
– Define menus in Collaborator
Workbench

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Other tools: adminLogin.jsp
 Uses
– Define menus in Collaborator
Workbench
– Control permissions for menu items
in the Web client

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Other tools: adminLogin.jsp
 Uses
– Define menus in Collaborator
Workbench
– Control permissions for menu items
in the Web client
– Define basic options and initial
layout of Collaborator Workbench
for all users

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Other tools: userManagement.jsp
 No shortcut for this
one
 Use
– End a hung user session
– Use this only when you have
problems via remote login
– Does not actually force a
logout; just clears system so
user can log in again!

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Other tools: new admin tools
 No shortcut for this one
 No login screen
 No documentation yet

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Other parts of an implementation
 Workflows
– Perform automated tasks in general
– Used as the basis of most custom methods
 Integration interfaces
– Defined within the Business Modeler
– Generally executed from within a workflow
 Database procedures and triggers
– Procedures can be called from workflows
– Needed if it is necessary to synchronize data between multiple tables
– Can clean up data on import
– Can perform custom processing before main body of a workflow
 Java classes
– Mainly used to define methods, if you need something truly custom
 Shell scripts and other external executables
– Can be called from workflows

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