For better or worse, customers have come to expect short lead times. Responding to those expectations has become more complex from a supply chain perspective: product availability has become less predictable, which lowers forecast accuracy; parts have long lead times; and there’s pressure to maintain leaner inventories to reduce holding costs. Is it possible to have high customer service levels while not holding too much inventory? With Demand Driven Material Requirements Planning (DDMRP), it is.

What is Demand Driven Material Requirements Planning?

DDMRP is a formal method for modeling, planning, and managing supply chains. It has been proven to improve performance in these volatile, complex, and ambiguous environments, where cumulative lead times are longer than your customers’ tolerance. It’s based on maintaining a stock buffer at strategic decoupling points, absorbing variability to avoid the bullwhip effect.

DDMRP methodology consists of five sequential components:

1. Strategic inventory positioning: Determine decoupling points where stock buffers can be placed.

2. Buffer profiles and levels: Determine the amount of protection (“shock absorption”) at the decoupling points that’s needed to mitigate variability in both directions. Historical and forecasted usage rates and DDMRP part settings are used to create unique, three-zone, color-coded buffers.

3. Dynamic adjustments: After the initial buffer sizes are determined, allow the level of protection to flex up or down based on factors such as operating parameters, market changes, and known or planned future events.

4. Demand-driven planning: Generate supply orders (purchase orders, manufacturing orders, and stock transfer orders) from qualified (as opposed to planned) sales orders within a short planning horizon. The equation On-Hand + Open Supply Qualified Sales Order Demand determines each day’s net flow position. If the net flow position is below the top of the yellow zone, a supply order is generated for the amount needed to reach the top of the green zone.

5. Visible and collaborative execution: Manage open supply orders using intuitive, easily interpreted signals on open supply priorities against the on-hand buffer position. The lower the on-hand level, the higher the risk to maintaining flow and the higher the execution priority. That is, priority is assigned by buffer status, not due date. It’s easy to get an overview of the state of the buffers.

Benefits of Demand Driven Material Requirements Planning

DDMRP has proven benefits across many industries:

Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is DDMRP-compliant

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is DDMRP-compliant according to the Demand Driven Institute, the leading authority on demand-driven methodologies. To be compliant, software must meet five compliance criteria. By compliant, we mean that Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management follows the methodology according to the DDMRP industry standards as indicated by the Demand Driven Institute.

How to get started with DDMRP

DDMRP is a new concept for many companies. We suggest you start with a small pilot or simulation involving a subset of items to determine if DDMRP would be valuable for your organization. It’s simple to set up. Just enable Priority Driven MRP support for Planning Optimization and DDMRP for Planning Optimization in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management.

Next steps

• Find more information about DDMRP, including articles, videos, and other educational material, at the Demand Driven Institute’s DDMRP page.
• Watch our tech talk, Demand Driven Material Requirements Planning in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management.
• Read our blog post, Strike a strategic inventory balance in your supply chain with demand driven material requirements planning (DDMRP) .
• Read about DDMRP in the Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management documentation.

Sources

Demand Driven Institute. What is DDMRP?

The post Use Demand Driven Material Requirements Planning to increase service and decrease lead time appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

We are honored to announce that Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights was named a Market Champion in the KuppingerCole Analysts Leadership Compass, Customer Data Platforms.

The Leadership Compass report speaks to how a customer data platform (CDP) can help organizations address the challengessiloed data, personalization, multichannel orchestration among themthat they may face when seeking to improve their customer experience. Microsoft’s customers are overcoming these challenges with Dynamics 365 Customer Insights, a recognized product-leading, innovation-leading, and market-leading CDP with comprehensive, powerful capabilities.

One Microsoft customer that is committed to a data-centric approach to its customer experience initiatives is Valencia Club de Ftbol (CF). The club is taking charge of its customer data with Dynamics 365 Customer Insights and using the CDP to help its entire organization usher in a data-driven mindset. As a result, the club is creating more meaningful and personalized fan engagement. As explained by Franco Segarra, Head of Innovation for Valencia CF, “Becoming data-driven helps everyone get more out of their job.”

Three areas of recognized leadership

Microsoft customers like Valencia CF are powering hyper-personalized, delightful customer experiences at scale by embracing the need to have a deep understanding of their customers. They are driving meaningful actions with confidence as a result of recognized leadership of Dynamics 365 Customer Insights in three areas.

1. Product leadership

The functional strengths and complete services of the Microsoft CDP empower you to get the most complete view of your customers by unifying all your customer data with ease. Best-of-breed technologies such as Microsoft Azure Data Lake and Cosmos DB power this innovation at massive scale. Customers can store many hundreds of millions of profiles within a single environment, making the CDP an exceptional powerhouse for end-to-end enterprise marketing stacks.

2. Product innovation

Microsoft customers benefit from ongoing, customer-oriented innovation that helps them meet their evolving and emerging business requirements. We are focused on differentiation and solving customer pain points with both customer-requested enhancements and cutting-edge features. We are also supporting our customers in expanding and accelerating their discovery of insights with out-of-box machine learning templates, as well as support for custom AI/ML models with Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics. Microsoft customers are benefiting from a limitless analytics solution that significantly reduces their project development time while delivering breakthrough price performance.

3. Market leadership

Microsoft and our extensive ecosystem of more than 7,500 worldwide partners (2022) help customers solve important challenges. Our partners include ISVs building solutions on top of or connecting their solutions to Dynamics 365 and systems integrators providing customizations and integrations for customers’ unique environments. Together, we’re helping customers across industries and around the world grow their businesses by taking full control of their customer data.

We’re delighted to share the news of this recognition of Microsoft as a Market Champion. We agree with KuppingerCole’s assessment that the [Microsoft] “roadmap is ambitious, and the product vision is clear, and are closely linked to overarching activities in the Microsoft ecosystem.” In this unprecedented time of radically shifting consumer behaviors, delivering quality, highly tailored customer experiences is a path to competitive differentiation that can help lead to customer loyalty. Customer Insights is your key to engaging your customers like your business depends on it.

Learn more

To learn more about how Microsoft compared to the other technology providers included in this Leadership Compass, please access the KuppingerCole Leadership Compass, Customer Data Platforms for a complimentary copy of the report.

The post Microsoft is a Market Champion in the KuppingerCole Analysts Leadership Compass, Customer Data Platforms appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.

Microsoft Ignite returns live next weeka digital and in-person event in Seattle, Washington on Wednesday, October 12, and Thursday, October 13. Register today for two content-packed days where you’ll explore the future of Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform and join other technologists in immersive learning experiences, product demos, breakout sessions, and expert meet-ups.

This year, the Dynamics 365 and Power Platform teams will showcase new and upcoming capabilities as well as demonstrate how your organization can make the most of AI and automation to streamline business processes, enhance collaboration, and improve customer and employee experiences.

Register now for the in-person or digital event. The free digital event will be the foundation of Microsoft Ignite this year, offering hours of sessions and interactive learning, Q&As with experts, live discussions, roundtables, and much more, all streaming live and on-demand, at no cost.  

Dynamics 365 at Microsoft Ignite: Essential sessions and activities

To help you plan your experience from the variety of sessions and activities, we’ve compiled some essential presentations, sessions, and viewing tips. Click the linked titles to learn more and add each event to your session scheduler.

Ignite opening keynote

Wednesday, October 12 | 9:00 AM9:50 AM Pacific Time

Join the opening keynote, hosted by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, for an overview of innovations that will shape the future of business.

Core Theme Session

Wednesday, October 12 | 11:00 AM11:30 AM Pacific Time
Deliver efficiency with automation and AI across your business

Learn how organizations across industries are applying AI, automation, and mixed reality to streamline business processes, enhance collaboration, and improve customer and employee experiences. You’ll get a first-hand look at how products like Microsoft Viva Sales, Microsoft Digital Contact Center Platform, and Microsoft Power Platform rapidly enable AI and automation with modern capabilities.

Into Focus

Wednesday, October 12 | 3:00 PM3:40 PM Pacific Time
Business Applications Into Focus: Biz Apps 2022 Release Wave 2 Launch

Don’t miss this first look at the new Dynamics 365 and Power Platform innovations coming to market. We’ll debut new technologies not previously announced, as well as give you a first look at innovations in release wave 2features that are planned for release between October 2022 and March 2023. We’ll also spotlight organizations that will use these new technologies to drive better operational outcomes and customer success.

Dynamics 365 breakout sessions

After the keynote, learn what’s new and on the horizon for Dynamics 365 in these featured sessions:

Wednesday, October 12 | 11:05 AM11:30 AM Pacific Time
Re-energize your workforce in the office, at home, and everywhere in between

In today’s shifting macroeconomic climate, technology can help organizations in every industry overcome challenges and emerge stronger. From enabling hybrid work to bringing business processes into the flow of work, learn how Microsoft 365 helps organizations deliver on their digital imperative, so they can “do more with less.”

Wednesday, October 12 | 2:00 PM2:30 PM Pacific Time
Jumpstart your physical operations transformation with technologies built for the industrial metaverse

Explore what the industrial metaverse means today and where the technology is headed. From autonomous automation to connected field service and mixed reality to digitization of connected environments, we’ll showcase a maturity model that you can use to guide your implementation over time while solving business challenges each step of the way. We’ll also share how innovative customers are using this technology now to secure a competitive edge and build for the future.

Wednesday, October 12 | 12:00 PM12:40 PM Pacific Time
Microsoft Viva: Latest innovations and roadmap for the new digital employee experience

Hybrid work presents new challenges for engaging, motivating, and growing a workforce. IT leaders and human resources (HR) leaders have an opportunity to partner on a more advanced digital experience to support various ways of working. We’ll explore how Viva puts people at the center, connecting them to company information, communications, workplace insights, knowledge, and learning. Product leadership will share the latest innovations from Viva to prepare your organization for the new digital employee experience, today. 

Wednesday, October 12 | 12:00 PM12:35 PM Pacific Time
Unlock new customer experiences with NLP at scale

Organizations around the world use Microsoft’s natural language processing (NLP) capabilities to simplify tasks and support human connection, from helping employees better understand customer needs to helping customers find information more quickly. Learn why technology leaders are doubling down on NLP, and get a deeper understanding of NLP capabilities available across Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services that can help transform customer and employee engagement at scale.

Wednesday, October 12 | 2:00 PM2:30 PM Pacific Time
Create rich connections and customer experiences with Microsoft Teams Phone and contact center capabilities

Staying connected with colleagues, partners, and customers is more important than ever. Join us to learn how Teams Phone and contact center capabilities for Teams can create richer communications while helping organizations turn customer service into a team sport. We’ll share the latest updates on our mobility innovation and discuss how organizations are using Teams Phone enterprise-grade calling.

Attend live or watch on-demand

In addition to the live streams above, each segment will be rebroadcasted throughout the event. The key segments are open to everyone, but we encourage you to register in advance to unlock the full Microsoft Ignite experiencefrom digital breakout sessions with live Q&As to conversations with Microsoft experts and your global community.

More to explore

Microsoft Ignite will include live segments and Q&As, available across time zones. Check out all of the events and activities hosted by our team of experts:

• Ask the Experts: An opportunity to ask questions at sessions with experts in cloud, desktop, mobile, and web development for specific guidance on your project or interests. 
• Table Topics: A live discussion with the community on camera and in chat. Get inspired by community experts,learn best practices, and share helpful resources with other attendees. 
• Local Connections: An opportunity to engage with attendees local to you, no matter where you are in the world. Dedicated time to help find developers, Microsoft experts, and partners with similar interests in your area. 
• Learn Live: Guided online content with subject matter experts to direct you through Microsoft Learn modules that you can complete on your own at any time. 
• Product Roundtables: Two-way discussions direct with Microsoft engineering. 
• Cloud Skills Challenge: A collection of interactive, online learning modules to complete for a chance to earn a free certification exam. 
• One-to-One Consultations: A unique opportunity to connect with an expert during the event to get the technical answers you need. These 45-minute sessions provide the event’s only one-to-one setting.

Get the most of your Microsoft Ignite experience

Be sure to follow Microsoft Ignite on LinkedIn and Twitter to stay up to date and connected with the community, and register for Microsoft Ignite today.

The post Your guide to Dynamics 365 at Microsoft Ignite 2022 appeared first on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Blog.