Online Extras: March 2003

Scan-Based Trading Still A Work In Progress
Scan-based trading (SBT) is not so much about coordinating data as it is about shifting financial risk from seller to supplier. Does this mean that retailers now can force manufacturers to bear the cost of cards until you pay for them?

Calculating Costs: Switching to Scan-Based Trading
Margins are thinning, and competition growing. The supply chain is one place to start cutting costs. Use Baseline‘s Microsoft Project 2000 download and get snipping.

Scan-Based Trading Services: viaLink
The Texas-based bar-coding specialist is expanding its customer base and increasing its market presence. Is it because it’s the only game in town?

In 2001, AMR Research’s Pete Abell composed this document detailing the most critical aspects of the item-synchronization process. Two years later, many of his most important graphics still apply.

In additon, we’ve secured a sextet of White Papers from viaLink, representing a wide range of Scan-Based Trading issues:

• A straightforward description of the data-synchronization process, available here as either a three-page PDF or as a Microsoft Word document.
• “Visibility for Control and Collaboration” diagrams the trifecta of accountability, data acuracy, and supply-chain efficiency.
• “viaLink, a Business Process Network” describes the interoperability of the various viaLink modules (sbtLink, syncLink,etc.).
• For a look at the ever-changing nature of the product-data catalog, check out “Catalog is a Noun, Synchronize is a Verb”.
• “Scan-Based Trading and Its Imitators” briefly compares SBT and two of its alternatives: Consignment Selling and Pay-by-Scan.
• Looking beyond the present-tense retail experience, “Optimizing CPFR with Synchronized Data” expands the capabilites of SBT technology to inventory management and Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR).

This month, Baseline looks at the field for Real-Time Data Analytics—or at least the field that claims to be out there.

The consultancy Hired Brains prepared a PowerPoint presentation (available here as a 52-page PDF) on Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) and the analytical processing requirements of any such system. The firm’s president, Neil Raden, has agreed to let us include it here for you. The presentation draws clear distinctions between Business Intellignece and BAM, and maps out some sample architectures of each.

This 22-page White Paper, composed by the independent consulting firm of Mimno, Myers & Holum (on behalf of data specialist Informatica), is entitled “Successful Real-Time Business Analytics: A Data Warehousing Strategy.” As with the Hired Brains presentation, various architectures are addressed, as are the data warehousing requirements of a real-time plan. (Several Informatica-specific proposals are also included.)

Be sure to peruse our Dossiers on PeopleSoft, Business Objects, and Informatica—all of which claim to be offering customers access to the real-time enterprise.

Costs and Savings of Provisioning
Click here for a tool that looks at some of the savings that can be gained by setting up provisioning software and policies to manage user-profiles and access.

How Much Is Richness Worth?
Web apps can lower costs, but corporate software rarely translates well into the world of browsers. Rich clients should change that. Use our Calculator to see how much you could save by moving to such an interface.