Item Planning: A Real-Time Solution with Real Value for the Enterprise

What's the best way to plan and forecast sales, inventory and profit requirements across multiple levels of category, channel, event and time? With Manhattan Associates' integrated solutions, you plan the way you want—top-down or bottom-up—using simulation capabilities to make the right decisions for optimum results.

Manhattan Associates' Item Planning lets you build bottom-up plans by item for assortments, key items, by vendor, class or item attribute. You can group and reconcile plans with top-down goals in real time. And you can do this without relying on administrative or IT support.

Top-Down or Bottom-Up?

With integrated planning solutions from Manhattan Associates, you can choose the approach that best fits the current circumstances. Or you can use "what-if" planning, trying both top-down and bottom-up scenarios, to weigh different strategies and hone in on the best, most valid plan.

Item Planning is designed for multi-channel operations and is easy to use with corporate and personal plan worksheets. It also provides real-time data and graph displays and delivers these benefits:

  • Gain enterprise-wide visibility to product information. You can plan and forecast sales and inventory requirements across multiple levels of the product hierarchy, all the way down to the SKU level.
  • Maximize productivity. The solution is easy to use with fast response times. Your staff will be able to concentrate on planning and analysis instead of data gathering, entry, grouping and reconciling.
  • Get rapid results. Group, seed and reconcile plans dynamically for maximum, unconstrained planning flexibility.
  • Increase sales and margins. Now you have the means to react quickly to changing customer needs and can ensure you have the right product, at the right price, in the right locations at the right time.

Explore the Planning and Forecasting process - click the diagram below for an interactive approach to understanding Manhattan's solution.

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  • Multi Channel Planning Whitepaper Why You Can't Treat a Catalog Like a Store.
  • Planning and Forecasting - Solution Brochure Predictive and scientific solutions to optimize business across all channels
  • Staples Moves to the Head of the Class with Multi-Channel Planning. Due to its rapid growth, Staples launched an ambitious IT initiative and selected Manhattan Associates' Advanced Planning to provide a single, integrated solution to serve multiple business units and sales channels. Since implementation, Staples has achieved "one version of the truth" in its planning processes by eliminating hundreds of individual spreadsheets and diminishing ad hoc decision-support systems. With increased efficiencies, the company has freed up an additional half day per week for forecast analysis. It has shortened in-season re-forecasting cycles from one month to one week. And inventory turns have also jumped 25 basis points on Staples' supply chain scorecard.

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Contact Information: To learn more about Manhattan Associates' supply chain solutions, simply complete the information request form, and we will contact you. For North & South America, call +1 877.596.9208 or e-mail info_americas@manh.com. For global inquiries, call +44 (0)1344 318000 or e-mail info_global@manh.com.