demand_wfm_integration.pdf

Integration Guide JDA

® Workforce Management

JDA® Demand

Last updated: 15 February 2013

JDA Software Group, Inc.

Legal notice

Rights to the content of this document

Copyright © 2009-2013 JDA Software Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

Reproduction of this document or any portion of it, in any form, without the express written consent of JDA

Software Group, Inc. ("JDA") is prohibited.

These materials are protected by the Copyright Act of 1976, as amended, as an unpublished work and the foregoing

notice and legend shall not be deemed to constitute publication or an intent to publish thereunder. These materials

are proprietary and confidential information of JDA and may be disclosed and used only as authorized in a signed,

written agreement controlling such disclosure or use.

The fact that a particular name or logo does not appear on this notice does not constitute a waiver of any

intellectual property rights that JDA has established in any of its products, feature or service names, or logos.

Modifications to the contents of this document

JDA reserves the right, at any time and without notice, to change these materials or any of the functions, features,

and specifications of any of the software described herein. JDA shall have no warranty obligation with respect to

these materials of the software described herein, except as provided in the JDA software license agreement with an

authorized licensee.

Rights to the functionality of this document

Described functionality may not be available as part of a customer's maintenance agreement or the JDA Investment

Protection Program. New features and products are subject to license fees. JDA warranty and support obligations

apply only to the documentation as delivered by JDA, and are void if the documentation is modified or

supplemented by anyone other than JDA. This document embodies JDA valuable trade secrets, is confidential to

JDA, and must be kept in confidence and returned upon the expiration or termination of your JDA license

agreement. You are not permitted to copy, extract, distribute, transfer, or share the contents of this document with

anyone except authorized individuals within your organization.

Patents

This product may be protected by one or more US patents. Please see the JDA Patents website

(http://jda.com/JDAPatents).

This product may be protected by one or more of the following non-US patents:

Europe Patent No. 0861474 (E) Taiwan Patent No. 161120 Taiwan Patent No. I222584

Europe Patent No. 0861474 (UK) Taiwan Patent No. 161181 Taiwan Patent No. I222585

German Patent No. 10195871 Taiwan Patent No. 161494 Taiwan Patent No. I222586

German Patent No. 69507020.7 Taiwan Patent No. 163816 Taiwan Patent No. I225208











German Patent No. DE10195968 Taiwan Patent No. 384430 Taiwan Patent No. I242952

Taiwan Patent No. 100569 Taiwan Patent No. 425517 Taiwan Patent No. I251760

http://jda.com/JDAPatents















Taiwan Patent No. 146038 Taiwan Patent No. 544599 Taiwan Patent No. M377652

Taiwan Patent No. 154327 Taiwan Patent No. 561424 Taiwan Patent No. NI-158220




Taiwan Patent No. 155708 Taiwan Patent No. I221578 Taiwan Patent No. NI-182787

Taiwan Patent No. 157467 Taiwan Patent No. I221978 Taiwan Patent No. NI-182974

Taiwan Patent No. 159609


Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 1

Who should use this guide .......................................................................................... 1 Integration overview .................................................................................................. 1

Chapter 2. Requirements and conditions ......................................................................... 2

Hardware and software requirements ........................................................................... 2

Chapter 3. Synchronization and Data Import ................................................................... 3

Chapter 4. Implementation .............................................................................................. 4

Overview .................................................................................................................. 4 Considerations .......................................................................................................... 4 Database integration .................................................................................................. 4

WFMFCSTSTRUCT ............................................................................................. 4 DFUTOWFMFCST ............................................................................................... 6

Chapter 5. WFM - Demand Integration and GUI-based configuration .............................. 7

WFM file-based configuration ....................................................................................... 7 forecast.xml ..................................................................................................... 7 Example .......................................................................................................... 7 <demand> tag attributes and valid settings .......................................................... 8 forecast.properties .......................................................................................... 11

Configure and Enable WFM - Demand Integration in WFM .............................................. 11

Introduction

JDA Workforce Management - JDA Demand Integration Guide 1 © 2009-2013 JDA Software Group, Inc.- Confidential

Chapter 1. Introduction

The integration between JDA Work Force Management (WFM) and JDA Demand is dependent on the ability of the WFM application to write to and read from the Demand database tables. For the

integration to work properly, WFM must have properties configured to allow it to access the Demand

database.

Who should use this guide

This guide is intended for technical staff who are responsible for implementing the integration between JDA Workforce Management and JDA Demand. Before using this guide, you should have a functional

and technical understanding of the WFM and Demand systems.

Integration overview

The primary goal of the integration of JDA Workforce Management and JDA Demand is to allow

customers to use the Demand application's advanced forecasting capabilities to drive staffing requirements in WFM. The basic WFM - Demand integration strategy is:

1. WFM sends Forecast Structure to Demand

2. Demand incorporates the integrated Forecast Structure

3. Demand sends Forecast Values to WFM

4. WFM applies Demand Forecast Values to WFM Forecasts

Requirements and conditions


Chapter 2. Requirements and conditions

Hardware and software requirements

JDA Workforce Management and JDA Demand must be installed and configured.

For the correct hardware and software requirements for JDA Workforce Management, contact your JDA

Services representative.

See the JDA Platform Release notes for the correct hardware and software requirements for Demand.

Synchronization and Data Import


Chapter 3. Synchronization and Data Import

Demand Synchronization and Demand Data Import are the two WFM processes that are used by WFM to implement the WFM - Demand Integration.

Demand Synchronization

This WFM Forecasting process:

Evaluates the WFM Forecasting configuration

Identifies configuration changes that need to be sent to Demand

Sends the required changes to Demand

Stores information about Demand’s view of the forecast configuration in the WFM database in the

FORECAST_DEMAND_LINK table

Demand Synchronization is responsible for implementing the first step of the WFM – Demand integration strategy.

The Demand Synchronization process runs, usually in the background, once the WFM – Demand integration has been enabled. The Synchronization runs under three conditions:

If a user requests a manual synchronization.

Just prior to any Forecast Initialization process.

Periodically, based on configuration.

Demand Data Import

This WFM Forecasting process imports data from the Demand integration table into internal WFM tables. During the import, the data is first validated. To be valid Demand Data, the Demand record

must meet the requirement specified in Database integration, Validation (on page 6) section of this document. Valid data is then applied to existing Forecasts that meet the following criteria:

The Forecast is configured to use the imported data.

The Forecast is in the future and has not started yet.

The Forecast has been initialized but no Working or Submitted version of the forecast exists.

Applying Demand Data to an existing Forecast causes the Forecast to be re-initialized with the Demand Data.

All imported data from Demand is stored in one of two WFM tables:

FORECAST_DEMAND_VALUE: Valid import data is stored in the table for further use (such as Forecast re-initialization or re-forecasting).

FORECAST_DEMAND_UNMAPPED_VALUE: Invalid import data is stored for a configurable amount of time in the table.

The Demand Data Import process runs under three conditions once the WFM – Demand Integration

has been enabled:

A requested manual Data Import

Just prior to any Forecast Initialization process

Periodically based on configuration

Implementation


Chapter 4. Implementation

Overview

The Demand-Workforce Management integration goes through four processes. These processes are summarized as follows:

Add new WFM Forecast Structure to Integration table present in the SCPO Schema:

WFM runs the Demand Synchronization process to monitor its Demand integrated forecast structures (including forecast elements, forecast groups, and locations at which organizations use them) in order to identify changes to these structures. When changes to structures are recognized,

the Demand Synchronization process adds records to the WFMFcstStruct table in the SCPO schema to notify Demand about changes.

Incorporate WFM Forecast Structure changes into Demand:

When records are added to the WFMFcstStruct table in the Demand database schema, Demand runs the Load Workforce Management DFUs process. This process reads records from the WFMFcstStruct table and creates new DFU records which are then loaded in the DmdUnit,

DmdGroup, Loc, DFUView, DFU and corresponding parameter tables based on the Model. Once DFU records are processed, they are removed from the WFMFcstStruct table.

Transfer Demand Forecast Values into the Integration table:

Once the forecast is generated for loaded WFM DFUs, run the Transfer Forecast process to transfer

the forecast to the DFUToWFMFcst table.

Apply Demand Forecast Values to WFM Forecasts:

Periodically, WFM runs the Demand Data Import process to read forecast records from the

DFUToWFMFcst table and apply those records to Forecasts present in WFM. The Demand Data Import process performs the processing required to reflect Demand-generated forecast values in the appropriate WFM Forecasts. Records are removed from the DFUToWFMFcst table once they are

processed.

Considerations

Demand loads WFM DFUs from the WFMFcstStruct table only when the WFMFcstStruct:ChangeType column equals 1.

The Transfer Forecast process transfers data from the Fcst table to the DFUToWFMFcst table.

Database integration

This section provides technical details about how the integration is achieved. All integration tables are

in the Demand application's database schema. WFM reads from and writes to the integration tables in the Demand schema. Demand does not access any tables in the WFM schema for this integration.

Two tables are added to the Demand database schema to achieve the WFM - Demand integration.

WFMFCSTSTRUCT This table is used for WFM to send WFM forecast structure information to Demand.

Implementation


Field Type Demand Definitio

n

WFM Definitio

n

Description

LOC VARCHAR

2(50) (PK)

Location Organizat

ion

A unique forecast value in both Demand and

WFM that includes the concept of the location of the forecast value. Although Demand can forecast values at any location within an

organization, WFM forecasting is limited to the store level. A WFM configuration setting determines what information about a WFM

Organization (Store) is sent to Demand in this field.

LOCDESCR VARCHAR2(50)

Location Description

Additional information about a location. This information is configurable.

DMDGROUP VARCHAR2(50) (PK)

Demand Group

WFM Forecast

Element ID

Demand groups in the Demand application are roughly equivalent to Forecast Elements in WFM.

The value of the field is typically the name of the WFM Forecast Element or a configured Demand integration name for the Element. WFM insures

that in all WFMFCSTSTRUCT records the total length of the DMDGROUP field and DMDUNIT field combined does not exceed 50 characters.

DMDGROUPDESCR

VARCHAR2(50)

Demand Group

Descripti

on

WFM Forecast

Element

Description

Forecast Elements in WFM exist in Forecast Definitions. The same Forecast Element can be

used in multiple Forecast Definitions in WFM.

Therefore, WFM sends the name of the Forecast Definition of the WFM Forecast Element in the

description field.

DMDUNIT VARCHAR

2(50) (PK)

Demand

Unit

WFM

Forecast Group ID

Demand Units in the Demand application are

roughly equivalent to Forecast Groups in WFM. WFM sends Forecast Group information to Demand in the DMDUNIT field. The value of the

field is typically the name of the WFM forecast Group or a configured Demand integration name for the Group.

Note: WFM sends only the lowest level Forecast

Groups to Demand.

DMDUNITDESCR

VARCHAR2(50)

Demand Unit Description

WFM Forecast Group Descripti

on

The name of the Forecast Definition followed by the name of the WFM Forecast Element that contains the Forecast Group in the description field.

CHANGETYPE

INTEGER Changed Type: The type of change required for the record. The values are:

1 = Add

2 = Update

3 = Delete

Note: Only CHANGETYPE 1 is currently available.

CHANGEDATE

DATE Changed Date: The UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) date when the record is added to the database by WFM.

Implementation


When configuring Demand integration in WFM, ensure that the values placed in the LOC, DMDGROUP, and DMDUNIT fields are unique.

After Demand has processed a record in the WFMFCSTSTRUCT table, the record is removed from the

table.

DFUTOWFMFCST Demand uses this table to provide Forecast Values to WFM.

Field Type Description

LOC VARCHAR2(50) (PK) Location, Demand Group, Demand Unit: These three fields provide the WFM - Demand integration key of the record and contain the exact values provided to the

Demand application by WFM in the WFMFCSTSTRUCT table. They allow WFM to identify to which Organization, Forecast Definition, Forecast Element, and Forecast Group to apply the Demand value.

DMDGROUP VARCHAR2(50) (PK)

DMDUNIT VARCHAR2(50) (PK)

STARTDATE DATE

(PK)

Start Date: The UTC date of the first date to which the

value of the record applies. In cases where the record is a weekly record, this is the first date of the week to which the value applies.

DUR INTEGER (PK)

Duration: The amount of time the record covers, in minutes. Typically, the values are 1440 for a day or 10080

for a week.

QTY FLOAT

(PK)

Quantity: The Demand Forecast Value of the record.

Validation

When importing DFUTOWFMFCST records, WFM validates the records to ensure it understands the contents of the record. A DFUTOWFMFCST record must meet the following conditions:

The LOC, DMDGROUP, and DMDUNIT combination of the record must match those of a previously sent "add" WFMFCSTSTRUCT record. Furthermore, the link created by the WFMFCSTSTRUCT record

must still be active in WFM.

The record must either be Daily (DUR = 1440) or the record must be a complete week (DUR = 10080).

Weekly import records must have a start date equal to the start date of a WFM Forecast Week. For example, if WFM Forecasts start on Sunday, WFM cannot import weekly records that start on Monday.

After WFM Forecasting has imported a DFUTOWFMFCST record, the record is removed from the DFUTOWFMFCST table.

WFM - Demand Integration and GUI-based configuration


Chapter 5. WFM - Demand Integration and GUI-based configuration

The recommended approach to configuring WFM - Demand integration is as follows:

1. Configure and test WFM Forecasting. Verify that the definitions, elements, and groups, including their names, are correct.

2. Configure the forecast.xml and forecast.properties files to set the desired WFM - Demand integration settings. If you are in doubt about linking a Forecast Element to Demand, add the links after the integration is enabled. Removing links at this stage is not recommended.

3. Configure the final WFM - Demand Forecast integration GUI settings.

4. Enable the WFM - Demand Forecast integration.

WFM file-based configuration

In order to use WFM – Demand integration, configuration is required in the WFM application. Before

starting with Demand integration configuration, it is highly recommended that you first finalize your base WFM Forecast configuration. Once the desired WFM Forecasting is configured, it is relatively easy to link some or all of the WFM Forecast Elements and Groups to Demand.

It should also be stated that even when WFM gets Forecast Values from Demand, it still uses imported POS data for the interval patterns of the data. For example, Demand forecasting can provide WFM information about how many items are sold in a day, but it cannot tell WFM when during the day they will be sold. WFM still uses historical actual values to predict the pattern (increment level forecast

values) of sales within a day.

forecast.xml The majority of the configuration work in WFM for Demand integration occurs in the forecast.xml configuration file. It is recommended that this file already be fully configured for the desired WFM

Forecasting configuration before attempting to do Demand integration configuration.

Example The easiest way to explain how to configure a Forecast Element to Demand in the forecast.xml

configuration file is by example. The first sample code shows a simple Forecast Element configured to be initialized by Pattern. The second sample code shows how to change the Forecast Element to be linked to Demand.

<definition id="1" displayName="Main Forecast" initDaysPrior="7" timeIncrement="15" >

…

<defElement elementID="1" initValueType="&INIT_TYPE_PATTERN;" rank="1">

<elementGroup groupID="11" rank="1"/>


</defElement>

…

</definition>

The previous forecast.xml snippet shows a Forecast Element with ID 1 with two groups, 11 and 12. The names of the element and groups are specified elsewhere in the configuration. The Forecast Element is in a Forecast Definition called Main Forecast. The Forecast Element is initialized using the

Pattern initialization type. The following code snippet shows the changes required to change the Forecast Element’s initialization type to link the Element to Demand.




…

<defElement elementID="1" initValueType="&INIT_TYPE_LINK_TO_DEMAND;" rank="1">



<demand linkTimeFrame="&LINK_TIME_FRAME_DAY;"

linkType="&DEMAND_LINK_TYPE_ELEMENT;" />

</defElement>

…

</definition>

First, INIT_TYPE_PATTERN is replaced with INIT_TYPE_LINK_TO_DEMAND for the Forecast Element's

initValueType attribute. INIT_TYPE_LINK_TO_DEMAND is a constant defined in the forecast.dtd file

and represents a value of 3. This value indicates to WFM that the value of the Forecast Element should be obtained from the Demand application.

<demand> tag attributes and valid settings Some additional required information must be provided about the link to Demand. Each Forecast

Element linked to Demand must specify a <demand> tag to provide this additional information. The

<demand> tag in the example specifies that we are linking to Demand at the Daily level, and that we

are linking at the Element level.

The <demand> tag attributes and valid settings are:

linkTimeFrame (required)

This attribute of the <demand> tag specifies whether a Forecast Element is linked to Demand at the

Daily or Weekly level. The two constants in the forecast.dtd file that can be used are LINK_TIME_FRAME_DAY (a value of 1) and LINK_TIME_FRAME_WEEK (a value of 2). This setting

determines how WFM establishes the value for the Forecast Element from the Demand provided values. If the link is at the Daily level, then the value for each Forecast Day within a Forecast Week is set to the value specified by Demand. If the link is at the Weekly level, then only the week’s

total value for the Forecast Element is set from Demand. The daily values are determined proportionally from the pattern of the Forecast Element.

Since WFM cannot control at what time frame Demand will provide data to WFM, the table below

shows what happens for each combination of WFM setting and Demand Data time frame.

WFM setting Demand data Result

Daily Daily Daily Forecast Values are set from Daily Demand data

Daily Weekly Weekly Forecast Values are set from Weekly Demand data.

Daily Values are determined proportionally from pattern.

Weekly Daily Daily Demand values are summed and then applied in

WFM at the Weekly level.

Weekly Weekly Weekly WFM Forecast Values are set from Weekly Demand

data.

linkType (required)



This attribute of the <demand> tag specifies at what level in the hierarchy of a Forecast Element

WFM links to Demand. In WFM, a Forecast Element can be sub-divided in Forecast Groups, which, in turn, can also be sub-divided in Forecast Groups. WFM can link to Demand at two levels, either the Element Level or the Leaf Group Level.

To link at the Element level: Use the constant DEMAND_LINK_TYPE_ELEMENT (a value of 1)

for the link type. This causes WFM to link to Demand using a single element group (a Demand

link always requires a Forecast Group) containing the value for the total element. You can specify the group name (for the DMDUNIT field in Demand) using the following attribute: linkedAtElementGroupName

To link at the Leaf Group level: Use the constant DEMAND_LINK_TYPE_LEAF_GROUPS (a value

of 2) for the link type. This causes WFM to link to Demand at the lowest (farthest down the hierarchy) group level.

The following figure shows an example Forecast Element hierarchy. The hierarchy is of a Forecast Element called "Items" and contains seven total groups. The highlighted groups are considered the Leaf Groups since they are at the bottom of each hierarchy path.

If the Element is linked to Demand, Demand link records for each organization using the Forecast Element are created using the following DMDGROUP and DMDUNIT values (based on default

configuration):

DMDGROUP DMDUNIT

Items Small:Round

Items Small:Square

Items Medium

Items Large:Light

Items Large:Heavy

lockedToDemand (optional)

This attribute of the <demand> tag defaults to N. The valid values for the attribute are Y and N. The

attribute controls whether or not Forecast Values are locked to the values imported from Demand. If the setting is N, then authorized users can modify the values of the Demand integrated Forecast Element as usual. If the setting is Y, then some or all of the values of the Forecast Element cannot

be modified; thus it is locked to the Demand forecast value.



lockedTimeFrame (optional)

This attribute of the <demand> tag is used only if the lockedToDemand attribute in the same

<demand> tag is set to Y. In this case, the attribute determines whether all values are locked to

Demand or only the weekly value is locked to Demand. The default setting for this attribute is the

same value that is set for the linkTimeFrame attribute.

The two constants in the forecast.dtd file that can be used to set this attribute are

LINK_TIME_FRAME_DAY (a value of 1) and LINK_TIME_FRAME_WEEK (a value of 2).

If a Forecast Element is locked to Demand at the daily level, then users are not allowed to edit daily or weekly values of the Element in any Forecast. Authorized users can change the distribution

of daily values among the Forecast Groups of the Element, but the system does not allow changes to the daily (and thus weekly) values.

If a Forecast Element is locked at the weekly level, then authorized users can edit the daily values of the Element, however, the system ensures that the weekly value of the Element is not changed.

This allows redistribution of values throughout the forecast week but does not change the total weekly value.

linkedAtElementGroupName (optional)

This attribute of the <demand> tag is used only if the linkType attribute in the same <demand> tag

is set to DEMAND_LINK_TYPE_ELEMENT. In this case, the attribute allows the user to specify the name of the single Forecast Group (DMDUNIT) that is sent to Demand for the Forecast Element. If

this attribute is not specified, the name of the default Forecast Group is used as the name of the single Forecast Group sent to Demand.

Once a Forecast Element’s initValueType is set to INIT_TYPE_LINK_TO_DEMAND and an appropriate

<demand> sub-tag is added for the Forecast Element, the element is configured to link to Demand. You

also can set the exact Element and Group names WFM uses to link to Demand. These names do not show up in WFM, but are the names used in Demand for the DMDGROUP and DMDUNIT. The following

sample forecast.xml snippet shows how these names can be set.


…

<defElement elementID="1" initValueType="&INIT_TYPE_LINK_TO_DEMAND;" rank="1"

demandName="WFM Items" >

<elementGroup groupID="11" rank="1" demandName="WFM Small Items"/>


<demand linkTimeFrame="&LINK_TIME_FRAME_DAY;"

linkType="&DEMAND_LINK_TYPE_ELEMENT;" />

</defElement>

…

</definition>

The previous example shows the Demand Name of the Forecast Element is set to "WFM Items" in the Demand application and the name of Forecast Group 11 to is set to "WFM Small Items" in Demand.

These are the names that appear in Demand for these items.

Important: The names of Element and Groups are part of the link key from WFM to Demand. Once these values are set and integration with Demand is enabled, changing these values will change the WFM – Demand integration for this Forecast Element. For example, changing the name of a Demand

linked Forecast Element (either the demandName or the base name of the Element) will cause:

All Demand links for all forecast stores using the Element to be expired (a delete record is sent for each link). Any existing values for the expired links are not deleted but are no longer available in the system for future initializations or re-forecasting.



New Demand link records for all Elements are added using the new Demand Name. Links are added for all stores using the Element.

It is highly recommended that the names of Forecast Elements, Forecast Groups, and demandName

attributes not be changed once WFM - Demand integration is enabled.

forecast.properties Two properties in the forecast.properties configuration file have an impact on WFM – Demand integration.

forecast.demand.org.display.name.format

This property determines the format the name a WFM organization has in Demand (the LOC field in

the Demand integration tables). By default, WFM Forecasting uses the Short Name format as defined in orgmodel.properties for organization names. The property allows for the following settings:

S Short Name format defined in orgmodel.properties

M Medium Name format defined in orgmodel.properties

L Long Name format defined in orgmodel.properties

Organization names that are longer than 50 characters are shortened to 50 characters.

Note: This setting should not be changed after WFM – Demand integration has been enabled.

forecast.demand.org.display.desc.format.id

This property determines the format the description of a WFM organization has in Demand (the

LOCDESCR field in the Demand integration tables). By default, WFM Forecasting uses the internal Org Entry ID of the Organization as the description, since it is guaranteed to be unique in WFM.

The property allows for the following settings:

0 Name

1 Code

2 Name (Code)

3 Code Name

10 Name (Location)

11 Code Name (Location)

20 Location

21 Code (Location)

22 (default) Org ID

23 Name (Org ID)

24 Code (Org ID)

25 Location (Org ID)

26 Name Code (Org ID)

27 Code (Location) (Org ID)

Note: This setting can be changed after WFM – Demand integration has been enabled, but it does

not cause existing WFM – Demand links to have their LOCDESCR changed. Any new WFM – Demand links created use the new LOCDESCR format.

Configure and Enable WFM - Demand Integration in WFM

Enabling the WFM – Demand integration for Forecasting is done in the Administrator Portal of WFM and only needs to be done once. The requirements to be able to enable the WFM – Demand integration are:



At least one Forecast Element must be correctly configured to link to Demand.

A user must have the Forecasting privilege of Configure Forecast-Demand Integration (privilege ID 175). By default, no user in the system, including the Administrator user has this privilege.

If these two conditions are met, an authorized user can navigate to the Configure Demand Integration

screen in WFM to finish the integration configuration and enable the WFM – Demand integration. The screen is available in the Administrator Portal on the Config tab by using the Forecast > Configure Demand Integration menu item.

The configuration settings available on the screen are:

Demand Integration Enabled: Set to No by default. When set to Yes, the WFM - Demand

integration is enabled and cannot be disabled. This should be done after all other configuration settings are satisfactory.

MINIMUM Time in minutes between attempts to Synchronize WFM Forecasting to

Demand: Because the process to synchronize WFM Forecasting to Demand is sometimes a resource expensive process, this setting allows WFM to skip the process if it has recently occurred. This setting establishes what "recently" means for the process. The value is set in terms of

minutes.

Note: Manual (user initiated) runs of the Demand Synchronization process always run, no matter how recently the task ran previously.

MINIMUM Time in minutes between attempts to Import Demand Data into WFM: Because the process to synchronize WFM Forecasting to Demand is sometimes a resource expensive process, this setting allows WFM to skip the process if it has recently occurred. This setting establishes what "recently" means for the process. The value is set in terms of minutes.

Note: Manual (user initiated) runs of the Demand Synchronization process always run, no matter how recently the task ran previously.

Run Demand Synchronization and Data Import based on Time of Day: There are two ways

to configure the periodic background execution of Demand Synchronization and Data Import. The default method is to specify a time of day when each of the processes will run. Each process then runs daily at the selected time of day. If a customer wants to run each of the processes more or

less frequently than daily, this setting can be set to No. This action allows the specification of the

maximum time between process runs.

Demand Synchronization Time of Day: This setting is shown only if the Run Demand Synchronization and Data Import based on Time of Day configuration setting is set to Yes”.

The setting specifies the time of day the Demand Synchronization process runs each day when Demand Integration is enabled.



Demand Data Import Time of Day: This setting is shown only if the Run Demand Synchronization and Data Import based on Time of Day configuration setting is set to Yes. The setting specifies the time of day the Demand Data Import process runs each day when

Demand Integration is enabled.

MAXIMUM Time in minutes between attempts to Synchronize WFM Forecasting to Demand: This setting is shown only if the Run Demand Synchronization and Data Import based on Time of Day configuration setting is set to No. The setting specifies the largest number of minutes

allowed between any two attempts to synchronize WFM with Demand. WFM attempts to ensure there is at least one attempt to synchronize with Demand every set number of minutes. This configuration option allows users to run Demand Synchronization multiple times a day or only once

every few days. There is no way to determine or specify any particular time when Demand Synchronization may occur.

MAXIMUM Time in minutes between attempts to Import Demand Data into WFM: This

setting is shown only if the Run Demand Synchronization and Data Import based on Time of Day configuration setting is set to No. The setting specifies the largest number of minutes allowed between any two attempts to import data from Demand. WFM attempts to ensure there is at least one attempt to import data from Demand every set number of minutes. This configuration option

allows users to run Demand Data Import process multiple times a day or only once every few days. There is no way to determine or specify any particular time when Demand Data Import may occur.

Number of days to keep Unlinked Demand Data: This setting controls how many days WFM retains Unlinked Imported Demand Data (imported data that could not be used by WFM for various reasons). WFM does not use the unlinked data for Forecasting, but retains the data for customer

review. WFM retains data for the number of days specified by this setting, based on the first date to which the data applies.

The user can save any changes to the configuration by clicking Submit. When the user selects Yes for the Demand Integration Enabled setting, WFM – Demand integration is enabled. When the WFM –

Demand integration has been enabled, the configuration screen adds a Forecast Demand Tools area that the user can employ to manage aspects of the configuration.

There are two Forecast Demand Tools available in the tool sections:

Send WFM Forecast Structure Changes to Demand: Allows you to run the Demand Synchronization process immediately. The time of the last execution of the Demand

Synchronization is shown on the screen for reference. If a process is currently running, the Synchronize button is replaced with "In Progress" text.

Import Demand Values: Allows you to run the Import Demand Values process immediately. The

time of the last execution of the Import Demand Values process is shown on the screen for reference.

demand_wfm_integration.pdf

Documents

Transcript of demand_wfm_integration.pdf