Automated Analysis for Immediate Answers

If you're stocked-out or running excesses, it is no longer enough just to know where these problems are occurring; you need to know why and you need to know immediately. The answers are buried in the mountains of data coming from many different sources including your daily Retail Link® data and your own supply chain. Blue Agave offers the first and only automated Root Cause analysis capability for Wal*Mart suppliers, built into our innovative retail execution software.

In addition to identifying and predicting replenishment issues, Blue Agave automatically performs root cause analysis for every issue, according to your own business practices and your retailer's requirements. Blue Agave eliminates the need to run additional reports or log into multiple systems in order to investigate issues; with the click of a mouse, you can easily navigate the status of every exception, including changes made to Retail Link settings, POS analysis, and order fulfillment analysis. When you're ready to take action, you can email the appropriate internal or external individuals directly from the Blue Agave system, attaching any relevant analysis as the fact-based evidence to support your recommendations for change.

Blue Agave delivers all of the capabilities necessary to meet your retailers' requirements:

• Identify Issues — Blue Agave uses your business rules to analyze your daily Retail Link data to identify and predict replenishment issues like stock-outs, excesses, forecast variances, store-level anomalies, and incorrect settings. Blue Agave analyzes every SKU, every store, every day.
• Determine Root Cause — Blue Agave works behind-the-scenes to determine and present root cause in just a matter of minutes. Blue Agave first looks for internal causes like missed Must Arrive By Dates or low Fill Rates. If no internal causes are found, Blue Agave then analyzes the data to identify store or demand-related causes such as incorrect DD or SI settings, forecast variances, or on-hand adjustments.
• Establish Need to Correct — Blue Agave will first determine and recommend changes for internal supply chain issues including missed deliveries, short shipments, or over shipments. Blue Agave even shows you whether or not the situation will self-correct with system adjustments or product already in the pipeline. If, however, the cause is found to be store-related, Blue Agave provides the evidence and analysis necessary for you to recommend appropriate changes to Wal*Mart.
• Collaborate on Action — Users can recommend changes to Wal*Mart directly from the Blue Agave system. Because Blue Agave groups stores and items with like root causes, users can make a single recommendation to resolve several issues at once. Supporting evidence and analysis is easily selected and attached to every communication.
• Track Action and Results — Every exception and action is always tracked by Blue Agave, enabling you to monitor the results as issues are resolved with product moving into or out of the pipeline. All information and analysis is stored in Blue Agave's repository for future analysis.

If you're stocked-out or running excesses, you don't have hours or days to run reports or log into systems to figure out why. Blue Agave does the heavy-lifting for you — behind-the-scenes in a matter of minutes — presenting you with the issue, the cause, resolution recommendations, and supporting analysis all within a single, seamless, easy-to-use system.

These root cause capabilities are delivered with Blue Agave's innovative Retail Channel Execution products, a set of applications that improve replenishment, fulfillment, and demand management performance. Deployment takes less than 8 weeks, and business benefit is immediately felt. To learn more, contact us today.