Many companies have resources that must be assigned or scheduled to perform various workloads. A manager who is in charge of those resources attempts to ensure that each of the resources is capable of performing the workloads that are scheduled for it on any given day. While the resources can take a wide variety of different forms, the present discussion will proceed with respect to the resources being warehouse resources. This discussion is provided for the sake of example only, and the discussion applies to other resources as well.
Employees who manage warehouses for physical products often need to make sure that each of the warehouses that they manage will be capable of processing the goods that are scheduled to arrive at, or ship from, those warehouses in the near future. The amount of goods to process may typically be identified by some type of business system. Business systems can take a wide variety of forms. For instance, they can include enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, customer relations management (CRM) systems, line-of-business (LOB) systems, among others. The present discussion will proceed with respect to the business system being an ERP system, although this is exemplary only.
In an ERP system, a large number of purchase orders, transfer orders, sales orders and return orders can each list products that are to be received at, or shipped from, an organization on specific dates. The sums of goods on inbound and outbound orders for a given day indicates the workload for that day.
Warehouse managers are often in charge of managing a plurality of different warehouses. They normally need to understand how the orders for a specific day translate into a workload for the people manning the inbound and outbound docks in a warehouse. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that orders may be for different types of goods, some of them large and some of them small. For example, a thousand smaller items might be packed on a single pallet which can be moved quickly. On the other hand, fifty odd-shaped items might each be packed on separate pallets.
Thus, a warehouse manager normally attempts to translate the amount of inbound and outbound goods into a resulting number of handling units (such as pallets). The warehouse manager then compares the number of handling units to the number of units that the staff of the inbound or outbound docks, at the respective warehouses, can handle on the day when the workload is supposed to be accommodated.
To add to the complexity of this job, the capacity of any given dock may change from day to day. For instance, workers may be sick or on vacation, or they may be leaving early for various reasons. In addition, docks may be staffed differently on the weekends, in the evenings, over holidays or at other times. Further, some of the equipment used on a dock (such as a forklift or other material conveyance apparatus) may be out for maintenance at any given time.
Also, depending on the nature of the business conducted by the organization, it can be important to avoid overloading any given warehouse. For instance, if the organization handles groceries or other frozen (or otherwise perishable) products, then leaving incoming products outside on a loading dock until they can be processed may compromise the value of (and even spoil) those products. Further, even where the goods are not perishable, if they are shipped late to certain customers, because the warehouse is overloaded on a given day, this can result in a great deal of customer dissatisfaction.
In order to address these types of problems, current warehouse managers attempt to identify when more goods are planned to arrive at, or ship from, a given warehouse than that warehouse can handle on that day. When they are able to identify these problems ahead of time, they can attempt to handle the overload by taking a number of steps. They can ask some vendors to deliver portions of their deliveries on another date. They can request to ship to certain customers on an earlier date or on a later date. They can attempt to call in extra workers and equipment to handle the overload, or they can attempt to divert some of the traffic to a different warehouse. Moving part or all of the load to another date or warehouse normally means changing many transactional documents that dictate this type of movement.
The problem is further exacerbated by the nature of today's business. Warehouse managers often spend a great deal of time in meetings and traveling among the warehouses that they manage. This means that they are often attempting to conduct at least some of their business using mobile devices that do not have large computer monitors on which to view all of the complex information discussed above.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Resource capacities and workloads are calculated and scaled for a set of resources, over time. Workloads that exceed capacities for the resources are identified and displayed against the scaled capacities for the resources.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. The claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in the background.
The present discussion deals with allowing a manager of various physical resources to view the workloads for those resources, as well as the capacities for those resources, over time. The discussion also proceeds with respect to the user being able to consider different actions to take and simulate changes to the workloads based on those actions. While the present discussion proceeds with respect to the resources being warehouses and workers, it will be appreciated that the particular resources can be a wide variety of other resources. For instance, if an organization has multiple different facilities that each have printing devices, then the workload for those printing devices (based on orders, etc.) can be viewed by the manager of those physical facilities, and changing the workload among the various facilities can be simulated and viewed as well. Other embodiments of physical resources are contemplated as well.
Business data store 116 illustratively stores business data that can be accessed by applications 118 in order to perform activities, tasks, operations, etc. that help users to conduct the business of the organization that deploys business system 102. The data can illustratively include entities 124, workflows 126, warehouse information 128, and other information 130. Entities 124 illustratively represent items related to the business of the organization deploying business system 102. For instance, a customer entity represents a customer. A vendor entity represents a vendor. A warehouse entity represents a warehouse. A product entity represents one or more products.
Entities 124 can also include information that can be used to calculate the workload assigned to various warehouses at various times. For instance, purchase order entities represent purchase orders and can include a number of items corresponding to a given purchase order, that are to pass through a warehouse loading dock on a given day. Transfer order entities represent transfer orders that identify a number of items to be transferred by the organization. Sales order entities represent sales orders that can also identify a number of items sold by the organization. Return order entities illustratively represent return orders that are being returned to the organization. Each of these types of entities illustratively lists products that are to be received at, or shipped from, the organization on specific dates. These are exemplary only and a wide variety of different entities can be used as well.
Warehouse information 128 illustratively includes information regarding the identity of various warehouses used by the organization, and the capacity of those warehouses, on a day to day basis. It can also include other information, such as whether temporary workers can be easily employed and, if so, how many. It can include information such as what capacity any given warehouse has on both its incoming and outgoing loading docks, on various days, and other information.
Applications 118 illustratively include business applications that are run in order to assist users in conducting the business of the organization. They can, for instance, include general ledger applications, business opportunity tracking applications, inventory applications, among others. The applications illustratively access data store 116 and operate on the data and workflows in data store 116.
User interface component 120 illustratively generates user interface displays (either by itself or under the control of other items in business system 102) that can be displayed to user 108. The user interface displays can be user interface displays 106, or other user interface displays. They can include user input mechanisms that can be used by user 108 to manipulate and control system 102.
Warehouse management component 122 illustratively accesses the warehouse information 128 and other information in business data store 116. It generates user interface displays 106 that allow user 108 (such as a warehouse manager) to view the various workloads that are projected for that warehouse manager's warehouses, over time, based upon the various sales orders, purchase orders, transfer orders, return orders, etc., stored by business system 102. The operation of warehouse management component 122 is described in greater detail below.
Display device 134 illustratively displays the user interface displays 106 for interaction by user 108. In one embodiment, the display device is a relatively small device (such as when user device 104 is a cellular telephone, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a hand held computer, or another type of mobile device). It can be a touch sensitive display device so that user input mechanisms displayed thereon can be actuated by the user using touch gestures (such as with the user's finger, a stylus, etc.).
User interface component 136 (like user interface component 120) illustratively generates user interface displays either by itself, or under control of other devices, processors or components, for display to user 108. While two user interface components (120 and 136) are shown in
Client warehouse management component 138 is illustratively a client application that allows user 108 to interact with warehouse management component 122 on business system 102. It will be appreciated, however, that in another embodiment only a single management component 122 (or 138) is used. It can be located either on business system 102, or on device 104, or separately (as shown by the dashed box in
User interface displays 106 illustratively include input mechanisms that can take a wide variety of different forms. The user input mechanisms can be, for instance, text boxes, check boxes, buttons, links, icons, tiles, dropdown menus or other user actuatable input mechanisms. In addition, they can be actuated in a wide variety of different ways. They can be actuated using a point and click device (such as a mouse or track ball) or using other hardware items, such as a thumb pad, thumb switch, a keypad, or other buttons or hardware mechanisms. Further, where display device 134 is a touch sensitive screen, they can be actuated with touch gestures using the user's finger or stylus. Also, where user device 104 includes speech recognition components, the user input mechanisms can illustratively be actuated using speech commands. In any case, user 108 illustratively interacts with the user input mechanisms on user interface displays 106 in order to access warehouse management component 122 to view warehouse capacities, and workloads, and in order to simulate transfer of various orders to different dates, to different facilities, or to simulate adding employees on various different dates, among other things. A number of these exemplary scenarios are described in greater detail below.
Workload information 151 illustratively allows workload calculator component 142 to calculate the workload corresponding to each of the warehouses. Therefore, it illustratively includes sales orders, purchase orders, return orders, transfer orders, and other such information that identifies a number of items that are to be received at, or shipped from, the given warehouse on a given day. When a user identifies that a warehouse is going to be over its capacity on a given day, the user can illustratively use recommendation engine 144 to identify different recommendations, such as moving a transaction to a different day, or to a different warehouse, or both. The recommendations can also be a suggestion to increase the number of employees at a given warehouse on a given day, or other suggestions as well.
Simulation component 146 illustratively allows the user to simulate the effect of taking one of the recommendations. For instance, the user can simulate moving one transaction to a different day, at the same warehouse. The user can also simulate moving multiple transactions to multiple different warehouses on multiple different days, or other workload changes. Simulation component 146 allows the user to simulate these types of changes in workload.
Warehouse management component 122 first receives user inputs indicating that the user wishes to see the workload and capacity projections for various warehouses. This is indicated by block 154 in
Warehouse management component 122 then identifies the particular warehouses of interest. This is indicated by block 160 in
In another embodiment, user 108 simply selects from a list of available warehouses using a suitable user input mechanism. This is indicated by block 166 in
Warehouse capacity calculator component 140 then accesses the capacity and other warehouse parameters 150 for the identified warehouses. This is indicated by block 170 in
Warehouse capacity calculator component 140 then calculates and scales the warehouse capacities for the identified warehouses, over time. This is indicated by block 180.
The information is scaled because different warehouses may have very different capacities on different days. As is described in greater detail below with respect to block 184, warehouse capacity calculator component 140 generates an index value that indexes the actual capacity of a given warehouse on a given day. Full capacity for each warehouse (regardless of its actual gross capacity) corresponds to the same index value. For instance, full capacity for every warehouse can be scaled to an index value of 100. This equalizes the capacities for a display so that the user can easily judge the percentage of available capacity (or overload) of a given warehouse on a given day, with a quick look at the display of the scaled values.
Workload calculator component 142 calculates the workload, relative to the index, for each day, for each warehouse. Workload calculator component 142 then identifies workloads that exceed the capacities of their corresponding warehouses on individual days. This is indicated by block 182 in
Visualization generator component 148 then displays the scaled capacities and scaled workloads, of each warehouse, versus time. This is indicated by block 184 in
In the example shown in
By way of example, it can be seen that on May 31st, the display 200 for warehouse 1 includes an inbound bar graph 206 and an outbound bar graph 208. Bar graphs 206 and 208 show the projected workload for the inbound and outbound loading docks, respectively, for warehouse 1, on May 31, 2013. Each warehouse display 200, 202 and 204 also illustratively includes a maximum capacity visual indicator. In the embodiment shown in
As another example, it can be seen that, on Jun. 2, 2013, the workload for the inbound loading dock in warehouse 1 is displayed by bar 216. The bar passes the visual indicator line 210 that shows the capacity for the inbound loading dock, and therefore the workload indicated by bar 216 exceeds the capacity of warehouse 1 on Jun. 2, 2013. The amount by which bar 216 exceeds the capacity line 210 is illustratively displayed in a markedly visually contrasting way indicated by the portion 218 of bar 216 that lies above line 210. This enables user 108 to quickly identify problem areas (that is, areas where a workload for a warehouse exceeds its capacity on a given day). The marked visual contrast can be shown in a variety of different ways, including color, shading, blinking or in many other ways.
The list of warehouses displayed in
Display 186 also illustratively includes a visual indicator 224 that corresponds to warehouses that have problems that are not displayed in the current view. For instance, visual indicator 224 is illustratively an arrow (and it can be displayed in a contrasting color, such as red or another color) in close proximity to the information displayed for warehouse 3. This indicates that warehouse 3 has a workload which exceeds its capacity at some date in the future, which is off of the display currently being shown. In one embodiment, when the user actuates arrow 224 (such as by tapping it or otherwise), the display is automatically scrolled to the date where warehouse 3 has a problem (e.g., where its workload exceeds its capacity).
Also, in one embodiment, display 186 includes visual indicator 225, which can be similar to visual indicator 224, except that it indicates that there is a warehouse with a problem that is not currently displayed. Where the user actuates indicator 224, the display is automatically scrolled vertically (and horizontally) to display information for the problematic warehouse.
The display shown in
Further, the display shown in
In one embodiment, when the user first wishes to view the workload and capacity information, visualization generator component 148 generates the display 186 and automatically scrolls it to the first date where the is a problem with any of the warehouses being displayed (that is, where a workload exceeds the capacity of a warehouse). It also can illustratively sort the warehouses in the list of warehouses so that those with the most urgent problems are displayed first, based on various metrics that the business desires to use. In one embodiment, for instance, the warehouse with the largest excess workload (over capacity) is displayed first, but this is exemplary only. By way of example, if a workload for a given warehouse is double its capacity on a given day, visualization generator component 148 sorts the display information for that warehouse to the top of the list displayed to user 108. Thus, user 108 will be alerted to this problem immediately.
Referring again to the flow diagram of
Once the workload and capacity information is displayed as shown in
In response, visualization generator component 148 illustratively takes action based on the user interaction inputs. This is indicated by block 280. For instance, where the user scrolls the date axis 190, component 148 can illustratively scroll to the date of the next problem. This is indicated by block 282. Where the user actuates the visual indicator 225, component 148 can scroll the warehouse list to the warehouse corresponding to the actuated visual indicator. This is indicated by block 284. Of course, the user can perform a wide variety of other interactions to change the information being viewed, and this is indicated by block 286.
The user 108 can also illustratively interact with display 186 in order to simulate moving workloads among various warehouses or to different dates.
In response, recommendation engine 144 illustratively calculates and displays options for addressing the capacity problem. This is indicated by block 296. For instance, the recommendation engine 144 can provide recommendations or suggestions to move one or more transactions to another date. This is indicated by block 298. It can suggest moving one or more transactions to another warehouse, as indicated by block 300. It can also suggest increasing the workers at warehouse 1 on June 2nd. This is indicated by block 302. It can provide other suggestions as well, and this is indicated by block 304. Recommendation engine 144 can calculate the most suitable options.
To calculate which automatic action (move to another date, warehouse, etc.) is the most suitable, for each suggestion, a cost F can be calculated as a number. This can be done in many different ways. Eq. 1 below shows one exemplary way.
F=w1*c1+w2*c2+ . . . +wn*cn Eq. 1
where each cn represents a cost of a specified parameter (like the number of days the workload needs to be moved by, workload pressure on the target day/warehouse, cost of the physical movement if another warehouse is chosen, etc). Each wn parameter is an empirically adjusted weight associated with the given cost in the overall number.
So an exemplary formula might be:
Then after calculating F for a number of choices, the choices are sorted (with lower cost choices first) and presented to the user.
Each of user input mechanisms 312-316 can illustratively be actuated by user 108, by the user simply tapping or touching them, or otherwise actuating them. Thus, if the user wishes to simulate moving workload 218 to another date, the user illustratively actuates mechanism 312. If the user wishes to simulate moving workload 218 to a different warehouse, the user illustratively actuates mechanism 316, and if the user wishes to simulate requesting temporary workers, the user illustratively actuates mechanism 316. Receiving user selection of one of the suggestions is indicated by block 318 in the flow diagram of
When the user actuates the “move to another date” user input mechanism 312, visualization generator component 148 illustratively displays the excess workload 218 broken into selectable transactions, with the largest transaction first. This is indicated by block 320 in
However, it can be seen that display 322 includes a transaction breakdown display 324. Transaction breakdown display 324 illustratively breaks the workload of not only excessive workload 218, but the entire workload for the inbound loading dock (represented by bar 216) into the transactions that make up that workload. It can be seen in
Once the user has selected one or more of the transactions shown generally at 324, recommendation engine 144 illustratively calculates and displays suggested dates to which the user 108 can move the transaction in warehouse 1, in order to accommodate that workload, without exceeding the capacity of warehouse 1. This is indicated by block 342 in the flow diagram of
It will be appreciated that recommendation engine 144 can calculate the recommendations in a variety of different ways. This is described in greater detail below. Suffice it to say, for now, that recommendation engine 144 has found two different dates on which warehouse 1 can handle transaction 326, on its inbound loading dock, without exceeding the capacity for the warehouse on that date. It displays visual indicators 344 and 346 so that user 108 can easily identify these as recommended dates.
Visualization generator component 148 then receives a user input moving the selected transaction to the new date. This is indicated by block 350 in the flow diagram of
Simulation component 146 then calculates a simulated workload and capacity display indicating what the workload and capacity for warehouse 1 will look like, if transaction 326 is actually moved to the suggested date selected by the user. Visualization generator component 148 then generates a visualization of the simulated results of the move. Updating the display to show the simulated results of moving the selected transaction is indicated by block 352 in the flow diagram of
Referring again to
Again, as described above with respect to
Visual generator component 148 then receives a user input moving the selected transaction to a new warehouse (and possibly a new date as well). This is indicate by block 372 in
Simulation component 146 then calculates a new workload and capacity display based on the simulated move of the selected transaction (transaction 326) to one of the other warehouses and dates. Visualization generator component 148 then updates the interactive visualization to show the results of moving the selected transaction as indicated by the user. This is indicated by block 374 in the flow diagram of
It can be seen that a number of the items in
Display 376 also shows that transaction display section 324 has been modified to indicate that only two more transactions remain for the inbound loading dock on June 2nd, at warehouse 1. Again, the user can move more transactions if desired. This is indicated by block 380 in the flow diagram of
Referring again to
After the user has simulated different ways of addressing the excess capacity for warehouse 1, warehouse management component 122 can illustratively perform post-simulation actions. This is indicated by block 404 in
The description is intended to include both public cloud computing and private cloud computing. Cloud computing (both public and private) provides substantially seamless pooling of resources, as well as a reduced need to manage and configure underlying hardware infrastructure.
A public cloud is managed by a vendor and typically supports multiple consumers using the same infrastructure. Also, a public cloud, as opposed to a private cloud, can free up the end users from managing the hardware. A private cloud may be managed by the organization itself and the infrastructure is typically not shared with other organizations. The organization still maintains the hardware to some extent, such as installations and repairs, etc.
In the embodiment shown in
It will also be noted that architecture 100, or portions of it, can be disposed on a wide variety of different devices. Some of those devices include servers, desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, or other mobile devices, such as palm top computers, cell phones, smart phones, multimedia players, personal digital assistants, etc.
Under other embodiments, applications or systems (like component 138) are received on a removable Secure Digital (SD) card that is connected to a SD card interface 15. SD card interface 15 and communication links 13 communicate with a processor 17 (which can also embody processors 114 or 132 from
I/O components 23, in one embodiment, are provided to facilitate input and output operations. I/O components 23 for various embodiments of the device 16 can include input components such as buttons, touch sensors, multi-touch sensors, optical or video sensors, voice sensors, touch screens, proximity sensors, microphones, tilt sensors, and gravity switches and output components such as a display device, a speaker, and or a printer port. Other I/O components 23 can be used as well.
Clock 25 illustratively comprises a real time clock component that outputs a time and date. It can also, illustratively, provide timing functions for processor 17.
Location system 27 illustratively includes a component that outputs a current geographical location of device 16. This can include, for instance, a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, a LORAN system, a dead reckoning system, a cellular triangulation system, or other positioning system. It can also include, for example, mapping software or navigation software that generates desired maps, navigation routes and other geographic functions.
Memory 21 stores operating system 29, network settings 31, applications 33, application configuration settings 35, data store 37, communication drivers 39, and communication configuration settings 41. Memory 21 can include all types of tangible volatile and non-volatile computer-readable memory devices. It can also include computer storage media (described below). Memory 21 stores computer readable instructions that, when executed by processor 17, cause the processor to perform computer-implemented steps or functions according to the instructions. Similarly, device 16 can have a client business system 24 which can run various business applications or embody parts or all of business system 102. Processor 17 can be activated by other components to facilitate their functionality as well.
Examples of the network settings 31 include things such as proxy information, Internet connection information, and mappings. Application configuration settings 35 include settings that tailor the application for a specific enterprise or user. Communication configuration settings 41 provide parameters for communicating with other computers and include items such as GPRS parameters, SMS parameters, connection user names and passwords.
Applications 33 can be applications that have previously been stored on the device 16 or applications that are installed during use, although these can be part of operating system 29, or hosted external to device 16, as well.
The mobile device of
Note that other forms of the devices 16 are possible.
Computer 810 typically includes a variety of computer readable media. Computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by computer 810 and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and not limitation, computer readable media may comprise computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media is different from, and does not include, a modulated data signal or carrier wave. It includes hardware storage media including both volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by computer 810. Communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data in a transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of any of the above should also be included within the scope of computer readable media.
The system memory 830 includes computer storage media in the form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) 831 and random access memory (RAM) 832. A basic input/output system 833 (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within computer 810, such as during start-up, is typically stored in ROM 831. RAM 832 typically contains data and/or program modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presently being operated on by processing unit 820. By way of example, and not limitation,
The computer 810 may also include other removable/non-removable volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. By way of example only,
Alternatively, or in addition, the functionality described herein can be performed, at least in part, by one or more hardware logic components. For example, and without limitation, illustrative types of hardware logic components that can be used include Field-programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Program-specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Program-specific Standard Products (ASSPs), System-on-a-chip systems (SOCs), Complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLDs), etc.
The drives and their associated computer storage media discussed above and illustrated in
A user may enter commands and information into the computer 810 through input devices such as a keyboard 862, a microphone 863, and a pointing device 861, such as a mouse, trackball or touch pad. Other input devices (not shown) may include a joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 820 through a user input interface 860 that is coupled to the system bus, but may be connected by other interface and bus structures, such as a parallel port, game port or a universal serial bus (USB). A visual display 891 or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus 821 via an interface, such as a video interface 890. In addition to the monitor, computers may also include other peripheral output devices such as speakers 897 and printer 896, which may be connected through an output peripheral interface 895.
The computer 810 is operated in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer 880. The remote computer 880 may be a personal computer, a hand-held device, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the computer 810. The logical connections depicted in
When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 810 is connected to the LAN 871 through a network interface or adapter 870. When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 810 typically includes a modem 872 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN 873, such as the Internet. The modem 872, which may be internal or external, may be connected to the system bus 821 via the user input interface 860, or other appropriate mechanism. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 810, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. By way of example, and not limitation,
It should also be noted that the different embodiments described herein can be combined in different ways. That is, parts of one or more embodiments can be combined with parts of one or more other embodiments. All of this is contemplated herein.
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.