JDA SOFTWARE REVIEW
COMPANY OVERVIEW
JDA was founded in 1985 as a private company and became a public company in 1996. JDA’s core enterprise software products are merchandising and store systems (ERP for the retail industry). JDA’s two biggest software solution competitors for retail customers are Oracle’s Retek and SAP. Most of JDA’s Supply Chain Management software solutions were acquired by acquisitions including Manugistics, Arthur, and E3. JDA’s most significant SCM system acquisition is Manugistics, which was considered a leading provider of broad based SCM software solutions. Arthur’s niche is inventory allocation and E3’s focus is inventory replenishment. A planned acquisition of i2 Technologies was cancelled in large part because of the credit crunch of 2008. JDA revenues in 2007 were $374 million.
VERTICAL MARKETS
JDAs supply chain management software customer base is primarily small to large retail chains. The company's manufacturing software customers were initially acquired through the acquisition of Manugistics.
SOFTWARE PRODUCTS
JDA develops and markets retail merchandising, store systems, point-of-sales and supply chain management software solutions.
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE FEATURES
SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE AND CROSS APPLICATION SOLUTIONS
JDA enterprise architecture addresses IT deployment and management capabilities such as information security, common user interface and change management.SALES AND OPERATION PLANNING
In 2008, JDA introduced their S&OP Workbench solution. The demand review tool is used to gain consensus on demand forecasts, including product mix, pricing and promotions. The supply review tool models capacity, resources and cost required to meet the demand forecasts. A financial analysis feature provides analytical tools to measure the financial impact of the S&OP plans. Financial assumptions such as product and customer mix and selling price are included in the plan. A product management review feature keeps track of products and helps with the launch of new products.DEMAND MANAGEMENT
Forecasting and statistical modeling accommodates multiple input sources. JDA’s forecast solution is a best fit method, with flexible structures supporting multiple hierarchies across products, locations and channels. The supply chain management collaborative forecasting feature aligns the sales forecast with internal and external stakeholders.Demand shaping provides for promotion and event planning, integrates plans with forecasts, and measures the demand shaping effectiveness.
Order fulfillment is addressed with JDA Order Optimization and JDA Order Promising.
SUPPLY MANAGEMENT
Strategic Network Planning – The network design component models locations, policies, transportation modes and production lines for planning mid-term and long term sourcing decisions. Optimization features address sourcing, production and inventory.Distribution Planning – JDA distribution planning is called JDA Fulfillment and enables:
- Planning and Management for Multi-level Replenishment
- Finished Goods Allocation
- Forecast Consumption
- Dynamic Deployment of Inventory
Replenishment – Inventory replenishment software solutions include JDA Advanced Warehouse Replenishment, JDA Advanced Store Replenishment and JDA Allocations.
Vendor Managed Inventory – VMI replenishes customer inventory based on stock and sales data sent to the inventory supplier or business partner.
Procurement Management – JDA’s features include managing purchase agreements, interfacing into ERP systems, procurement workflow and processing alerts.
WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT
Not supported.TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT
Planning – JDA Software planning capabilities include:
- Least Cost Analysis
- Multi-modal Options
- Service Levels Optimization
- Zone Routing Optimization
- Carrier Selection
- Multi-Stop Optimization
- Cross Docking Optimization
- Load Optimization
Dispatch – Key software functionality is based on load, pickups, modes of transportation and route optimization. The dispatcher is empowered to perform and automate the following:
- Assigns carriers to routes
- Produces Shipment Documents
- Generates EDI transactions
Visibility is provided throughout the shipment lifecycle.
Freight Charges and Settlements – JDA features include a repository of carrier contracts for all modes of transportation, along with the functionality to calculate charges. Charges are validated for the services provided.
Fleet Management – A key software feature of fleet management is optimizing the mix of private goods and common carriers.
SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
Not supported, however, JDA provides support for VICS Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) standards.CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
Not Supported.
SUMMARY OF STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
JDA’s tradition and strengths are in retail systems, and their merchandise and store planning systems are leading products for the retail industry. Manugistics is considered a leader and innovator in SCM for manufacturing and distribution companies. Their combined enterprise software products, best practices and industry knowledge put JDA in a leadership position in S&OP, Demand Management and Supply Management. The TMS product acquired through the Manugistics acquisition is a full featured and top caliber transportation management system.
JDA’s weakness is the absence of WMS, CRM and SRM products. Without a complete integrated suite of SCM products, JDA is at a disadvantage when competing against vendors for who have integrated WMS, CRM and SRM.
The JDA software architecture and cross application support lacks the features and functionality of the other enterprise software solutions, including advanced functionality for system integration, web services and data management. With their diverse technologies (including IBM midrange, Microsoft .NET and Java), JDA architectural challenges are further complicated.
JDA Software Evaluation
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