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Decision Support Systems 76 (2015) 4552

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Decision Support Systems


journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/dss

A perspective on applications of in-memory analytics in supply


chain management
G.J. Hahn a,, J. Packowski b
a
Business School, CAMELOT Management Consultants Endowed Assistant Professorship for Supply Chain Management, University of Mannheim, Germany
b
CAMELOT Management Consultants AG, Mannheim, Germany

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Available online 9 January 2015 Big data, advanced analytics, and in-memory database technology are on the agenda of top management since
they are seen as key enablers for enhanced business decision-making. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive
Keywords: perspective on applications of in-memory analytics in the eld of supply chain management (SCM) that use the
Business analytics aforementioned concepts. Our contribution is threefold: First, we develop a top-down framework to position
In-memory database systems in-memory analytics applications against extant IT systems in SCM. Second, we conduct a bottom-up categorization
Supply chain management
of 41 in-memory analytics applications in SCM to provide supporting empirical evidence of the efcacy of the
Advanced planning
Business intelligence
framework. Third, by contrasting top-down and bottom-up perspectives we derive implications for research and
industrial practice.
2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction business applications that build on in-memory database systems will


only do things differently or will actually allow users to do different
Business analytics and related concepts that describe the analysis of things. vom Brocke et al. [19] investigate similar aspects in their case
business data for decision-making purposes have received widespread study from the Hilti Corporation when assessing second-order benets
attention in both the academic and business communities [14]. Top that can be captured by applying in-memory technology.
managers generally see business analytics as a differentiating factor Piller and Hagedorn [20] describe exemplary use cases and potential
for competitive advantage and thus are increasingly interested in cap- benets of business applications enabled by in-memory database tech-
turing this value potential [5,6]. McAfee and Brynjolfsson [7] report an nology. Real-time business intelligence represents one specic use case
increase of 5 to 6% in productivity for companies that place in the top that has already been investigated for domain-specic applications in
third of their industries in the use of business analytics. The positive customer relationship management (CRM) [21] and supply chain man-
impact of business analytics capabilities on supply chain performance agement (SCM) [22]. Further applications in SCM deal with real-time
is also conrmed in several empirical studies [810]. Moreover, Brown order promising [23] and sales and operations planning (S&OP) [24].
et al. [11] and Waller and Fawcett [12] indicate the disruptive potential In-memory-enabled applications for supply chain planning are general-
of data-driven decision-making for business and operations manage- ly seen as on the rise [25], which is conrmed by a multitude of SCM-
ment in particular. related solutions that have been recently launched [26,27]. The relevant
In the slipstream of this development, major software providers literature, however, lacks a comprehensive overview of relevant use
hype in-memory database technologies [13,14] that enable real-time cases of emerging in-memory analytics applications in SCM. More
business intelligence [15] and support big data analytics, i.e., business importantly, there is a need for studies that yield implications for
analytics using large volumes of complex data [1]. In-memory database research and industrial practice in this eld.
systems allow for high-speed processing and analysis of large data In-memory technology and business analytics are nothing new to
volumes [16] by storing data directly in main memory, avoiding time- SCM, having accompanied the emergence of Advanced Planning and
consuming hard disk operations [17]. The emergence of in-memory Scheduling (APS) systems at the end of the 1990s [28]. APS systems
database systems has been further promoted by enhanced data man- have been deployed on top of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
agement procedures and multi-core hardware architectures that have systems to overcome their shortcomings in production planning and
recently become available [18]. This raises the question whether novel scheduling [29]. For this purpose, they apply forecasting methods and
mathematical optimization models that require in-memory cache tech-
nology to perform the calculations [30]. However, APS systems have
Corresponding author at: Schloss, 68131 Mannheim, Germany. Tel.: +49 621 181
1619; fax: +49 621 181 1653.
been criticized for several functional and technical shortcomings [29,
E-mail addresses: hahn@bwl.uni-mannheim.de (G.J. Hahn), jp@camelot-mc.com 31]. Emerging in-memory technology concepts could provide potential
(J. Packowski). avenues for resolving these problems or even constitute an alternative

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2015.01.003
0167-9236/ 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
46 G.J. Hahn, J. Packowski / Decision Support Systems 76 (2015) 4552

[24]. Unfortunately, we have yet to see a thorough delineation of APS the scope of prescriptive analytics, which involves deriving optimal plan-
systems in relation to emerging in-memory analytics applications. ning decisions given the predicted future [32].
The objective of this paper is to develop a comprehensive perspec- The key objective of this work is to investigate the phenomenon of
tive on analytics applications in SCM that build on in-memory technol- emerging in-memory analytics applications in SCM from two angles:
ogy. This perspective could answer the abovementioned question rst, we examine current focus and development areas of respective
whether emerging in-memory analytics applications will only enhance applications from a business perspective, and second, we delineate
current practice or will eventually support novel approaches in supply these applications in relation to extant information systems in SCM
chain decision-making. Our approach is threefold: First, a conceptual from an IT perspective. Consequently, we expand the framework into
top-down framework is derived using grounded literature on business two directions using the disciplinary foundations of business analytics
analytics approaches and DSS methodology that allows for a thorough at the intersection of quantitative methods, decision-making, and tech-
positioning of in-memory analytics applications against extant IT nology, as described in Mortenson et al. [4]. The business perspective is
systems in SCM. Following a bottom-up empirical approach, we then structured along use cases and methodological requirements correspond-
examine and systematically structure 41 in-memory analytics applica- ing to the discipline of quantitative methods. We decided to add the use
tions for SCM to outline the current focus. Lastly, by contrasting top- case dimension to ease application classication in Section 3. DSS
down and bottom-up perspectives we identify areas with the potential concepts and formal IT systems constitute the IT perspective of the frame-
for advancing the use of in-memory analytics in SCM and derive impli- work, corresponding to the disciplines of decision-making and technol-
cations for both research and practice. ogy. We explain the dimensions and mapping of the taxonomies in
detail in what follows.

2. A framework for analytics applications in SCM 2.2. Use cases and methodological requirements

2.1. Overview and business analytics approach To the best of our knowledge, only Piller and Hagedorn [20] provide an
overview of application patterns of in-memory data management sys-
In this section, we develop a comprehensive framework for analytics tems. With respect to analytical applications, they identify four use
capabilities in SCM (see Fig. 1) using a conceptual deductive approach. cases: operational reporting, exploratory analysis of mass data, complex
For this purpose, we build on two recent publications of Holsapple analysis, and adaptive planning. However, they only discuss exemplary
et al. [3] and Mortenson et al. [4] that discuss the foundations of busi- applications that are motivated primarily by considerations in the ERP do-
ness analytics. Holsapple et al. [3] describe three taxonomies of analytics main and do not deal with the specic requirements of SCM. We therefore
orientation that differentiate with respect to the analytics task, result, or generalized and extended their framework by surveying conceptual pa-
benet. We adopt the task-oriented taxonomy of analytics to structure pers on supply chain analytics that resulted from a structured literature
the pivotal dimension of our framework since it appears to be the most search on titles, abstracts, and keywords. As a result, we distinguish four
frequently used option and best serves our purpose of characterizing use cases of analytics applications in SCM: (i) monitor-and-navigate [22,
analytics applications. 34], sense-and-respond [22], predict-and-act [34,35], and plan-and-
The task-oriented taxonomy distinguishes three distinct analytics optimize [34]. The latter three use cases require a broad set of analytical
approaches [3,32]: descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive. Descriptive methods beyond simple data aggregation such as data modeling and min-
analytics summarize and convert data into meaningful information for ing, (discrete-event) simulation, forecasting, and optimization [12].
reporting and monitoring purposes, but also allow for detailed investi- Monitor-and-navigate use cases are concerned with periodic reporting
gation to answer such questions as what has happened? and what and/or continuous monitoring of performance metrics as well as data
is happening at the moment? [4]. Data modeling is a prerequisite drill-down to navigate root causes on a more granular level [1,22]. In
when making authoritative predictions about the future using business the supply chain context, this includes location data from GPS and RFID
forecasting and simulation. Accordingly, predictive analytics address the tags to increase visibility into supply chain assets and material ows
questions what will happen? and why will it happen? [33]. The [34]. Data mining and modeling build the methodological foundation
questions what shall we do? and why shall we do it? fall within for reactive sense-and-respond use cases [22]. They help to discover

Fig. 1. A framework for analytics applications in SCM.


G.J. Hahn, J. Packowski / Decision Support Systems 76 (2015) 4552 47

knowledge and patterns that can be translated into business rules for OLAP and thus use only aggregated data which are incrementally load-
(semi-)automatic responses to predened business events [22,36]. Data ed from various OLTP systems into so-called data cubes at predened
modeling involves the broad set of multivariate statistical methods [1]. time intervals [22]. With the in-memory database technology, the arti-
Predict-and-act use cases are proactive and apply business forecasting cial separation of OLAP and OLTP becomes obsolete and transactional
as well as simulation methods to support business decisions [12,35]. data are immediately available for real-time analytics, which could
Within SCM, forecasting relates mainly to time-series analysis of sales enable a more exception- and alert-based approach to business process
data and the prediction of future demand [29,34,37]. Business simulation management [18].
serves as an umbrella term for various approaches to managing variabil- Predictive analytics approaches have been covered mainly by
ity. This covers, i.a., scenario and risk prole analysis as well as Monte special-purpose solutions so far and thus have been reserved for expert
Carlo and discrete-event simulation [12,38], which can be used, for users. In-memory database systems offer a small but increasing number
instance, to evaluate the performance of manufacturing systems. In sum- of built-in functions for predictive analytics [45]. These libraries include,
mary, predictive analytics enable sense-and-respond and predict-and- i.a., methods for regression as well as time-series analysis and imple-
act use cases. ment interfaces to statistical computing packages such as R [45]. This al-
Plan-and-optimize use cases in SCM encompass strategic and opera- lows for the development of business applications that make predictive
tional planning [29,34]: While strategic planning supports the congu- analytics available to a broader group of non-expert users, as has hap-
ration of supply chain networks, operational planning is concerned with pened with optimization models and APS systems. Near real-time data
managing material and nancial ows along the network. Strategic availability is a necessary prerequisite for applications that support
planning takes a long-term perspective of more than two years, uses ag- sense-and-respond and predict-and-act use cases [22,35]. This could
gregated data, and is conducted infrequently as part of strategic initia- involve real-time operations process control using sensor-based data
tives [39]. By contrast, operational planing covers a medium- to short- or (semi-)automated supply chain orchestration at the supply- and
term horizon, uses granular data, and is an integral part of day-to-day demand-side interfaces [25,37].
business [30,34]. Strategic and operational planning correspond to APS systems are prevalent in business for strategic and mostly
prescriptive analytics approaches since they use optimization methods operational supply chain planning, but have been criticized for having
predominantly [12,29]. four major shortcomings: First, they do not allow for event-driven, inte-
grated, and interactive planning due mainly to the hierarchical planning
2.3. DSS concepts and types of IT systems paradigm [29]. To make matters worse, xed rolling schedules, separate
planning models with various data structures and metrics, and batch-
The literature on DSS distinguishes ve concepts according to the oriented greeneld planning even induce planning nervousness and
dominant architectural component that provides the functionality [36]: lead to inconsistent as well as partly obsolete planning results [24,29].
model-, data-, document-, communications-, or knowledge-driven DSS. Improvements based on in-memory technology have already helped
Due to this paper's focus on business analytics and supporting technology, to overcome these problems using integrated and scalable models that
data-driven and model-driven DSS are in particular focus. Model-driven also enable event-driven and incremental planning in an interactive
DSS use quantitative models and corresponding methods to support environment [24,26].
decision-making [40]. Consequently, both prescriptive and predictive The second shortcoming of APS systems relates to their lack of inte-
analytics approaches can be part of a model-driven DSS. Access to and gration into nancial planning and cost accounting as well as into shop
manipulation of large datasets are at the core of data-driven DSS that oor control and manufacturing execution [29]. Since in-memory data-
apply descriptive analytics. However, predictive analytics can also be base technology supports integrated data models across transactional
part of data-driven DSS [36]. and analytical applications, we expect to see applications that address
Information technology has always played an important role within this gap. Third, topics such as manufacturing systems design and
SCM [41]. Investigating the IT systems landscape, one typically nds lot-sizing are not or only marginally covered in APS systems [31].
ERP systems, Business intelligence (BI) systems, and APS systems [42]. Fourth, APS systems follow a deterministic planning approach [31]
ERP systems perform mainly Online Transaction Processing (OLTP), that accommodates variability only in an indirect way via safety
e.g., materials management or sales order fulllment, and serve as the margins and sensitivity analyses [29]. A more sophisticated approach
backbone of BI and APS systems [43]. ERP systems also provide rudi- to managing variability has been introduced recently with the lean
mentary support for monitoring and navigation, covering aspects of a planning paradigm [46] and corresponding modules for APS systems
data-driven DSS. APS systems are model-driven DSS that support strate- targeted at process industries [28]. Following the lean philosophy [47],
gic and operational supply chain planning following a prescriptive ana- lean planning aims at reducing variability by establishing a regular
lytics approach [29]. They also provide capabilities for demand planning and stable demand-driven production ow via cyclic schedules that
and scenario analysis and thus support business forecasting and simula- ease coordination of interlinked planning processes along the value
tion requirements [30]. chain [28]. Lean planning represents a pragmatic approach to managing
BI systems are mainly data-driven DSS and provide Online Analytical variability with documented benets from several case studies [28,46].
Processing (OLAP) capabilities for reporting/monitoring and navigation However, the shortcoming regarding the lack of a stochastic planning
[40]. They typically cover simple forecasting methods and approaches approach in APS systems remains.
for scenario analysis as part of nancial budgeting [42], and so they
are also model-driven DSS. Besides these formal IT systems, there exists 3. Emerging in-memory analytics applications in SCM
a wide variety of expert systems that support statistical analysis, data
mining, and simulation [44]. These special-purpose solutions generally 3.1. Overview and approach
use predictive analytics approaches and exhibit elements of model-
and data-driven DSS. The starting point for our survey is the current Gartner report on
in-memory database management systems that contains 16 vendors
2.4. Arena for in-memory analytics applications [48]. However, we could nd only self-standing in-memory analytics
applications that are built on the Oracle Exalytics and SAP HANA plat-
Having mapped use cases and types of current IT systems, we can forms. We include all applications that cover supply chain planning
apply the resulting framework to delineate a potential arena for emerg- and execution capabilities [49] or support integrated business planning
ing in-memory analytics applications in SCM. Monitor-and-navigate use and execution in the value chain context [42]. Consequently, classical
cases are the key domain of BI systems [40]. Classical BI systems perform planning processes such as mid-term S&OP and transactional processes,
48 G.J. Hahn, J. Packowski / Decision Support Systems 76 (2015) 4552

including purchase-to-pay, plan-to-ship, and order-to-cash, are in scope. resulted in 23 additional applications and a total of 39 applications
Solutions have to be self-standing applications that are more than merely from the SAP ecosystem.
re-implementations of existing solutions using in-memory technology The 41 applications in focus of this survey were categorized along
support. We also exclude solutions that provide only frameworks to two dimensions: use case and functional domain. We applied the deni-
develop mobility, reporting, and/or visualization features. Finally, applica- tion of the four use cases described above including the related method-
tions and solutions need to be ofcially released by May 2014. ological requirements. For the categorization with respect to the
In the context of Oracle's Exalytics platform, we identied eleven functional domain, we used the following denitions [49,42]: Opera-
in-memory applications [50]. Oracle also provides a set of prepackaged tions management covers the classical value chain activities of pro-
reports and data models for real-time reporting that lack self-standing curement, production, and distribution, while sales management is
application functionality and thus were not considered in this survey. concerned with all decisions at the customer interface regarding selec-
Six solutions were excluded since they are re-implementations of tion of the productmarket portfolio, pricing and sales volume planning,
existing applications with a focus on scalability and processing speed and operational order promising. Integrated business management con-
[14,26]. Another three solutions do not deal with value chain-related siders aspects of coordinating sales and operations management deci-
topics and thus are out of scope. We could not nd any applications sions as well as nancial and risk management implications in supply
or solutions from third-party vendors that are built on Oracle's in- chain decision-making. To ensure a high degree of inter-subjectivity of
memory platform. Consequently, two applications remained from the the categorization, we followed a two-step approach of discursive align-
Oracle ecosystem for this survey. ment of interpretation [56]: First, all 41 applications were classied by
Within the SAP ecosystem, we identied 35 applications directly both authors independently. Secondly, deviating classications were
provided by SAP [51] of which 18 do not belong to the value chain discussed intensively until consensus could be reached. The results are
context. One application was removed since it represents the re- summarized in Table 1.
implementation of an existing application using in-memory technology
support. Furthermore, there is a larger set of applications from third-
party vendors and solution providers that are built on the SAP HANA 3.2. Monitor-and-navigate use cases
platform. To this end, we identied 98 solutions from four sources:
(i) 11 released SAP-certied partner solutions [52], (ii) 38 solutions There is a large set of dashboard applications that support process
presented as the result of two SAP-initiated competitions among solu- execution in sales and operations management, allowing for real-time
tion providers in 2013 [27,53], (iii) 44 solutions for procurement, tracking and investigation of predened performance metrics [27,52].
manufacturing, SCM, and sales listed in SAP's marketplace [54], and These applications support specic activities in purchase-to-pay,
(iv) ve solutions presented during a conference hosted at MIT in plan-to-ship, and order-to-cash processes. This includes purchasing
November 2012 [55]. and goods receipt processing (12), product/recipe, equipment, and
Removing seven duplicates and ten solutions that cover functionali- manufacturing process management (36), inventory, warehouse, and
ty only for mobility, reporting, and/or visualization support, we obtain distribution management (710) in the operations domain as well as
81 self-standing in-memory analytics applications of which 54 do not sales order tracking and fulllment (1114), and collections processing
belong to the value chain context. Four applications were excluded (15) in the sales domain. A group of applications in the sales domain
since they represent re-implementations of existing solutions using (1618) is tailored specically to the needs of retail store managers
in-memory technology support. Consequently, this investigation supporting sales and inventory navigation [53,54].

Table 1
Overview of emerging in-memory analytics applications in SCM.

Use case Functional domain

Operations management Sales management Integrated business management

Monitor-and-navigate 1 SAP SB for Purchasing 11 Infosys RFID-enabled Order Tracking 19 SAP SB for Advanced Planning
2 SAP Invoice and Goods Receipt Reconciliation 12 Uniorg Order Tracking and Optimization
3 SAP SB for Product Lifecycle Management 13 SAP SB for Sales Order Fulllment 20 SAP Supply Chain Info Center
4 pol Solutions OEE Maschinendaten Cockpit 14 Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne In-Memory 21 SAP Working Capital Analytics
(Equipment Data Cockpit) Sales Advisor
5 SAP OEE Management 15 SAP Collection Insight
6 Systema Big Data Real Time Analysis for Manufacturing 16 Weissbeerger Alcohol Analytics
7 SAP SB for Inventory Management 17 NexVisionIX IX-Decision
8 SAP SB for Extended Warehouse Management 18 FIT Solutions TRENDBOX
9 SAP SB for Transportation Management
10 SAP SB for Event Management

Sense-and-respond 22 SAP Supplier Infonet 26 SAP Demand Signal Management


23 Infosys SC Risk Management
24 MHP Realtime Quality Assurance
25 WarwickAnalytics SigmaGuardian

Predict-and-act 27 Gicom SKM Strategic Condition Management 31 IBM Filialbestandsoptimierung 37 Trufa SCOOP
28 Infosys Asset Optimization (Branch Inventory Optimization) 38 Cundus Bandbreitenplanung
29 Clockwork Insight LCM 32 J&M Weather-correlated Planning (Range Planning)
30 Infosys SC Performance Simulator 33 OPAL Forecast
34 CubeServ Aktives Preismanagement
(Proactive Pricing)
35 Ciber Prot Boost Sales
36 We Predict Indico

Plan-and-optimize 39 CAMELOT Logistic Transport Cost Analyzer 41 SAP Sales and Operations Planning
40 Oracle SCM In-Memory Logistics Command Center
SB = Smart Business.
G.J. Hahn, J. Packowski / Decision Support Systems 76 (2015) 4552 49

Three applications (1921) assume a more comprehensive perspec- Sales (35), which apply cluster and regression analyses to sales order
tive on value chain processes [51]. They support supply chain planners data for this purpose [27,63]. We Predict Indico (36) supports automo-
by tracking planning metrics such as forecast accuracy and stock cover- tive manufacturers with respect to the analysis and prediction of com-
age and deal with cash cycle management as well as corresponding ponent reliability to manage aftersale costs due to customer claims [64].
metrics such as days sales and payables outstanding. Furthermore, Two applications have been identied for the domain of integrated
they provide decision support by visualizing and/or simulating a range business management: Trufa SCOOP (37) aims at identifying levers for
of planning scenarios. optimizing cash cycle management via correlation analysis and simula-
tion of order-to-cash process metrics [65]. Monte Carlo simulation is
3.3. Sense-and-respond use cases applied in Cundus Bandbreitenplanung (Range Planning) (38) to quantify
the risk impact of uncertain business parameters [66].
Sense-and-respond applications go one step further and apply
predictive analytics to discover patterns in the data and to derive corre- 3.5. Plan-and-optimize use cases
sponding responses for real-time decision-making. They can be catego-
rized in accordance with the three major risk sources in SCM [57]: CAMELOT Logistic Transport Cost Analyzer (39) and Oracle SCM
supply, operations, and demand risk. Our survey includes two applica- In-Memory Logistics Command Center (40) enable interactive analyses
tions for supply risk management: SAP Supplier Infonet (22) tracks and scenario simulations of logistics networks [67,50]. This includes
supplier-related metrics also from third-party sources to observe what-if analyses concerning operational performance levers such as de-
(negative) changes in supplier performance and to identify sourcing al- livery service levels and impact analyses of changes in external business
ternatives [51]. Infosys SC Risk Management (23) investigates the impact parameters including exchange rates, fuel prices, and carrier rates.
of disruptions and breakdowns in the supply chain on order fulllment These applications can also be used to evaluate strategic network con-
by highlighting critical orders and nding alternative sourcing, gurations with respect to location, route or productmarket selections.
manufacturing, and/or distribution opportunities [58]. By this means, they complement planning in APS systems at the strate-
MHP Real-time Quality Assurance (24) is concerned with operations gic and tactical levels by providing a more granular and accurate view
risk due to quality issues. The solution monitors data from engine test insofar as transactional data are used to model the network ows. For
benches at automotive manufacturers which allows for early cancelation the sales domain, we could not identify novel applications that support
of defective test runs [59]. In a stage of extension, further data will be plan-and-optimize use cases.
collected during endurance testing and evaluated against the data from SAP Sales and Operations Planning (41) supports collaborative
the test bench to adjust test settings automatically [27]. Exploratory root S&OP by connecting statistical forecasting for demand planning with
cause analysis with respect to operations risks from product or process rough-cut multi-level supply planning that uses heuristic and
faults is in the focus of WarwickAnalytics SigmaGuardian (25) [60]. optimization-based approaches. A number of planning views can be
SAP Demand Signal Management (26) represents an application for created to simulate the effect of changes on specic metrics, which in
sensing changes in end-customer demand by integrating data from turn can be populated back to the baseline scenario [51]. In this respect,
various sources such as internal sales as well as external point-of-sale, the application combines only well-established functionality from APS
market research, and social media data. Reporting and analytics are systems but strengthens the aspects of collaborative and interactive plan-
connected to other applications such as SAP Trade Promotion Planning ning that improve the traceability of results and ease cross-functional co-
to derive corresponding measures that mitigate demand risk [51]. ordination [29].

3.4. Predict-and-act use cases 4. Implications for research and industrial practice

Our survey covers 12 applications for predict-and-act use cases. Contrasting top-down and bottom-up perspectives on in-memory
Gicom SKM Strategic Condition Management (27) provides insight into analytics applications in SCM, we now discuss implications for research
purchasing spend and uses simulation to support strategic procurement and industrial practice. Half of the applications considered in the survey
by predicting the impact of changes to purchase volumes and discount support monitor-and-navigate use cases with respect to a broad range
rates [54]. Infosys Asset Optimization (28) and Clockwork Insight LCM of operational value chain processes. This conrms the initial hypothesis
(29) concern predictive maintenance in operations management and that real-time analytics using transactional data in contrast to conven-
provide visibility into equipment-related metrics such as availability tional OLAP-based BI using aggregated data represents a novel and
and utilization [58,61]. Infosys SC Performance Simulator (30) investi- promising eld of application in SCM that is enabled by in-memory
gates the trade-off between delivery and cost effectiveness in supply database technology. Consequently, this group of applications has re-
chains and uses predictive analytics to connect performance levers ceived concentrated attention from software providers, which can be
such as quality and timeliness as well as productivity and unit cost explained by the fact that read-only applications with limited analytical
[58]. By this means, the application assumes a more comprehensive per- capabilities are easier to implement compared with write-access appli-
spective on operational performance in contrast to APS systems that are cations given the architecture of in-memory database systems [24].
focused mostly on timeliness and productivity. Further research is needed to evaluate whether promised second-
Within the domain of sales management, IBM order benets of this novel type of application can be veried due to a
Filialbestandsoptimierung (Branch Inventory Optimization) (31) more proactive and event-driven business management approach.
facilitates the re-allocation of retail stocks across branches, The group of sense-and-respond applications is currently rather
which is especially relevant for products with a nite selling small and thus provides ample development opportunities, especially
season such as fashion items. The application uses predictive in the eld of manufacturing execution. One might think of more
analytics to forecast sales as well as inventory coverage and sophisticated approaches such as statistical process control or
proposes corresponding stock transfers to avoid lost sales and automated exploratory data analysis to manage operations risk, aiming
costly end-of-season markdowns [27]. J&M Weather-correlated at improved product quality and process efciency [12,68]. Real-time
Planning (32) and OPAL Forecasting (33) apply multivariate analytics applications as outlined above in combination with sensor-
statistical methods to integrate weather data into demand fore- based technology could serve as a starting point for these approaches,
casting for fresh food supply chains [27,62]. which involve substantial value potential of 10 to 25% in operating
Pricing and sales margin improvements are in focus of CubeServ cost reductions [37]. Corresponding applications would also address
Aktives Preismanagement (Proactive Pricing) (34) and Ciber Prot Boost the abovementioned decit of APS systems by closing the gap between
50 G.J. Hahn, J. Packowski / Decision Support Systems 76 (2015) 4552

the planning and execution levels in operations management. Integrated we also see concepts and applications that promote vertical integration
business management tools represent a second avenue for further devel- of the planning level with shop oor control.
opment by connecting supply- and demand-side sense-and-respond ap- However, we observe only modest progress from a methodological
plications that allow for bi-directional orchestration of the value chain point of view since all of the abovementioned applications use
[25,69]. well-established analytics approaches. Moreover, aspects of optimal
Applications for predict-and-act use cases cover a broad range of lot-sizing and manufacturing systems design are still not covered
forecasting and simulation approaches in sales and operations manage- appropriately and the lack of a stochastic planning approach in APS
ment as well as integrated business management. Consequently, topics systems remains the single most critical issue from both the research
such as predictive maintenance or aftersales management, pricing and and practice perspectives. At this time, we have to conclude that supply
margin management, and nancial performance and risk management chain managers will only do things (slightly) differently and not start
are integrated into the value chain context. The afnity of in-memory doing different things as a result of emerging in-memory-enabled
database systems for predictive analytics might be one explanation for decision support.
this comparably large group of applications for predict-and-act use
cases in this survey. Due to the integrated data model that contains ma-
terial and nancial ow information from transactional ERP systems, 5. Conclusion and outlook for further research
the investigated applications provide avenues for resolving the inade-
quate functional integration of APS systems into adjacent domains In this paper, we provided a comprehensive perspective on applica-
such as marketing and nance. One major direction for further develop- tions of in-memory analytics in SCM to answer the question whether
ment could be the integration of predictive queuing and discrete-event novel approaches will fundamentally change supply chain decision-
simulation methodology into packaged predictive analytics libraries. making. The paper was structured around three contributions: First, a
This would provide the opportunity to develop analytics applications conceptual framework was developed from the top-down to unify mul-
for performance evaluation and design of manufacturing systems [70] tiple taxonomies and to typecast coherent use cases, allowing us to
that use transactional data from manufacturing execution systems for identify a potential arena for in-memory analytics applications. Second,
this purpose. 41 in-memory analytics applications for SCM were mapped from the
APS systems play a dominant role in SCM with a focus on plan-and- bottom-up to the framework to provide an overview of current focus
optimize use cases, which might provide an explanation for the rather and perspectives for further development. In a nal step, we derived im-
small set of emerging in-memory analytics applications in this eld. plications for research and industrial practice in this eld by contrasting
Despite this, the survey shows that there is an arena for corresponding the aforementioned top-down and bottom-up perspectives.
applications that complement APS systems with improved scenario Our ndings can be summarized as follows: Analytical DSS in SCM
analysis and detailed network modeling capabilities. Moreover, there can be structured along four use cases according to the required capabil-
are several uncovered areas in the domains of sales management and ities and underlying methodologies. Monitor-and-navigate use cases
integrated business management. Perhaps it would be possible to are well-established and supported by BI systems. The benets of
apply classical operations research methods from revenue management in-memory database technology in this eld relate mainly to real-time
[71] to larger sets of sales order data in real time. Furthermore, aspects data availability and unied data models integrating transactional and
of working capital management and especially cash cycle as well as analytical business processes. Consequently, a large set of dashboard
liquidity management are not covered in operational planning although applications has emerged that support operational processes with
they are closely related to S&OP [42]. analytical insights.
Unfortunately, the survey on emerging in-memory analytics appli- In the survey, we found a small but growing number of in-memory
cations in SCM has not revealed novel approaches to managing variabil- analytics applications that support sense-and-respond use cases and a
ity in supply chains. For instance, variability originates from uncertain comparably larger group of applications for predict-and-act use cases.
planning parameters such as demand volumes or cost rates and sto- This development is consistent with current coverage of analytical deci-
chastic inuences that impact on equipment availabilities, processing sion support in SCM since those applications close functional gaps or
times, or production yields. Both dimensions of variability are typically simply adopt proven functionality from special-purpose solutions.
addressed separately: stochastic programming-based approaches In-memory database technology provides the corresponding platform
including their robust and data-driven extensions are concerned mostly with an integrated data model and functional libraries that make predic-
with parameter uncertainty [72,73] while queuing theory-related tive analytics capabilities available to a broader group of non-expert
methods focus on modeling the behavior of stochastic manufacturing users. By this means, the evolution of in-memory analytics proves to be
systems [44,70]. Consequently, a unied stochastic planning approach highly analogous to the development and diffusion of APS systems.
that addresses both external parameter uncertainty and stochasticity APS systems have strongly beneted from advancements in in-
in internal operations is still open for research. Since both approaches memory technology that have helped to resolve architectural shortcom-
combine predictive and prescriptive analytics [44,74], in-memory data- ings and to further improve performance of plan-and-optimize use
base systems could provide an appropriate platform for implementa- cases. Managing variability and thus resolving the deterministic plan-
tion. However, a modeling framework for non-expert users that can ning approach of APS systems remains the most critical development
be applied to real-life large-scale problems in a day-to-day planning area in our opinion. With lean planning, however, a practice-oriented
environment would be a necessary prerequisite from the practice approach has been presented that at least aims at reducing the impact
perspective. of variability as long as there is no comprehensive stochastic planning
Our conclusion is that emerging in-memory technology has further approach to resolve the variability issue in APS systems. We therefore
enhanced and expanded the landscape of analytics applications that conclude that supply chain managers will, for the time being, only do
provide decision support for a more diverse set of use cases compared things (slightly) differently and not start doing different things.
with the narrow focus of incumbent APS systems on plan-and- Opportunities for further research include in-depth analyses of
optimize use cases. By integrating processes at the interface with in-memory analytics applications for SCM to investigate their technical
marketing and nance, in-memory analytics applications extend the architecture, methodological contribution, and potential business benets
operations-centric view of SCM to a value chain perspective. This in greater detail. A further opportunity would be to survey companies that
includes product and engineering-related topics as well as aspects of have successfully implemented emerging in-memory analytics applica-
aftersales management that are closely interlinked with core supply tions in SCM in order to study how processes, organizational structures,
chain activities. Besides horizontal integration with adjacent domains, and operational performance have been inuenced by the adoption.
G.J. Hahn, J. Packowski / Decision Support Systems 76 (2015) 4552 51

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Decision Support Systems 42 (2007) 21972218.

Gerd J. Hahn is an Assistant Professor for Supply Chain


Management at the University of Mannheim, Germany.
Prior to this, he has worked several years as a manage-
ment consultant on strategic IT management issues. He
received his Ph.D. in Management Science from Catholic
University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt in 2011. His research
has been published in the Journal of the Operational Re-
search Society, the International Journal of Production
Economics, Decision Support Systems, and several con-
ference proceedings. He has presented his work at the
Annual Meeting of the POM Society, the European Confer-
ence on Operational Research, and the INFORMS Annual
Meeting. His research interests focus on decision support
and IT systems in supply chain management, supply chain
performance and risk management, supply chain nance, and robust optimization
methods.

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