Benefits report

The Benefits report is created as a result of the Optimization service optimizing your orders with both user-defined and pre-defined parameters. Then, these parameters are used to generate the Benefits report. The Benefits report is generated from the data that is available in the transaction logs.

Date ranges

To view the benefits report, select any of the following date ranges:
  • Today
  • Last 7 days
  • Last 30 days
  • Custom

Net benefits

Select a date range to view the following key benefits that are measured:
Shipping benefit
The cost-savings incurred by optimizing orders to reduce the shipping costs.
Processing benefit
The reduction in processing costs that are associated with order handling.
Markdown avoidance
The benefit gained from preventing the discount of inventory items.
Stockout avoidance
The benefit derived from minimizing out-of-stock occurrences.
Artificial markdown reduction
The benefit of avoiding markdowns by comparing optimized outcomes against a baseline that could lead to markdowns.

Optimization settings

Toggle Show optimization settings to view the following optimization objectives:
  • Minimizing shipping cost
  • Minimizing processing cost
  • Balancing node cost
  • Avoiding markdowns
  • Avoiding stockouts
Optimization settings are used to lower fulfillment costs. For more information, see Optimization objectives.

Report parameters

There are two types of parameters used in the Benefits report.

Pre-defined parameters
Based on pre-defined parameters, the following fields are available in the report:
  • Shipping cost
  • Processing cost
  • Node-balancing cost
  • SIP Premium contentStockout avoidance cost
  • SIP Premium contentMarkdown avoidance cost
User-defined parameters
You define these parameters in the Optimization settings.

Aggregates

In the Aggregates tab, view the benefits in relation to the Aggregate KPIs. For more information, see Aggregate KPIs.

Node breakdown

In the Node breakdown tab, view the benefits in relation to the node-related KPIs for distribution centers (DCs) and stores. For more information, see Node breakdown KPIs.

KPI data

When you select the time frame for the Benefits report, you can include the current date in your selected date range to get the most recent data. For example, you can select the date range including the current date for the non-inventory Key Performance Indicators (KPI) such as total shipping cost and total processing cost.

The inventory KPI data is updated once a week; on any day that is set up to run the jobs. The Benefits report shows the Inventory Benefit data only up to the equivalent day of the previous week. For example, if the inventory KPI data is updated on a Wednesday each week, the Benefits report shows the Inventory Benefit data only up to the previous Wednesday. Similarly, if the inventory KPI data is updated on a Monday each week, the Benefits report shows the Inventory Benefits data only up to the previous Monday.

Shadow optimization and KPI calculations

Shadow optimization is used to simulate and compare benefits against a base solution, helping to assess the impact of optimization strategies. This optimization enables IBM Sterling Intelligent Promising to calculate the benefits that are related to specific business objectives. As a result, you can get a better understanding of how you benefit from using Sterling Intelligent Promising.

Shadow optimization is enabled for every order. This enables the optimizer to capture the data required for Benefit report calculations.

The shadow optimization can be compared to a base solution to determine the benefit of using shipping models.

For more information, see Viewing the benefits report.