Oracle Demand Management Cloud. A quick introduction and comparison to Demantra.

Oracle Demand Management Cloud is Oracle's Cloud version of their old flagship Forecasting solution Demantra. ODMC contains the core elements of the Bayesian Engine, Forecast Trees, Casual Factors, Series & Processes Flows found in the Demand Planning & Advanced Forecasting Modules of Demantra, but it simplifies and yet also expands the capabilities of the older solution that was bought by Oracle back in 2006.

Yes, Demantra is a considerably more complex and customisable tool than ODMC and because of its long-term, widespread usage and relationship with on-premise ERP solutions (eBusiness, JD Edwards etc. & SAP before Oracle bought it) Demantra remains inherently more versatile for those companies who need to create really complex, custom solutions.

Demantra has Promotion and Trade Management capabilities that ODMC doesn't have, and it has many more pre-defined series to be twist into whatever processes you might dream of. Two years ago, I would have said Demantra was inherently more stable and versatile than ODMC, but the last few years have seen excellent improvement in the stability, data volume capability and working functionality of the Cloud solution.

OK, so ODMC is not entirely free from application grumbles (custom links between objects don't always work, the toolbar disappears when you click on a table and the save-data button is like a lost child) but these are acceptable quibbles when held up to the quality of Demand Management's planning capabilities. It has properly useful Plan & Data segmentation functions and the User Interface configuring capabilities are real leap forward too.

I have no doubt that the links and toolbar issues will be resolved in forthcoming automatic updates. Yes, automatic updates. Those fixes and additional functions keep rolling on in. No down-time. No UAT. No Migration. Too Easy! I'm not sure about the save-data button though, having spoken to Oracle Development I think that one might remain where it is.

I intend to create quite a lot of articles about this terrific Cloud module over the coming weeks and months to showcase what it can do, as well as occasionally, what it can't (or shouldn't be made to do) with examples, explanations, screenshots and comparisons to other applications.

If you have questions on how Oracle Demand Management Cloud or Oracle Demantra can be made to function to fit your purposes or, indeed any Demand Planning issues please get in touch & I will leap into action.