Performance Management the Focus of Logility Voyager Solutions 7.5

Published: February 28, 2006

by Alex Woodie

Logility this month began shipping a new release of supply chain management software for OS/400 and other server operating systems called Voyager Solutions version 7.5. The operative phrase to describe this release is "performance management," and the Atlanta software company has worked to integrate performance management into all of Voyager's modules.

Companies will be better able to view current market trends and anticipate possible changes with the new key performance indicators (KPIs) included in the demand chain planning portion of the suite. This component is focused on managing supply chain performance, shaping demand, and sharing forecasts and replenishment plans with customers, suppliers, and logistics partners. Users can now use the Web to release purchasing, manufacturing, and transfer orders to customers and suppliers using the new online capabilities in the Supply Chain Planning module, which also gains new load-building capabilities for unconstrained replenishment, and the capability to model long-range constraint-based plans, the company says.

The whole process of shipping freight should be easier with the new release of the Transportation Planning and Management module, which Logility says have received general "optimization" and "streamlining." There were also enhancements to make it easier to manage accounts in multi-modal shipping operations. The Warehouse Management component has also been enhanced with new capabilities in the areas of consolidation in order shipping; unit splitting for improved workflow efficiency; dynamic allocation from containers; advanced shipment planning and automatic shipment notice (ASN) receipt; and more flexible picking/putaway workflows.

Voyager 7.5 also gains support for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), which enables the software to share user identity credentials with a variety of LDAP-compliant directory systems, including Microsoft Active Directory, IBM Tivoli Directory Server, and Novell eDirectory.

The new release has gotten kudos from Lora Cecere, a research director with the IT analyst firm AMR Research. In a September 1 AMR Research Alert, Cecere wrote: "Unlike many of its competitors, Logility continues to successfully launch products with sufficient improvements to make customers want to upgrade. The 7.5 release appears to continue this tradition."

The Voyager Solutions run on OS/400, Unix, and Windows servers, and are primarily aimed at companies in the consumer goods, food and beverage, apparel, durable goods, wholesale distribution, and aftermarket service parts.