CRS - Forecast Performance Update

All

As you are aware there were some severe issues with the FORECAST application in the CRS last month – to the user, it looked like the data was not sending and templates would continue running for much, much longer than the send times seen in previous months. This meant that you had considerable difficulty in completing your April forecasts. This was particularly true for Howden units who were working in 5 products rather than one for the first time.

Observations
At the time we were unable to identify any cause for this and the load on the system was within normal limits. After 3 or 4 days everything seemed to go back to normal – although this obviously coincided with you managing to complete your data input.

However, while monitoring the servers we were able to confirm that the data was sending to the database in the normal time and that this step in the Forecast process was completing correctly. From our investigations and discussions with affected users, it appears that it was the execution of certain logic and business rules and the subsequent refresh of the data that appeared to be causing the problem.

What We Have Done
- We have been unable to recreate the issue in our TEST or on the PRODUCTION system
- External consultants have been engaged to look at this, but without being able to recreate the problem they have little to go on
- We have been working on the forecast process so that complicated logic will not run every time you press send. This means that you will now need to run the logic as a separate step, but on the plus side we have reduced the number of templates that you have to open. Our testing on the TEST system shows an improvement of at least 50% on the send time when comparing the times of the new 2 step process against the old one step process (eg at March close).

===>We will provide you with detailed instructions on this change before the start of the May close.

- Our external consultants agree that while this may not be the final answer, it should improve things and may flush out the causes of the problems
- In addition, we are looking at more radical short term actions to reduce data volumes in the FORECAST application

How this affects you in May month end
- Some steps in the forecast process will be changed and you will be provided with detailed instructions on this.
- If the same thing is seen to happen again this month, we recommend the following:
- That you wait no longer than 15 minutes before closing the input template (Use Start Programs\Windows Security\task manager if necessary)
- When you input any data, have the equivalent report open at the same time – e.g. if you are inputting gross margin, have a gross margin report open. Then, if it seems to be working slowly, you can refresh the report to check that your data has sent before closing the template
- IMPORTANT -Please send a ticket to the helpdesk immediately if this is happening to you - we need to be able to look at the system when the problem is actually ocurring

Howard