New version of Quintiq planning software offers more functionality and ease of use

Quintiq has released a new version of its Advanced Planning and Scheduling software. Version 4.0 of the software offers a variety of new and improved capabilities and functions that make the planning process more transparent and information available faster. Users of version 4.0 will experience considerable time savings and will be able to react more quickly to the needs and challenges in the field of planning.

The Quintiq software distinguishes itself through its adaptability and flexibility as all variables that play a role in the planning process can be taken into consideration when making a planning.

Victor Allis, Quintiq CEO, says: “In our continuing search for a quicker and simplified implementation and management process of our planning application, this comprehensive upgrade has led to a significant improvement for our customers and partners. The combination of more functionality and improved configurability results in more added value. Especially the new scenario capabilities offer customers a detailed insight into the consequences of various planning decisions.”

Quintiq 4.0 offers the following new features:

What-if Scenarios: Version 4.0 introduces a fundamentally new structure for data sets that has built-in scalable support for creating and comparing what-if scenarios. This enables users to safely and conveniently explore the consequences of various planning decisions by investigating their effects in alternative scenarios. Examples include exploring various production strategies in macro planning, and evaluating standard day or week plans in rail systems, or alternative rosters in workforce applications. This new framework also allows decisions to be based on a better understanding of the impact of a customer’s options.

Faster Start-Up: In version 4.0, Quintiq has expanded internal storage to include all the values of declarative data and structures. This ensures that recalculation is no longer needed at server start-up, which greatly reduces the total start-up time. With this new storage strategy the Quintiq system becomes available faster, especially when a restart is necessary.

Robust Interfacing: An additional change in the Quintiq storage strategy means that problems connecting to or communicating with external data sources no longer impact Quintiq functions. As well as storing the declaratively derived information, the software also stores vital data from external systems. As a result, a user can work with the Quintiq system regardless of the availability of external systems. When an interface produces an error, the Quintiq server is unaffected and remains available for planning purposes. Once the problem with the interface is solved, a user can simply import the new data.

Background Processing: The fundamental changes Quintiq has instituted in the data structure enable the server to optimize or calculate in the background, without slowing a user down. Time-intensive calculation processes, such as advanced optimization algorithms, are often necessary to achieve business benefits. Examples are generation of the next day’s plan in Logistics or the finite capacity plan in Company Planner, which prior to version 4.0 could not be done while the system was being used for planning. Now, execution in different data sets is independent, so lengthy computations may be performed in parallel data sets. This means a user can start time-intensive tasks in the background, while at the same time continuing normal planning.

Knowledge Bases: Invalid knowledge is now easily detected through the use of knowledge validity rules. Several types of rules can be used, allowing the system to check whether knowledge is unique and whether columns contain only the allowed values. Data integrity can also be verified across multiple tables. In version 4.0, Quintiq introduces improved knowledge sharing, Excel® integration and validity checks. The knowledge server enables knowledge tables to be shared between multiple Quintiq applications. This speeds the updating process and prevents knowledge maintenance anomalies when applications use the same knowledge.

Improved user interface: The Quintiq user interface now has a full Windows XP look & feel. In addition, version 4.0 provides a more flexible, user-friendly interface and improved access to tool-tip information. This includes new icon sets, color schemes, and easier configuring of the user interface.