I read an interesting article by Alex Woodie of IT Jungle about the JDA´s recent acquisition of Manugistics. It was quite interesting for me so here I have brought some part of it:

As promised, JDA Software Group delivered a product roadmap document that outlines the types of capabilities that users can expect following its July acquisition of supply chain planning vendor Manugistics. The company is clear in its roadmap concerning its strategic goal of providing the software for building what it calls a "customer-driven value chain." However, the product roadmap glosses over the nitty-gritty details about how it will move hundreds of satisfied iSeries-using customers to Windows-based products.

JDA, which is expanding its expertise up the supply chain from merchandise management systems used by retailers into the planning systems used by those in the distribution and manufacturing disciplines, is very clear in describing, at a high level, what it needs to do to make its dream of a customer-driven value chain a reality. "The key driver for enabling the customer-driven value chain is the ability to provide a single view of demand . . . ," the company says in its new product roadmap "micro-site," which you can visit at www.jda.com/roadmap/default.asp (some personal contact information may be required).

JDA's roadmap--delivered August 31, in the third quarter, as promised--is full of details related to the specific capabilities the company plans to deliver in the wake of the Manugistics acquisition, such as a workflow-driven planning solution that synchronizes all metrics and helps maximize profitability and sales per square foot; new demand-based forecasting capabilities that reduce pre-season forecast error; the use of multiple forecasting algorithms and methodologies to improve forecasts across all types of products, "including fast-moving, slow-moving, lumpy, short life-cycle, trending, steady, highly seasonal, and causal driven" products; and demand-driven manufacturing planning and scheduling solutions for process and discrete manufacturers that blend best practices such as Lean, Six Sigma, and Agile Manufacturing strategies.

There are many other capabilities described in this document that show JDA is on top of its game when it comes to developing next-generation supply chain solutions. In fact, the company and its current and future products are being heralded for their breadth of capabilities, which some are saying can't even be matched by industry giants like Oracle and SAP for completeness. For example, AMR Research, the analyst group respected for its research in the ERP and related product markets, is very bullish on the enterprise software vendor from Scottsdale Arizona, and sees JDA having a big chance at filling a large gap in current demand-driven supply chain solutions.

But what is less clear in JDA's roadmap are the tactical decisions the company will have to make to achieve its value chain strategy. Most importantly for readers of this newsletter, the roadmap says nothing about how JDA will deal with its significant IBM iSeries installed base as it executes a Microsoft .NET-based development plan. On a more basic level, the roadmap is also missing key details that you would expect to find in a product roadmap, such as the names of products, and forecasts of when such capability will be delivered in these products.

JDA is planning an extensive overhaul to its core products, but you wouldn't know it from looking at the roadmap available on its Web site. Concerning platforms, the "product roadmap" from JDA--one of the early devotees and beneficiaries of the AS/400's success--only says that its strategy moving forward is a "joint .NET- and J2EE-optimized common framework," and that it will use a service oriented architecture (SOA) to "drive alignment across all JDA products, providing a common user experience and navigation, and delivering a truly integrated solution to the market."

What this means, and what the roadmap doesn't say, is that it wants to migrate 300 to 400 users of its core OS/400-based Merchandise Management System (MMS-i), and another 100 or so users of its OS/400-based planning system acquired from E3, to new solutions that will be written in .NET, so that they won't have to undertake expensive and unnatural integration projects. (While it is planning at some point to start pushing this migration, it committed in 2005 to supporting the old OS/400 applications for at least 10 years.) Company officials have said they are considering supporting the DB2/400 database. However, the company hasn't yet made a decision whether DB2/400 will be supported with its new Strategic Demand Management (SDM) solutions, which are due to start arriving in the first quarter of 2007. Supporting DB2/400 could help pacify migration resistance among its influential MMS-i user base, but it raises its own batch of ugly integration problems, which was one of the main reasons for moving whole-hog to .NET in the first place.