RedPrairie Announces New Execution Management Features for Retailers


Empowers stores to maximize employee performance, driving revenue growth and increasing productivity throughout the store chain



NRF Annual Convention 2008

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–RedPrairie Corporation, a leading consumer-driven optimization company, today announced the release of major new enhancements to its Execution Management application, the first execution management software to be fully integrated with a workforce management solution. New features of RedPrairies software provide task planners, gatekeepers and store managers a comprehensive view of store operations and workloads to enable customization and optimization of projects and tasks. Enhanced functionality also empowers the store with additional localized detail and customization, providing a vehicle to implement individual store best practices that drive revenue growth and increase employee productivity throughout the store chain.


One of the biggest problems facing national retailers today is the disconnect between the strategy created at headquarters and the execution of specific initiatives at the store level. Antiquated manual processes for disseminating information and the inability to capture and share feedback from individual stores has led to unacceptable communications breakdowns, gross inefficiencies and missed sales opportunities, said Noel Goggin, General Manager, Execution Management, for RedPrairie.


Goggin continued, To succeed in todays extremely competitive market, retailers need two-way, real-time communication with stores to quickly delegate and prioritize corporate initiatives, plans and policies and gather best practices. This way, every store associate is empowered to deliver exceptional customer service and focus on maximizing sales opportunities.


RedPrairies Execution Management solution creates a feedback loop between the stores and the corporate office, opening communication lines between headquarters and field teams. This enables the best practices at individual stores to be communicated quickly and consistently across the store chain.


More than ever, retailers recognize that chain-wide automation solutions provide enormous value to the previously time-consuming and revenue-limiting sets of issues that are common across the retail chain, said Kim Eaton, RedPrairies Executive Vice President, Field Operations, Americas. RedPrairie is continually responding to the demands of these retailers to ensure that our customers can effectively leverage the voice of their stores, driving corporate strategy and innovation and empowering revenue growth.


The new features of Execution Management include:


Task Escalation – provides the ability for a store associate to escalate an issue that is blocking task completion to the appropriate resources within the organization to assure the issue is resolved as soon as possible.


Multiple Roles Per User To ensure complete shift coverage, store users who are authorized to work at multiple locations now have the ability to access details for different jobs at each location through the application using a single login. Store users also have the ability to assume multiple roles within a single store to cover an extended leave or position opening.


Event Information on Calendar – This new view enables users to add and edit event-related activities on a calendar. Users can provide detailed explanations of each event, and it also allows store managers to set up store specific meetings, events, and training periods for better planning and communication within the store.


Automated Task Expiration Sometimes tasks are not completed on time, and their relevance to the operations of the stores expire after a period of time. To keep priority tasks top of mind for users, the application provides the capability to specify a time frame after the task due date when a task expires and is automatically completed in the application.


Vacation Coverage Across Field Hierarchy To further ensure complete shift coverage, managers now have the ability to set vacation coverage and assign users in other locations to cover for them during their absence.


Email Process Status Reporting/Alerts Supervisory users now have the ability to receive project status reports directly from the application, and these notifications can be viewed on email-enabled mobile devices such as the Blackberry, thereby increasing access to critical task status information while users are away from a computer terminal.


Task Start Work Dates To better prioritize workloads, users are not allowed to complete tasks before commencement of the Start Work Date. This enforces the best practices defined for the organization and decreases the opportunity for invalid task completion metrics to be captured by the application.


Labor Budget Reporting Users responsible for scheduling tasks can now view residual or remaining labor budgets for better planning. Budgets can be reviewed based upon a number of factors and filters.


About RedPrairie Corporation


RedPrairie is a world leading consumer driven optimization company. Built on an advanced Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) developed over the past 15 years, the RedPrairie integrated suite of solutions offers on-demand capabilities to over 32,000 sites worldwide for many of the worlds largest companies.


RedPrairies E2e solutions synchronize people and products throughout the customer buying cycle to ensure goods reach the right place at the right time. At the point of sale, this means consumers have access to desired products and that the store is staffed with the right people to help them make their purchases. In the production cycle, it means suppliers and manufacturers time and synchronize shipments and production based on demand signals from the retailer. And in the back room of the store, it means having the least amount of inventory, solving the last yard problem of the retail supply chain.


With 20 global service sites and standard service methods that have been validated over the last 30 years, RedPrairie provides unparalleled service and support. For additional information, call 1.877.733.7724, or access www.RedPrairie.com.


RedPrairie is a registered trademark of RedPrairie Corporation.


E2e is a trademark of RedPrairie Corporation.


© 2008 RedPrairie Corporation. All Rights Reserved.