Background

1. What is Drummond Group, Inc. (DGI)?

General

2. What is interoperability and why is it important?
3. What is tested in the interoperability tests?
4. What is CPFR® and who oversees it?
5. What is the mission of the CPFR® Committee?
6. How often are VICS CPFR® meetings held and where?
7. How can I determine if CPFR® will help my organization?

Technical

8. What technology do I need to implement CPFR®?
9. What is the CPFR® Nine-step process and do I need to implement all nine steps?
10. Why is sharing Event data important and what are the benefits?
11. What are the business benefits of interoperable CPFR® applications?
12. Where can I find the lists of certified interoperable software?
13. Where can I find more information about CPFR®?

1) What is Drummond Group Inc. (DGI)?
Drummond Group Inc. (DGI) is an independent, privately held company that works with software vendors, vertical industries and the standards community to drive global adoption for standards by conducting interoperability and conformance testing and publishing related strategic research. Founded in 1999, DGI represents best-of-breed in the industry on linking horizontal infrastructure technologies, standards and interoperability issues with the needs of vertical industry such as retail, grocery, health care, transportation, government and automotive.

DGI's expertise in interoperability testing services and ebusiness standards is reflected in a series of research reports (http://www.drummondgroup.com/html-v2/research.html) designed to provide education and valuable insight into current technology issues and guidance to enterprises seeking the best solutions for their supply chains.

2) What is interoperability testing and why is it important?
Interoperability testing is important to ensure that your supply chain can efficiently operate even when your partners are using applications developed by different software vendors. Just because a product is "conformant" or "compliant" to a standard does NOT mean that it's interoperable. For companies engaged in the growing electronic commerce marketplace, software interoperability is vital, and its absence can strongly inhibit supply chain implementations and add significant supply chain costs.

DGI's Interoperability Compliance Process™ is a methodology for testing that software applications created by different vendors can communicate with each other. DGI cross-tests every product-with-version against all of the other products-with-version involved in a specific test round.

3) What is tested in the interoperability tests?
To fully understand what functions have been tested for interoperability, download the FINAL REPORTS which are in PDF format and located above the lists of interoperable products on the www.drummondgroup.com website:

For a CPFR® final report, click on the following link and look for the PDF formatted report:

• CPFR®

4) What is CPFR® and who oversees it?
The Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR®) Committee is a Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Standards Association (VICS) committee made up of retailers, manufacturers and solution providers. This group originally developed CPFR®, a set of business processes that entities within a supply chain can use for collaboration on a number of buyer/seller functions, all working toward achieving overall efficiency in the supply chain.

The guiding principles developed for CPFR® out of the JMI and VMI best practices are these:

• The trading partner framework and operating process focus on consumers and are geared toward the value chain success.
• Trading partners manage the development of a single shared forecast of consumer demand that drives planning across the value chain.
• Trading partners jointly commit to the shared forecast through risk sharing in the removal of supply process constraints.

5) What is the mission of the CPFR® Committee?
The mission of this committee is to create collaborative relationships between buyers and sellers through co-managed processes and shared information. By integrating demand and supply side processes, CPFR® will improve efficiencies, increase sales, reduce fixed assets and working capital, and reduce inventory for the entire supply chain while satisfying consumer needs.

6) How often are VICS CPFR® meetings held and where?
Two-day meetings are held quarterly. Attendance is free and the meetings are held in various cities throughout the United States, including Chicago, Atlanta and Orlando. Please consult www.cpfr.org for information on the next scheduled meeting. Presentations revolve around case studies presented by organizations that are undertaking CPFR® initiatives. By attending these meetings, you will hear about real-world deployments and learn tips, benefits and other guidance needed once you embark on deploying CPFR®.

7) How can I determine if CPFR® will help my organization?
The VICS CPFR® N-Tier Subcommittee, in cooperation with the Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Standards (VICS) Association, has developed a CPFR® N-Tier Benefits Calculator. The calculator was built with underlying industry assumptions pulled from various pilot studies. This calculator will help you in determining the ROI of a CPFR® deployment and is a good tool for showing the financial benefits. If you're interested in what benefits CPFR® can provide, please visit http://www.arenacg.com/cpfr_calc.htm to find out more details.

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