Atlanta-based Manhattan Associates is revealing the reasons behind AI-driven forecasts, recommendations and inventory decisions in plain business language.

Manhattan, a specialist in AI-empowered supply chain commerce, has introduced Sightline, a capability within its ActivePlanning (www.manh.com/solutions/supply-chain-planning-software) supply chain planning tool, to reveal the reasoning

Sightline brings the why behind projected outcomes directly into the application, from a single order line to an entire network. It gives planners forensic-level understanding of the factors shaping forecasts, orders and inventory positions, including forecast inputs, safety stock decisions, vendor minimums, lead times, promotional effects, fulfilment shifts and network movements.

For decades, planners have had to leave the system and work in external analysis tools to understand the logic behind planning decisions. Sightline changes that by delivering real-time, in-application analysis that turns hours of off-system investigation into answers in seconds. Planners can quickly understand why a forecast changed, why a projection ran high or low, or what factors drove a recommendation.

AI forecasting can often feel like a black box that requires a data scientist to do the analysis. Forecasts get adjusted by AI, replenishment recommendations come from AI, and allocation decisions get nudged by AI. Practitioners often have difficulty understanding exactly why it’s doing what it’s doing. But with Sightline they get real-time, in-application analysis, turning hours of investigation into answers in seconds.

Sightline also introduces dynamic, configurable views built around how planners actually work, whether by role, promotion, activity or a combination of those perspectives. These views across forecasts, order projections and planned inventory levels are enabled through a configurable workspace for planners, reducing time spent answering routine questions and eliminating the need for third-party business intelligence tools or Excel.

“At Manhattan, we are committed to continuous innovation and simplification, which helps our customers work smarter and move faster,” said Brian Kinsella, senior vice president at Manhattan Associates (www.manh.com). “With Sightline, we’re giving planning teams a powerful new way to understand the drivers behind every outcome, accelerate decision-making and drive higher productivity across the supply chain.”