Computer program product for determining and reducing customer service impact

1. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions thereon that, when executed by a computer, perform a method for quantitatively determining customer service impact of scheduling changes, the method comprising:

receiving customer line item orders, each having a requested completion date, wherein each customer line item is an individual customer requested product for purchase;

scheduling a scheduled completion date for each item order;

selecting at least one item order, each item order having a scheduled completion date;

comparing the scheduled completion date with the requested completion date for each selected item order, wherein said comparing comprises:

generating a demand array of item orders;

generating a supply array of manufacturing inventory;

selecting an item order in the demand array;

matching manufacturing inventory in the supply array with the selected item order; and

comparing the scheduled completion date of an item in the supply array with the requested completion date for the matched item in the demand array;

displaying a group of customer service measurements comprising days late, value late, and value-days late, wherein

days late is determined by the amount of time difference between the requested completion date and a scheduled completion date multiplied by the value of the item order and multiplied by a predetermined interest rate;

value late is a value of a late item order determined by multiplying a number of late item orders by a unit price per item order, then subtracting any commission and discount; and

value-days late is a value-time late determined by multiplying a time difference between the requested completion date and the scheduled completion date multiplied by a value of the item order;

selecting a customer service measurement from the group of customer service measurements;

deriving a customer service impact for each selected item order based on said comparing and the selected customer service measurement; and

reporting the customer service impact for each selected item order.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the value of the item order is determined by multiplying a number of item orders by a unit price per item order, then subtracting any commission and discount.

3. The computer program product of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:

determining an overall customer service impact based on the customer service impact for each item order.

4. The computer program product of claim 3 , further comprising the step of:

reporting the overall customer service impact as the overall customer service impact for that scheduling operation.

5. The computer program product of claim 3 , further comprising:

displaying the customer service impact on a calendar showing the total customer service impact for a predetermined time period.

6. The computer program product of claim 3 , further comprising repeating said receiving, scheduling, selecting, comparing, deriving, and determining for different schedules to determine the customer service impact of schedule changes.

7. The computer program product of claim 6 , further comprising:

selecting one or more customers; and

determining a customer service impact for each of the selected customers based on the customer service impact for each item order of the selected customer.

8. The computer program product of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:

determining a customer service impact for a first customer and a second customer, based on the customer service impact for each item order from each of the first and second customers.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 further comprising the step of:

displaying the customer service impact on a calendar showing the total customer service impact for a predetermined time period.

10. The computer program product of claim 8 , further comprising repeating said receiving, scheduling, selecting, comparing and determining for different schedules to determine the customer service impact of schedule changes.

11. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein said generating a demand array comprises generating a demand array of unshipped customer line items.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein said generating a supply array comprises generating a supply array of at least one of inventory work orders and manufactured inventory.

13. The computer program product of claim 11 , further comprising the step of:

identifying a subset of work orders having a customer service impact greater than a predetermined threshold;

performing at least one of a utilization, contention, and material constraint inquiry on the subset of work orders.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein:

the utilization inquiry involves identifying resources having a highest load/capacity ratio during a specified time period;

the contention inquiry involves identifying resources allocated most frequently in scheduling; and

the material limitation inquiry involves identifying material items causing scheduling delay.

15. The computer program product of claim 13 , further comprising the step of:

identifying as a potential bottleneck a material or resource having the greatest result in the at least one of a utilization, contention, and material constraint inquiry.