RapidResponse Reviews

Pros

Single Solution - RapidResponse is a single product that supports a complete end to end process and is fully integrated. There is no need for batch schedules to run to sync data between the capabilities of the solution. The S&OP, demand planning, supply planning, capacity planning, inventory optimization, collaboration, allocations, and what-if scenario planning are all within a single data model with a single user interface.
Rapid Scenarios - Within RapidResponse, any user can run a scenario in seconds. RapidResponse has a unique capability where the demand and supply balancing engine is always on and it runs in memory. This empowers users to be able to take a virtual copy of the entire database in a second, change any type of demand, supply, lead time, on hand, costs, etc. and run a the new plan within seconds.
Embedded Analytics - RapidResponse natively has dashboards that are drillable and are based in memory on the live database - there is no need to push data out to a data warehouse for analytics.
Flexible Exceptions - RapidResponse allows you to build your own exceptions and alerts to help with planner productivity. You aren't limited to the native exceptions within the planning tool - any sort of exception that you can define a rule can be easily deployed and users can be alerted via dashboards and alerts to their emails when the exceptions occur.
Integrated Financials & KPI Scorecards - Many planning tools can help planners answer the question whether they can support a plan, however, RapidResponse helps planners take that a step further and answer the question of which strategy should you plan to based on your KPIs important to your business. These KPIs can be financial based such as revenue, margin and costs or they could be numerical based such as fill rates, on time delivery to request percentage, or key constraint utilization.

Pros

It is a very user Friendly
Easy to navigate since it looks exactly like working in excel sheet
Long term Visibility of demand and supply.
We can easily do the What if analysis in case of increase or decrease in demand and plan the materials based on that.
Very Helpful in Excess and inventory management.
From the Software perspective
The coding is less complicated and easy to understand.
We can easily implement modern supply chain functionalities.
Scorecards and dashboards are an added advantage which helps the management in decision making.

Cons

Sometimes I feel like I don't have all the training materials to keep me up to date with all the functionalities that kinaxis offers to the customers
Due to this most of the time we say no to the customers although there is a way to implement the requested functionality in Rapid Response.
Please make the training materials more accessible so that the developers can implement the requested solutions.
Also, we feel the training cost is a little high for small companies to afford.

From the software perspective
Sometimes when we use the heavy tables in the workbooks it will take more time to load.It will be good if the tool performs a little faster.
Also please make sure to keep adding updates to the mobile application and also take steps to create awareness to promote the mobile application.

Pros

If your business focuses on a lot of different reports then this is the software to purchase. It has several spreadsheet based dashboards which can segregate your inventory and supply chain management. It can help you plan your future buying according to the forecast rules you set.

Cons

Although it looks like an Excel spreadsheet, however, it will not give you the functionalities that Excel can so do not use Excel commands on it as most of them might not work. It is not easy to find the correct training material for the task on hand. Not easily integrated with other interfaces. A lot of manual work is required compared to other software for the same purpose in the market.

Pros

Rapid Response provides users the ability to simulate different business scenarios, test a thought out solution, collaborate and perform necessary data changes to the system in real time. Also to anticipate market demand, positioning enterprise resources to meet demand and fulfilling demand as it is realized.
As it is cloud based, we can access it anywhere, anytime. No need to install the app in a different machine for the first time use. Only Java is enough. So its really a big advantage to all.The updated Version 2016.2 makes everything simpler in compared to its old versions. Things like scheduled tasks running for a long time and scenario changes and commit, etc...takes very less to time to complete in the newer version.

Cons

1. Sometimes RR App becomes inaccessible and keeps throwing some warning msgs, when network issues like WiFi or LAN got disconnected and reconnect again. So, in this case, we are not able to continue our work and supposed to close the app forcefully and re login is required to open the app.
2. It is good if we have a chat window inside the app, with currently signed in users.
3. If possible can we have some new background theme or customized one.

Pros

Scenario Planning
Best S&OP planning tool
Supporting what if Analysis
Easy to integrating various Source of information
Cloud based Application
Strong analytical Engine
Accurate calculation
Provide Constraint based planning
Easy to develop new process
Provide ability to create Score card , Charts
Support most of Statistical forecast algorithm
In Memory database
Supports version Control
Kinaxis Support team provides high quality product supports

Cons

we can not access/modify all the resource using Script. so some features can not be automated fully.
to view any records in table, we need to create worksheet. so for debugging purpose it take more time. If they provide a way to retrieve records by using a query method , then it will be easy to debug the issue. Atleast they can provide this functionality to admin.

Pros

1.Inside the SAME tool, we have Demand Management,Master Planning and Order Promising functionality.
2.NO intermediate databases nor data transfers.
3.The "MRP Run" takes a few seconds (trademark of RR, runs in-memory)
4.Capability to simulate several MRP systems (SAP, Baan,…)
5.Capable of doing multiple simulations and seeing immediately the results (and capable of indicating the changes)
6.scenario simulation capabilities

Cons

1.Some times in the workbook if we have more data it is throwing unexcepted error.
2.For calculation fields, we don't know how RR is calculating and giving the results.
3. some times if the script runs it is not providing profer logs.

Pros

Constraint planning defined in very good way. Inventory control usage is high and it works properly where it is taking 30% reduction of excess.
The flow of demand supply and balancing is quite good. The advantages like, User friendly, Good in speed. Hopefully, it will be one of the best planning simulation tool in upcoming years for all manufacturing industry that matters.

Cons

Nothing much on software related. where some of the scripts are not working in only some cases. Apart from that everything is fine.

Pros

Kinaxis transforms the way companies run their supply chains and their businesses. Ease to use as it is kind of microsoft excel ,provides constraint based planning analytical .enables customers to drive tangible business outcomes by both improving and accelerating analysis and decision making within and across supply chain functions and even across organizations.THE BEST S&OP tool. provide a 24/7 support

Cons

it is difficult to design. if we want to modify or add any new table or field in rapid response data model it need server to be restarted so we need to wait till the restart completes .Training and knowledge is costly comparatively .

Pros

Initially we were using the old version of Kinaxis 2014.6. In which our workflow took almost 6 to 8 hours to gets completed. To say DCA9 chain takes 1 hour and DCA Chain takes appromiately 3 to 4 hours. Due to this, we users were able to get their data only after 4 to 5 hours after the completion of DCA. But after the Upgradation to 2016.2 DCA9 gets completed in 20 mins and DCA gets completed in 2 Hours hardly. Due to which our workflow gets completed very soon. We are able to start our Process and the Inbounds too early and we are able to give the outputs to the downstream very earlier than before. This makes the users more comfortable and satisfying. In the next upgrade we can expect much more than this.

Cons

Im a beginner to RR. I have just 10 months on hand experience in RR. I need to explore and get the atmost usability of RR. In such a case Training courses and online video coaching seems to be too high in cost for us to be get used of it. It would be highly helpful and encourageble if it reaches even to the Beginner level to afford for it.

Pros

Excellent Planning tool.
Easy to use as its look and feel is similar to MS Excel.
Provides Constraint based planning effectively.
Robust in demand planning.

Cons

Needs to improve features in Supplier collaboration area.
Sometimes Kinaxis Rapid Response tool throws unexpected errors.

Pros

Rapid Response is a dynamic system, that is so much easier to use for supply chain planning than traditional ERP. It has an intuitive interface, is extremely fast, and allows me to make decisions that are based on sound data through the use of scenarios and simulations.

Cons

The system does come with a fairly heavy price tag, however ROI can quickly be realized.
Some of the administration functionality can be tedious.

Pros

Instant simulation
Easy to author resources(wbs/ws etc)
Easy to export and import our own data
Can use as reporting tool and as well as whatif simulation tool etc

Cons

Sometimes it is very slow and unresponsive
Cancellation not happens quickly in calculated table based worksheets

Pros

Ease of Use, Flexibility,Great Customer Support team, Easy to explain results
On the cloud options is great

Cons

As their company grows, it's getting harder to get answers especially on their engine results from their development teams. It didn't used to be this way.
It's understandable because I can imagine they must have gotten tons of question from more customers now.

Pros

Rich set of functionalities
very convenient and ease of use for both end users and admins
very quick in internal calculation and user friendly

Cons

Integration with other interfaces and data load error handling
less features in user administration

Pros

Kinaxis is the best the planning simulation tool for our Supply chain Management's next generation all over the world

Cons

Kinaxis is having a mobile application. But it is only for Scorecard and Dashboard. So expecting more features in this. This is not a Cons, but expectation.

Pros

better user interface, easy to use and self explanatory.
data integration is remarkable, with better multi-dimensional data modeling
very Responsive, a single change reflects concurrently to its dependent changes .. saves time a lot, "Time" with is one key factor in SCM perspective.
Frequent updates and lending support are good.

Cons

some times Loading Resource takes lot of time, may be due to network traffic or huge data size.
In DTC part some further enhancements can be done .

Pros

Technology Perspective:
i. Easy to understand [with simple researches on its components]
ii. Clear Architecture [The structure of the tool and process it performs is comparatively clear than an other tool which I worked on before]

Business Perspective:
i. Fast, Faster, Fastest tool to provide planning output [I worked on another tool, which takes a week for planning, but this tool does it in a day]
ii. Provides a Stage to Collaborate the Calculated System output with human adjustments based on real time facts.

and much more..

Cons

In my opinion, the tool can be used more effectively if some options for communication between technical and business people [a person-to-person communication option] is included.

Pros

-Can manage, create and compare multiple scenario's at once.
- With a few skills can get a great deal of utility from the application.
- Easy to export and robotize
- Has Built in metrics that are very useful

Cons

- Training courses are relatively elementary
- Not for everyone, hard to use for some more basic computer users.
- With many scenario's and Filters can find yourself using wrong set of data.

Pros

What we like about Kinaxis RapidResponse is that we were able to manage our inventories so well. Another important thing is that it has Demand Planning Function, made our life much easier than doing the traditional way.

Cons

None so far! We enjoy using Kinaxis RapidResponse..........
Very Helpful!!!!!!!

Pros

It is User-Friendly. It is easy to Navigate (to say from One workbook to the other or from one worksheet to the Other). Instant MRP which helps the planner to do what is Impact on Analysis. In software perspective, it is easy to implement Business Solution for Complex issues using various Functionalities in RR. Scorecards and Dashboards helps Management to have a Long Term Visibility.

Cons

In current version Mobile edition, it has only limited Functions like Viewing Dashboards and Scorecards. It will be greatly helpful if it is extended. Application gets slow at times. (to say when we open certain workbooks related to DSB). Speed can be improved.

Pros

Ease of use
Simulation
Rich features
Ease of use
Simulation
Rich features
Ease of use
Simulation
Rich features

Cons

Customer support needs more experienced agents
More admin features should be there for On Demand Customers
Free training for customer
FAQs
Customer support needs more experienced agents
More admin features should be there for On Demand Customers
Free training for customer
FAQs

Pros

It maked it easyer to forecast and aim inventory projections.

Cons

Its not as rapid as it claims. Its pretty heavy and it takes too long to update.

Pros

On a technical point of view, its very ease to use and get the instant result which we need.
User Interface is more cache and attractive.

Cons

Lag in customer support for On-premises customers.
Need to more user-friendly for Rapid response administrators.
Need to have a feature to kill any long query from the backend, still, we are depending on the front-end of the application to kill.

Pros

I have been previously working on i2 JDA tool, which will take a week to get the result for the changes made. Now after started using Rapid response tool, I am truely impressed with the immediate results. Also it integrates the suppliers, planners data which give us a overall view. Now working in 2016.2 version.

Cons

As i have started using upgraded version for one month, struggles to navigate through the resources. Might be i will get use to it.

Pros

Is a fantastic tool to use in planning your business there is many customizable reports an exception base planning

Cons

I don’t have any major cons of this software at the moment but there is a lot of reports and dashboard to look at