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A Robust System for Forecasting and Inventory Management.
August 09, 2022

A Robust System for Forecasting and Inventory Management.

Nathan Walker | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with DataRobot

I use DataRobot to forecast our sales each month. DataRobot builds models from the data we give it and then gives us a prediction on what sales are going to be like for the next 90 days. I then use that data to determine how many products we need to purchase for a particular item (in our case, medical apparel). The balance we are trying to find is having enough inventory to sell so we are not out of stock on a particular item while not having too much of our capital tied up into inventory that is not selling. One problem with selling medical apparel is sorting thru all the data and figuring out what data is consequential or what is not (for example, the size of a piece of clothing is consequential, like Large will sell more than X-Small, but fabric type may be less consequential). DataRobot allows me to use machine learning technology to go thru many different data points and to see what is consequential and what is not.
  • Provides Charts that show how well their model performs,
  • Is highly customizable when you're building a model.
  • Makes a lot of the decisions for you so you don't have to babysit each step.
  • The platform itself is very complicated. It probably can't function well without being complicated, but there is a big training curve to get over before you can effectively use it. Even I'm not sure if I'm effectively using it now.
  • The suggested model DataRobot deploys often not the best model for our purposes. We've had to do a lot of testing to make sure what model is the best. For regressive models, DataRobot does give you a MASE score but, for some reason, often doesn't suggest the best MASE score model.
  • The software will give you errors if output files are not entered correctly but will not exactly tell you how to fix them. Perhaps that is complicated, but being able to download a template with your data for an output file in the correct format would be nice.
  • Increased Revenue: With DataRobot, I was able to identify items that should have more inventory which gets us more sales for those items instead of being out of stock on them.
  • Fewer Inventory Expenses: DataRobot also identifies items where we are overstocked and should not be buying more inventory for them.
  • Better Vendor Relationships: DataRobot gives us more accurate forecasting, which allows us to share more accurate information with our vendors for items we would like to see them stock more and allows us to give them more accurate estimates of how many units we plan to purchase from them for the next months/year.
I'm not sure if we use their end-to-end platform for our forecasting. If that's just talking about DataRobot itself, it has benefitted us by giving us more accurate forecasting for our inventory management.
Our organization faces a competitive marketplace and rises and dips in demand, especially with the pandemic and potentially new health-related crises on the horizon. DataRobot allows us to keep our inventory levels healthy and as optimal as possible so our revenue potential is maximized and we are tying up less capital into inventory.

Do you think DataRobot delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with DataRobot's feature set?

Yes

Did DataRobot live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of DataRobot go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy DataRobot again?

Yes

If one takes the time to learn the platform, the platform can be very useful for making predictions. It's not perfect, and you do need your real-world insight to determine if their predictions have the potential to be better than an internal system or a rudimentary system or are wildly off, but for our business, just a slight improvement can mean thousands of dollars in both revenue and thousands of dollars of savings from not purchasing items we may have otherwise purchased.

DataRobot Feature Ratings

10.0
Connect to Multiple Data Sources
10
Extend Existing Data Sources
10
Automatic Data Format Detection
10
MDM Integration
Not Rated
8.5
Visualization
8
Interactive Data Analysis
9
9.3
Interactive Data Cleaning and Enrichment
10
Data Transformations
8
Data Encryption
Not Rated
Built-in Processors
10
8.0
Multiple Model Development Languages and Tools
7
Automated Machine Learning
10
Single platform for multiple model development
10
Self-Service Model Delivery
5
9.0
Flexible Model Publishing Options
9
Security, Governance, and Cost Controls
Not Rated

Using DataRobot

3 - Supply Chain and Inventory Management. Accounting, Systems Development
1 - An attention to detail and knowing the platform
  • Inventory Management
  • Purchase Reporting to Vendors
  • Projected Revenues
  • None yet
  • None yet
So far we like the results we have got from DataRobot, but the results need to be consistent for a long period of time before I can commit to a further purchase.

Evaluating DataRobot and Competitors

Yes - It was an internal forecasting system we developed, but DataRobot has proven to be more accurate.
  • Product Features
I did not make the decision to use purchase it, but the features they offered was by far the biggest selling point from what I understand.
I would not change anything