How the North Pole processes Christmas wishes – An Inside Look

It is that time of year when Santa Claus (or one of Santa’s helpers) visits every shopping mall ready to listen to the gift requests from all the boys and girls in the neighborhood. But do you ever wonder how those Christmas wishes from the children make their way into Santa’s sleigh?

History has told us that it is a pretty streamlined process, ask Santa for a present, get on the Nice list, put out milk and cookies, and open your present on Christmas morning! Right? Well, that is the HIGH LEVEL process…but to tell you the truth, it is much more of a “Dynamic” process. This complex and global process doesn’t run only on Christmas Magic…but on Microsoft Dynamics 365!

Santa and Mrs. Claus have realized that in order to keep pace with the online shopping efficiencies enjoyed by parents all over the world, the North Pole workshop had to undergo a digital transformation. This involved deploying Santa’s “helpers” equipped with Dynamics 365 for Field Service, an automated Naughty or Nice evaluation, and improved supply chain management with Dynamics 365 for Finance & Operations!

Santa’s “helpers” – Christmas Engineers empowered with Dynamics 365 for Field Service!

The North Pole depends on Santa’s “helpers” (or as they are known at the Workshop, Christmas Engineers or CEs) to get all of the details on a child’s Christmas wish so that it can be evaluated as efficiently as possible! The Head Elf created a new process where each of the CEs complete a Work Order in Dynamics 365 for Field Service for each Christmas wish they receive during the holiday season. When a child asks for a certain toy, a Work Order product is added…if a wish is asked for, a Work Order service is added! The CE provides their input on whether the child should be on the Naughty or Nice list to complete the documentation of the wish…for more details on that process, click here! Now you may be wondering, how in the world can they document this so easily without the children seeing how it’s done? That’s easy…Field Service Mobile for Dynamics 365!

Once the CEs submit their Open – Completed work orders with the details of their visit with the child, it is reviewed by a team of Quality Assurance Elves at the workshop to ensure all the details needed for the Naughty or Nice assessment can be completed, and all of the details of the Christmas wish have been documented. Once approved, the work order is set to Closed – Posted and sent on to the next stage in the process!

Fulfillment of the Christmas Wish – with Dynamics 365 for Finance & Operations

If the child has been found on the Nice list, a Sales Order for the requested Christmas present is created and sent to Santa’s Workshop. If the child has been found on the Naughty list, a Sales Order for a lump of coal is created and sent to Santa’s Workshop.

When the Work Order is completed, this triggers an integration to order management within Dynamics 365 for Finance & Operations. Once the order is released to the warehouse, the Elves are given “work” or the quickest route to pick from the inventory of already built toys for each child. If the toy is not yet built, this order creates a demand for the product planners in the workshop to increase production for that toy! Want to know how the Elves manage to create all of the toys to have enough inventory? Click Here!

Keeping Santa’s lead time of flying around the world in mind, with the expected slowdown of too many cookies, an Elf will select the production orders to start immediately vs. those that can be held off for the night shift.

Once the toy has sufficient inventory for the sales order, a warehouse Elf picks the toy for the order from the inventory created by the workshop. The toy is then packed in Santa’s bag and scheduled to be put on the sleigh for Christmas Eve delivery!

Inventory Management and Planning with Financial Reporting

When the sleigh is loaded, that is when Mrs. Claus takes over for the Financial Reporting and analysis of the Workshop. She has to be sure that the Elves met their production quotas, had the appropriate levels of finished goods completed and the product planner Elves had forecasted the correct toy demand for the Christmas season! She then begins the task to plan for next Christmas and the orders for raw materials to create all of the toys for next year!

Think your organization could benefit from implementing processes with Dynamics 365 the way Santa, Mrs. Claus and the Elves have? Reach out to Hitachi Solutions today!

This blog was co-authored by Shawn Tabor, Sr. Solution Architect & Katherine Alfaro, Sr. Consultant.