Product innovation continues to be a priority for Specright. Within the last year, our Product Team has introduced 50 new features into the Specright Specification Data Management (SDM) platform. Half of those were net new features that companies can use today to drive value across their businesses and supply chain.. Specright is excited to keep addressing real pain points for our customers and leading the Specification Management software category.
In this blog, we’ll be highlighting some major features mentioned at Spec Summit 2024. For more information, as well as the complete summary of all the features mentioned at Spec Summit, watch the Product Team’s presentations here.
Specright Debuts Artificial Intelligence Capability, ChatLIF, a Conversational “Like Item Finder”
Undoubtedly, one of the biggest buzzwords of 2023 was Artificial Intelligence. The Specright Team is excited to announce that we’ve taken advantage of generative AI capabilities with the newest SDM platform feature, ChatLIF.
In short, ChatLIF is Specright’s AI-powered, conversational Like Item Finder. Similarly to popular generative AI engines, such as ChatGPT, users can type in their request in natural language. ChatLIF remembers context, which allows users to converse with ChatLIF over multiple requests, enabling easy filtering capabilities on their searches. Once a search has been exhausted, clicking the clear button will start a fresh thread.
While taking advantage of these new AI capabilities is exciting, it is crucial to remember that any new technology is only as good as the data foundation you feed it. If we train a system on bad data, then the output will undoubtedly be poor. AI cannot provide accurate recommendations if there are no historical data sets to pull from, and emails, pdfs, and spreadsheets don’t count as “digitized” tools that set AI up for success. Not only does standardized data provide visibility, traceability, and reporting capabilities, but it also opens up opportunities for your company to leverage tools like AI and machine learning.
We understand our customers may have concerns with these technologies related to security . So, the Specright team wants to ensure its customers that the confidentiality of their users’ information is top of mind, and their data is never used to train these language models..
Are You Meeting Your Sustainability Goals? Take Advantage of YOY Sustainability
With 2025 looming, it is more than likely that companies have already set sustainability goals for the future. However, are you tracking toward meeting those goals? The truth is, most companies are NOT on track, and that’s mainly due to the state of their data.
With the Year Over Year (YOY) Sustainability Reporting feature, customers can configure key sustainability data fields to report over a quarterly or a yearly basis. Once set up, the system will automatically track multiple sustainability metrics. Users will be able to configure specific sustainability fields for their corporate reporting.
This feature provides valuable insights, providing visibility into the status of the organization’s sustainability goals and making those goals actionable through data.
Quickly Keep Up With Recalls Using the FDA Supplier Recall/Inspection Integration
Is your organization struggling to keep up with recalls and inspection data from the FDA? Importing supplier data one by one from the FDA’s website is extremely tedious. However, with the FDA Supplier Recall/Inspection Integration, there is no need to manually import supplier compliance data.
By directly integrating with the FDA’s website, the system allows users to define the specific data categories they want, such as import refusals, inspection citations, and inspection classifications. The system also facilitates the creation of dashboards which offer quick views of manufacturing locations' performance, and insights into the highest contributors among inspection citations.
This integration empowers users to collaboratively work with suppliers to mitigate compliance-related risks, providing a centralized and efficient solution for managing and analyzing FDA-related information.
Reverse Search Your Specs With the Where Used Finder
Searchability through the Like Item Finder is one of Specright’s top performing features. However, we wanted to take this idea one step further and introduce the Where Used Finder. Now, it is possible to find where exactly a spec is used within your system - think of it as the “Command F” shortcut of Specright.
For example, if an ingredient turns up being flagged in an FDA Supplier Recall/Inspection report, users can quickly search up that ingredient to see where it is used and what finished goods it belongs to.
This feature can be accessed directly from the Like Item Finder, but it is also available as a component on any page within the system.
Go to Bid in Minutes, Rather Than Weeks
The Bids feature allows users to quickly and efficiently gather data and documents to bid out to various suppliers. Not only can users put all items in one master bid, but they can also create separate category bids in the case that they are being submitted to different suppliers.
With easy to use shortcuts and inline editing, customizing and entering bid data is extremely easy. This allows users to go to bid in a matter of minutes, rather than days or weeks. Once a bid is created, both the user and the supplier can view it, as shown from the different portal views in the showcase video. There is also an option to add a finished good to the submitted bid. After everything in the bid has been finalized, the user can go ahead and assign the bid to a supplier, sharing the data directly within the platform.
Avoid Data Gaps With the Data Insights/Completeness Feature
Rather than performing a lengthy audit to ensure the completeness and accuracy of specification data, the Data Insights feature can quickly identify any data gaps you may have. With this feature, you can run a “completeness” report on whichever objects, record types, and fields are configured in the Data Insights Settings.
When navigating the Data Insights tab, the user can see all of the completed fields percentages, the overall completed records, and the breakdown by object. It is also easy to filter the data by either object or record type. To add a new object to a report, simply select the object and related fields to track within Settings, and run the report again with a single click.
Coming soon: The product team is working on enabling inline editing capabilities for this report.
Generate Pallet Patterns with TOPS Lite - No TOPS Installation Needed
Generate the most optimal pallet pattern with TOPS Lite, a pallet pattern generator native to Specright - with no separate TOPS installation required. Unlike our original TOPS integration, there is no need to involve your IT team for configuring new software. The initial version of TOPS Lite supports Carton-Case-Pallet scenarios, where the Primary package is a case while the Shipper package is a carton.
To use this feature, navigate into a finished good record and click the Generate Pallet Pattern button to bring up the TOPS Lite data screen then choose one of the suggested pallet patterns. Specright saves the analysis data as well as a PDF report on the palletization, linking it to the finished good.
2024 and Beyond
We hope that these features will be helpful to your Specification Management journey. We are always here to serve our customers through an introduction of innovative new features. The Product Team is hard at work working on Release 25, scheduled for March of 2024. Each product release is packed with useful features and enhancements that address customer requests, so make sure to stay tuned for the release.
For more information on these features, and to review the rest of the highlighted features at Spec Summit 2024, watch the Product Team’s presentations. If you’re ready to get started with Specright, request a demo.
