The Challenge
As a supply chain manager, I faced a problem many businesses know: standard demand planning software quickly costs several thousand euros per year, never exactly fits your own processes, and forces manual workarounds in Excel. Custom development seemed like the alternative — but without coding skills it was unrealistic, and as a freelancer simply too expensive. The result: demand planning kept running through complex Excel sheets that only I understood, were vulnerable to formula errors, and offered no real-time overview. Team coordination ran by email, numbers had to be merged manually — every planning cycle cost more time than the actual decision it was supporting.
Management Summary
30-second overview for decision makers
Starting Point
Demand planning ran through complex, error-prone Excel sheets with no real-time overview. Standard software was too expensive or too inflexible; custom development without coding skills seemed out of reach.
Action Taken
Using Cursor AI as a development partner, a custom web application was built in 3 weeks — without writing a single line of code. Requirements were formulated as natural-language prompts; Cursor handled the implementation.
Result
A working web app with automatic calculation, live dashboard, and 1-click export — at around 20% of the cost of comparable off-the-shelf software, tailored exactly to the specific process.
Recommendation
Shows that custom software solutions are now possible even without an IT budget or developer skills — relevant for any business that hits its limits with generic tools.
Process — Before & After
Manual vs. automated — step by step
Before — Manual
After — Automated
My Approach
Using AI-assisted development (Cursor AI), I built my own web application in 3 weeks — without any coding skills. Cursor wrote the code, I formulated the requirements and tested the results.
Assessment
The Result
A working demand planning web app — tailored, affordable, and built entirely without coding skills. Proof: with AI as a development partner, custom tools are possible for everyone.
Project Documentation
Tools Used
- ◆Cursor
- ◆AI Development
- ◆Supply Chain
Automated Process
- ◆Enter data
- ◆Automatic calculation
- ◆Dashboard view
- ◆Export at the push of a button
Results
- ◆None — Coding skills
- ◆3 wks. — Dev time
- ◆−80% cost — vs. off-shelf SW
Similar project at your company?
Let's find out in 30 minutes how much time and money you can save through automation.
Book a free call