Product Roadmapping for Cross-System Data Visibility in Retail Operations: A Framework for Integrated Decision Support and Margin Transparency
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63282/3050-9416.IJAIBDCMS-V6I4P139Keywords:
Product Roadmapping, Retail Operations, Cross-System Visibility, Decision Support, Margin Transparency, Data Integration, Information Quality, Design Science, SimulationAbstract
Retail organizations increasingly operate through independently evolved systems for transactions, inventory, orders, merchandising, promotions, returns, supplier funding, logistics, and finance. The resulting volume of data does not guarantee decision visibility because economically related facts may remain semantically inconsistent, delayed, or difficult to trace across systems. This study asks whether the core problem is insufficient integration or the way integration work is prioritized. We develop a Decision-Linked Visibility Roadmapping (DLVR) framework that scores candidate capabilities by decision criticality, dependency centrality, semantic divergence, visibility latency, and margin exposure. Because no proprietary retailer dataset is assumed, the framework is evaluated through a transparent, reproducible simulation comprising 2,400 synthetic retail decision episodes across 16 business units, eight assigned to DLVR and eight to a conventional-modernization comparison condition. Difference-in-differences models with unit fixed effects and cluster-robust inference show that DLVR increases cross-system visibility by 7.35 points (95% CI 6.63-8.08), reduces reconciliation effort by 14.84 minutes (95% CI 12.44-17.24), shortens decision latency by 1.18 hours (95% CI 0.97-1.38), and raises margin transparency by 6.31 points (95% CI 5.37-7.25). Semantic consistency and lineage completeness explain substantial portions of the transparency gain, while effects are larger for high-dependency decisions. The simulation does not establish field effectiveness; it establishes a falsifiable mechanism and quantitative expectations for subsequent retailer validation. Roadmapping is thereby repositioned as an information-governance mechanism rather than only a feature-planning instrument.
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