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eBook

4 Steps to Leveraging Supply Chain DataIntegration for Actionable Business Intelligence

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4 Steps to Leveraging Supply Chain Data Integration for Actionable Business Intelligence

ContentIntroduction 3

Leverage a Metadata Layer to Serve as a Standard Template for Integrating Data from ALL your Different Systems 4

Method for Maintaining Clean and Accurate Source Data 5

Ability to Perform Advanced Functions with Your Data 6

Processes to Ensure Your Data Integration Stays Current 6

The Road to Integration and Beyond 7





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IntroductionIt’s no secret that your supply chain is only as good as the data that drives it.Regardless of the level of integration you’ve implemented to date, it is a wise

practice to routinely review the access and accuracy of the data that drivesyour decision-making. Recent technology and process changes in the supplychain have created new obstacles to easily accessing the data you need tomake strategic decisions. Where once you may have relied on your ERP formost of your data, and manual processes for the rest, that strategy is no longereffective, nor will it help you stay agile and competitive in today’s networkedeconomy.

With the rise of rapid fulllment expectations, big data technology, andbusiness process changes that mandate seamless integration with all of yourtrading partner systems, it is necessary to ensure your data integration strategyis poised to meet the shifting requirements of the modern supply chain.

If you don’t regularly evaluate your data integration tools or strategy, chancesare you are due for some technology and process upgrades. This eBookprovides a checklist of strategies for optimizing supply chain integration toprovide accurate data you can leverage for actionable business intelligence,giving you increased resiliency and competitive advantage.

Outdated!!!

ERP





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Leverage a Metadata Layer to Serve as a Standard Template forIntegrating Data from ALL your Different Systems

particular user group. 1 The challenge is to ensure that the data from allsystems is optimally integrated and accurate.

Data mapping using a metadata layer provides the technical meansto accomplish this, so that all systems can “talk to” one another. Simplystated, metadata is “data about data” or “information about information.”In practical terms, this translates to lowering your total cost of ownershipthrough centrally storing and managing all information about datasources, content, business rules, and access authorizations in a singlemetadata layer. This layer often uses XML and application programming

interfaces (APIs) to pull and transmit the data from different systems.

Chances are that many of your existing database structures can be used,and most of the labor and costs associated will involve the process ofmapping elds from each system into the integration layer to eliminateduplicates and provide the “single version of the truth.” Look for solutionsthat employ a service-oriented architecture (SOA)strategy to minimizecosts and your integration project’s complexity.

Creating and leveraging a metadata layer doesn’t have to result in alengthy process for your internal IT staff. Supply chain managementsoftware consoles, combined with coordinated data analysis and mappingduring implementation, provide a consolidated format for displaying,analyzing, and transmitting your data to and from your various systems.Vendors of this software can help you implement a metadata layer witharchitecture that allows you to map elds accurately from each database,as well as synchronize data that appears in multiple systems.

Metadata Layer





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Method for Maintaining Clean and Accurate Source Data The competitive stakes in supply chain execution continue to reach newheights: One need only look to the most recent developments at Amazon

to get a glimpse into what’s to come. In the span of a few months, Amazonannounced both:

• the launch of Amazon Fresh in Seattle and LA (the service thatallows consumers to order groceries and have them delivered totheir door the same day); 2 and

• a contract with the US Postal Service to provide Sunday deliveryto Prime customers in LA and New York, with expansion to othercities beginning in 2014. 3

Notably, Wal-Mart, E-bay, and Google are shoring up their same-daydelivery capabilities for online orders as well. These examples of rapidfulllment times as standard operating procedure turn the pressure upfor other supply chain companies. In order to compete, many companiesare looking for the best tools to get the job done, something that oftencannot be accomplished with existing systems. Successfully meeting thesedemanding fulllment schedules requires seamlessly integrated systemswith near real-time, accurate data across the supply chain. Accurate datais the linchpin for accelerating key areas of your supply chain to gain andprotect competitive advantage.

Tips for maintaining accurate source dataHow do you make sure you are getting the most accurate source data?In addition to implementing a metadata layer as discussed earlier, thefollowing basic steps will keep you moving in the right direction: 4

1. Perform an inventory of all the high-impact data needed fordecision-making that is pulled from your ERP to your supplychain systems. Check to make sure that these data elds are, infact, being populated with the correct ERP data.

2. Check that the timing and synchronization of data pulls fromyour ERP to your other systems occur either in near real-time

(as data is entered or updated) or at intervals that allow you tomake strategic decisions using the latest data. With the currentaccelerated pace of business as mentioned in the examplesearlier, batch processes are only useful if the timing is done inincrements of minutes, not hours, days, or weeks.

As companies increasingly turn to best-of-breed software providers forsolutions that integrate with their ERPs, here again, the tools are only asgood as the data and integration methods they are provided. To reap allthe benets from these tools, invest in the resources required to analyzeall existing data for parts, customers, suppliers, vendors, accounting, andfreight/logistics. Make sure all the data you currently work with is clean –unduplicated – as well as accurate, if you haven’t already done so. Goingforward, you will only have to perform this verication with new data andfor new systems.





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Ability to Perform Advanced Functions with Your Data The next step is to ensure that all of your critical data is both visible andactionable. This now goes far beyond standard transactions and reports

into advanced searches, real-time notications and alerts, businessanalytics, and the ability to lter data using any desired criteria. This depthof visibility and analytic capability equips you with the data needed toavoid disruptions and make better strategic decisions. Ultimately, thesedecisions propel your organization forward to achieve your goals ofincreased performance, revenue, and customer satisfaction for greateragility and competitive edge.

Consider the increased value of data to your supply chain whenintegration provides the abilities to: 5

• Perform advanced searches and lter results to view detailsfor any data point , such as a document, shipment status,package numbers, or a history of orders from a supplier. With allof your data integrated and current, you need only visit one placeto locate information, minimizing time, labor, and errors.

• Assess performance benchmarks (KPIs) of any part of yourchain using custom reports and graphical dashboards . Forexample, quickly create, access, and view graphicaldashboards for each of your supplier’s on-time delivery, quality,

or compliance performance. Even further: Do this from yourtablet anywhere, at any time.

• Create custom alerts and notications that allow you tomanage by exception (MBE) . Only spend time managing andmonitoring problems or discrepancies in your chain, such asinvoices that fail the matching process, purchase orders thatrequire approval based on your business rules, or shipmentdelays.

These are just some examples of advanced functions that enhancedintegration provides. The bottom line is that these capabilities free you to

focus your valuable time and energy analyzing and responding faster todisruptions in the chain and making strategic decisions to meet your goals.

5

Search KPIs Alerts





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Processes to Ensure Your Data Integration Stays CurrentFinally, make sure you build into your corporate processes a standardreview cycle interval to repeat the previous checklist items. Whether it isquarterly, annually, or any time you add a new internal system, vendor,supplier, or business process, ensure that:

• Your integration layer connects in near real-time with all ofyour systems so they can communicate as if they were one.

This single console provides a single version of the truth, greatlyreducing disruptions in efficient operations such asmiscommunications, inaccurate POs or invoices, or fulllmentdelays or errors.

• Your source data is clean and accurate.Accurate source data is the key to accelerating key areas of yoursupply chain for lasting competitive advantage. To ensure yourdata stays current and accurate, create standard processes foradding new suppliers, vendors, or customers. For example,make sure that the company, part, and accounting informationare entered correctly and can be seen and re-used by all ofyour systems.

• You can perform advanced functions with your data, such asanalytic dashboards or custom reports.

Advanced functions provide increased visibility deep into yoursupply chain so you can make better strategic decisions, helpingyou achieve increased performance, revenue, and customersatisfaction. Going forward, make sure you analyze dataintegration requirements for new processes. For example, youmay need to build new standard reports for new KPIs or to assessa new supplier’s performance.





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The Road to Integration and BeyondIf you have gone through the checklist of criteria presented in this eBookand you do not have these elements, your supply chain data integration is

likely outdated. Although it can be a painful process to streamline, analyze,and integrate your data using a collaboration tool or other integrationlayer, the sooner this happens, the better. Some basic steps to accomplishthis process include:

1. Begin by engaging your IT team or CIO to get an accurateassessment of the current state of your company’s skills,resources, databases, and integration capabilities.

2. Then, form a Strategy Team for your integration project,consisting of IT as well as key project stakeholders with deepknowledge of your ERP and other systems.

3. List the resources (internal and external) needed to accomplishthe data integration project. This step may require a vendorassessment to determine the best t of external partners tohelp implement your solution. Be sure to look for the rightcombination of cost, expertise, implementation time, and abilityto deliver a scalable solution that can integrate with all of yoursystems.

4. Budget and plan the schedule for the project, and engageall internal and external resources in a kick-off process tocommunicate deadlines and expectations. In order to ensurethat the integration project stays on track, and that your dataintegration is assessed regularly after implementation, assignprimary responsibility for overseeing and managing the projectto a member of your Strategy Team.

In an era where the volume and variety of data increase exponentiallyon a regular basis, the benets from accurate, current data will be seen

immediately with results such as:

• Reduction in PO and invoice discrepancies, made possible byprocesses such as invoice matching and single versions of orderquantities and prices.

• Increased shipment accuracy and on-time fulllment, providingcapability for shorter lead times.

• Sharp decrease in manual processes and time spent on tasks,such as searching for information in multiple databases.

• Faster time to respond to problems in the chain (increasedagility) due to enhanced visibility and traceability throughout theproduct lifecycle.

Eventually, you will be able to take your data further by using predictiveanalytics to enable even better, faster strategic decision-making upstreamand downstream, throughout product lifecycles. 6 The closer you can getto real-time, accurate data at-a-glance (the Holy Grail in supply chain), themore resilient and successful your organization will be.





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