Integration and Analytics in Supply Chain

Corporate to Store involves the movement of all data, transactions and processes between corporate office and its retail outlets.

Processes that run across end-to-end from the corporate central office to the stores include ordering, delivery, store replenishment, promotional campaigns, etc.

Data exchanges would include orders, end of day reports, new prices and items lists, marketing campaign information, etc. Such exchanges can go via different routes, split into many applications, and return acknowledgements upon receipt. The following schema shows one simple example of data exchange that involves all the applications impacted when an article is newly referenced or updated in the central catalog.

 

You should consider seriously re-assessing your file transfer infrastructure if you identify with any of the following:

You are	Encountering one of the following pains
VP Supply Chain / VP Store Operations	•       Unable to control corporate to store processes, especially the store replenishment one. •       Out-of-Stock situations, affecting revenues and brand
IT Operations Manager (Middleware)	•       Orders, acknowledgements, shipment notices are lost without prior alerts. •       Operations costs are too high
IT Operations Manager (Supervision)	•       Lack of traceability and visibility on normal and abnormal process behavior. •       Missed SLAs •       No feedback on store operations

The reasons you are unable to control corporate to store processes, especially store replenishment, could be:

• Orders, acknowledgements, shipment notices are lost without prior alerts. This in turn can be due to :
  • No analytical capability for understanding “normal” vs “abnormal” behavior
  • No KPI monitoring
• Lack of traceability and visibility on normal and abnormal process behavior. This in turn can be due to :
  • Outdated legacy file transfer tools.
  • No embedded visibility on file transfers

If these issues are not remedied, the impact on your organization can be considerable: Brand Image damage, Market share drop, High capital blocked in safety stocks, affecting cash-flow, Lower perfect order fulfillment rates, Missed deadlines and Lack of agility to supply multiple channels and to face market disturbances.

You should consider the following capabilities when looking for a solution:

• Secure and reliable file transfers
• Security audits
• Management of highly complex information routes
• Guarantee of timely delivery
• Alerts and warnings in case of error/failure
• Visibility, logging, and traceability

Typical business payoffs you can expect are

i) fully automated supply chain, optimized processing time for logistic and deliveries, increased SLAs, better stock management.

ii) 100% of data flows secured. Reduced error rate and processing time. Improved in-store customer experience, and

iii) improved on-the-shelf product management, supply chain efficiency, stock breach mitigation, and price discrepancies in real time.