CONCLUSION:
As we have seen over the course of this series on the importance of integration planning in B2B EDI projects, a properly planned integration architecture can provide all the members of a supply chain community with a highly efficient overall trading platform. It can also provide them with a significant competitive advantage. This is really a key secret of very successful organizations today; and this is something that the successful organizations will not openly share with you.
The truth of the matter is that enjoying a BEST-in-CLASS supply chain status, is far less complex an undertaking than it first appears. All one needs to do is to ensure that the proper integration planning is done, by automating the supply chain transactions in an order and manner that will result in an operating environment that will be collaborative.
The secret is simplicity and conciseness of structure. Remove as many of, if not all of the in-between and/or redundant processes from the supply chain and directly integrate with the supply chain systems to achieve “Collaborative End to End Visibility and Collaborative End to End Responsiveness”.
Let us conclude with what we mean by “automating the supply chain transactions in an order and manner that will result in an operating environment that will be collaborative.” Once a process is created for basic purchasing transactions, it can be used to share critical planning and status information. This information can include sales activity, forecasts, inventory positions and work-in-process and shipment statuses. Moreover, this information can be shared daily or weekly or even in real-time for certain processes, versus monthly or quarterly, creating leaner and more synchronized processes.
