Supply Chain Collaboration
The interconnected, global nature of today's manufacturing supply chains has placed a premium on collaboration. Many supply chains consist of multiple trading partners around the world, all of whom need to be kept informed and synchronized with each other.
Supply chain solutions from Microsoft and its partners help people within manufacturing organizations make accurate, well-informed decisions to drive efficiencies across the supply chain, synchronize supply-and-demand plans across multiple partners, reduce inventory, and improve agility.
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Business challenge
To be successful, manufacturers need to collaborate at multiple levels, ranging from long-term strategic collaboration, to weekly and monthly tactical collaboration, to detailed day-to-day operational collaboration and real-time communications.
Solutions
Solutions from Microsoft and its extensive partner ecosystem provide core analytics, integration, and collaboration technologies, providing a single, foundational infrastructure that supports both structured and unstructured collaboration with people at all supply chain partners. Easy-to-use, familiar information sharing and live communications technologies enable your people to collaborate instantaneously on such key supply chain processes as:
| • | Accessing order and inventory status:
Collaborative portal systems can provide a manufacturer's customers and trading partners with real-time access to purchase orders, sales, shipping, and inventory data. |
| • | Responding to changing demand forecasts and supply requirements:
A comprehensive integration infrastructure solution can provide manufacturers' employees with e-mail or PDA alerts for unexpected supply chain events, such as a demand spike or a transportation delay. |
| • | Collaborating on replenishment workflows, such as those used in vendor-managed inventory programs:
Collaborative workspaces that include transactional partner portals and scorecards can maximize effective partner interaction. |
| • | Proactively managing and solving unexpected supply chain disruptions: Collaborative workflow support across an extended enterprise enables people to conduct live communication sessions with suppliers when alternatives are needed. Post-plan alternatives can be placed on the manufacturer's internal portal, enabling people to discuss them with Microsoft Live Meeting and e-mail, with the supplier accepting and releasing a new purchase order (PO) through Microsoft Office InfoPath. |
Case studies
Read these case studies to learn how Microsoft supply chain management solutions have given people the collaborative tools they need to improve performance and increase efficiency:
Business benefits
Microsoft supply chain collaboration solutions are cost effective and easy to deploy. They enable your people—and people throughout extended, networked supply chains—to work in a familiar user environment that helps them improve supply chain performance, agility, and responsiveness. These solutions, and those offered by Microsoft's partners, enable manufacturers to:
| • | Create a single, foundational platform to enable strategic, tactical, and operational collaboration workflows.
Shared collaboration infrastructure services enable manufacturers and their trading partners to use Microsoft's proven capabilities in identity, presence, rights management, and anywhere network access to integrate communications, create collaborative workspaces, provide access to information and people, and promote people-driven processes. |
| • | Collaborate with customers and suppliers to develop long-term demand and supply requirements.
Collaborative workspaces in the extended supply chain help people at manufacturing firms see further upstream into their supply chain, enabling them to more confidently provide forecasts to their customers. These workspaces can also improve manufacturers' sensitivity to demand changes, improving their own planning capabilities. |
| • | Provide simultaneous notifications of demand changes across all manufacturing tiers.
Manufacturers can achieve greater synchronization and improve their agility, giving people in all segments of the company the information they need to respond more swiftly and sensitively to demand changes. |
| • | Achieve global visibility of actual and planned production and inventory levels.
Real-time information and access to plans enable people at manufacturers and their trading partners to reduce inventory levels by lowering their reliance on safety stock and other inventory-building practices. |
| • | Synchronize plans with extended partners.
Transactional partner portals, Microsoft Office Outlook integration, and presence and communication integration help reduce delays and wasted time in complex, interlocked supply chains. |
| • | Manage by exception.
Manufacturers can replace manual intervention with automated processes, including e-mail or PDA alerts, to key personnel for unexpected events, such as demand spikes or transportation delays. |
| • | Improve analytical capabilities.
Manufacturers can use scorecards and key performance indicators (KPIs) with extended supply chain partners, and provide people with enterprise portals that contain easy access to business details and analytics so they can conduct root-cause analysis. |
| • | Create an environment to merge structured and unstructured collaboration.
Manufacturers can extend supply chain information sharing to people at a wider range of suppliers, customers, and trading partners. |
| • | Help achieve trading partner integration.
Flexible B2B integration, communication, and collaboration help manufacturers manage all supply chain partners—small, medium, and large. |
Overview
Technology
