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Friday, June 3, 2011

Think Supply Chain As "Cross-Enterprise Workflow"

More of Business Process Management (BPM) activities are to manage and to promote improvement procedures (workflow) of internal company.
However, working on reviewing procedures this and that in practice, you will find more worth working on Inter-company workflow than internal company. The main reason is as follows.

  • Easier: roles of Companies are clear
  • Wasteful in communication: allow time for document (mail / FAX / mail) interaction
  • Wasteful in saving data: each company has different ways of data managing
  • Careful in improvement: to carry out improvement over tension that not to annoy people outside the company.
 *(Of course, it's so hard to reach consensus between companies)
    Even a Email is legally "a document" nowadays. It can be an evidence in the court as well. So "Paper Documents" should be reduced even little by little.

    The following workflow model focuses on digitalizing entire paper documents between companies with many transactions such as "Quotes + Orders Confirmations". In another word, exclusive ordering system for client. (SCM)

    <Tasks>
    1. Quote Request, 2. Arrangement, 3. Create Quote, 4. Approval quotes, 5. Ordering the contents of quotations, 6. Correction, 7. Approve Modifications, 8. Order Confirmation

    [Quote Process: [3. Create Quote] screen]

    <Items>
    • Title<<Quote request by : c.f. SATO(A Commerce.co)JUNE 7, 8:09>>

    -Quote Request Information-
    • Delivery Requirement (date)
    • Content of Order (table)
      • Product (select: No. list)
      • Quantity (numeric)
    • Correspondent(discussion)
    -Quote information-
    • Total Estimated (numeric)
    • Remarks (string: text box 3lines)
    • Quote File (file)
    -Control-
    • Date Quote Reply (date)
    • Flag Leader Check (select: Required /Not)
    • Approval (select: Approve / Reject)
    • Flag Order (Order / Modification Required / Dispose)

    This routing (workflow) is completed, beginning with the RFQ, Create a quotation, to order in five-step of[1→2→3→5→8] if it went smoothly. In case that needs approval by the Leader like the amount is expensive, it goes six-step [1→2→3→4→5→8].
    And it goes looping in (5→6→7→5) of [1→2→3→4→5(→6→7→5)→8] when order side negotiates price.

    The following Workflow model is simplified version by assimilating Task[6. Correction] into Task [3. Create Quote]
    But in this case "the existence of issues being negotiated price" will be difficult to recognize explicitly.

    And we can use it as "a list of past order" categorizing by processes ended with "Order" in [Flag Order]

    <Tasks>
    1. Quote Request, 2.Arrangement, 3. Create Quote, 4. Approval quotes, 5. Ordering the contents of quotations, 8. Order Confirmation