Web services as supply chain enablers

Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
Tim S. McLaren ◽  
Milena M. Head ◽  
Yufei Yuan

Recent advances in supply chain management information systems (SCM IS) have enabled firms to more fully collaborate with their supply chain partners — driving out costs while increasing responsiveness to market demands. This chapter examines various types of SCM IS — from traditional EDI systems to more recent Web-services-based e-business applications. It argues that the approach best suited for an organization depends in part on the degree of integration between the partners, the complexity of the business processes, and the number of partners involved. A model is presented for analyzing the costs and benefits that can be expected from each type of SCM IS. The model enables researchers and practitioners to better understand the differences among SCM IS and thus can help reduce the risks of implementing these valuable yet complex information systems.


Author(s):  
Vincent Yen

In large organizations, typical systems portfolios consist of a mix of legacy systems, proprietary applications, databases, off-the-shelf packages, and client-server systems. Software systems integration is always an important issue and yet a very complex and difficult area in practice. Consider the software integration between two organizations on a supply chain; the level of complexity and difficulty multiply quickly. How to make heterogeneous systems work with each other within an enterprise or across the Internet is of paramount interest to businesses and industry. Web services technologies are being developed as the foundation of a new generation of business-to-business (B2B) and enterprise application integration (EAI) architectures, and important parts of components as grid (www.grid.org), wireless, and automatic computing (Kreger, 2003). Early technologies in achieving software application integration use standards such as the common object request broker architecture (CORBA) of the Object Management Group (www.omg.org), the distributed component object model (DCOM) of Microsoft, and Java/RMI, the remote method invocation mechanism. CORBA and DCOM are tightly coupled technologies, while Web services are not. Thus, CORBA and DCOM are more difficult to learn and implement than Web services. It is not surprising that the success of these standards is marginal (Chung, Lin, & Mathieu, 2003). The development and deployment of Web services requires no specific underlying technology platform. This is one of the attractive features of Web services. Other favorable views on the benefits of Web services include: a simple, lowcost EAI supporting the cross-platform sharing of functions and data; and an enabler of reducing integration complexity and time (Miller, 2003). To reach these benefits, however, Web services should meet many technology requirements and capabilities. Some of the requirements include (Zimmermann, Tomlinson & Peuser, 2003): • Automation Through Application Clients: It is required that arbitrary software applications running in different organizations have to directly communicate with each other. • Connectivity for Heterogeneous Worlds: Should be able to connect many different computing platforms. • Information and Process Sharing: Should be able to export and share both data and business processes between companies or business units. • Reuse and Flexibility: Existing application components can be easily integrated regardless of implementation details. • Dynamic Discovery of Services, Interfaces, and Implementations: It should be possible to let application clients dynamically, i.e., at runtime, look for and download service address, service binding, and service interface information. • Business Process Orchestration Without Programming: Allows orchestration of business activities into business processes, and executes such aggregated process automatically. The first five requirements are technology oriented. A solution to these requirements is XML-based Web services, or simply Web services. It employs Web standards of HTTP, URLs, and XML as the lingua franca for information and data encoding for platform independence; therefore it is far more flexible and adaptable than earlier approaches. The last requirement relates to the concept of business workflow and workflow management systems. In supply chain management for example, there is a purchase order process at the buyer’s side and a product fulfillment process at the supplier’s side. Each process represents a business workflow or a Web service if it is automated. These two Web services can be combined into one Web service that represents a new business process. The ability to compose new Web services from existing Web services is a powerful feature of Web services; however, it requires standards to support the composition process. This article will provide a simplified exposition of the underlying basic technologies, key standards, the role of business workflows and processes, and critical issues.


Author(s):  
Prashant R. Nair

The usage of Information Technology (IT) in organizations across the supply chain has become a determinant of competitive advantage for many corporations. This chapter focuses on the usage of IT tools for Supply Chain Management (SCM). It also highlights the contribution of IT in helping restructure the entire distribution set-up to achieve higher service levels, lower inventory, and lower supply chain costs. An overview and tangible benefits of the existing IT tools, which are widely deployed, is provided with focus on existing configuration considerations, available applications, and deployments in India. The role of existing communication technologies in making IT an enabler of SCM, is highlighted by addressing a range of different point and enterprise solutions in a variety of supply chain settings. Critical IT demonstrations and implementations in SCM are discussed. Fundamental changes have occurred in today’s global economy. These changes alter the relationship that we have with our customers, our suppliers, our business partners, and our colleagues. Reflection on the evolving and emerging IT trends like software agents, RFID, web services, virtual supply chains, electronic commerce, and decision support systems, further highlights the importance of IT in the context of increasingly global competition. The rapid adoption of the Internet for communication with all stakeholders, seems to reflect the potential of the new-age communication media. It has also been observed that several progressive Indian companies are extensively using emerging tools like virtual supply chains, web services, RFID, and electronic commerce to shore up their supply chain operations. However, adoption of tools like software agents and decision support systems for supply chain integration by Indian companies, is limited.


Author(s):  
Sherif Barrad ◽  
Raul Valverde

As organizations embrace globalization, procurement must assess international supply markets and secure partnerships with key suppliers from all over the world. In fact, as local companies continue to expand their operations internationally, they remain bound to local financial institutions and their fees. This article proposes a model aimed at minimizing transaction fees by introducing an architecture and a prototype enabling “low-fee” transaction processing between customers and suppliers across the entire supply chain. The notion of web services is proposed as a communications method to open up options to new and international financial institutions. Vendors can now negotiate fees with financial institutions from all over the world. Both the literature review and the prototype clearly demonstrate that a more efficient and cost-effective solution and technology is on the horizon to support globalization and minimize supply chain transaction costs.


2011 ◽  
pp. 596-616
Author(s):  
Prashant R. Nair

The usage of Information Technology (IT) in organizations across the supply chain has become a determinant of competitive advantage for many corporations. This chapter focuses on the usage of IT tools for Supply Chain Management (SCM). It also highlights the contribution of IT in helping restructure the entire distribution set-up to achieve higher service levels, lower inventory, and lower supply chain costs. An overview and tangible benefits of the existing IT tools, which are widely deployed, is provided with focus on existing configuration considerations, available applications, and deployments in India. The role of existing communication technologies in making IT an enabler of SCM, is highlighted by addressing a range of different point and enterprise solutions in a variety of supply chain settings. Critical IT demonstrations and implementations in SCM are discussed. Fundamental changes have occurred in today’s global economy. These changes alter the relationship that we have with our customers, our suppliers, our business partners, and our colleagues. Reflection on the evolving and emerging IT trends like software agents, RFID, web services, virtual supply chains, electronic commerce, and decision support systems, further highlights the importance of IT in the context of increasingly global competition. The rapid adoption of the Internet for communication with all stakeholders, seems to reflect the potential of the new-age communication media. It has also been observed that several progressive Indian companies are extensively using emerging tools like virtual supply chains, web services, RFID, and electronic commerce to shore up their supply chain operations. However, adoption of tools like software agents and decision support systems for supply chain integration by Indian companies, is limited.


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