Supply Chain Information Systems and Decision Support

Supply chains have become have become increasingly important as organisations have moved from competing on a stand-alone basis to recognizing that their success depends upon their trading partners. This includes their upstream suppliers and downstream customers. A supply chain involves a number of tiers of suppliers and customers that extends from the initial source of raw materials through to the final consumer of the finished product. Supply chain management involves the coordination of a number of functional areas in multiple organisations. Large amounts of information can be captured describing the activities in these organisations. It is possible to use this information in order to assist in decision making at strategic, tactical, and operational levels of the supply chain. The large volume of information available and the interdependencies between the activities within these multiple organisations means that it is necessary to employ computerized decision support systems to optimize supply chain activities.