Supply Chain Management Analysis - Sccop

Supply chain management systems are designed to take care of the logistics end of the product distribution cycle-i.e., making sure that the order from the retailer for 500 gizmos arrives at the retailer in time for the weekend sale. Getting the information from the supply chain system back to headquarters for the production system, marketing database and accounting systems, just to name a few is crucial to better decision-making and to providing a more accurate picture of the supply chain (Zimmerman, 2003).

The U.S. Air Force supply chain for repairable commodities begins with the forecast, purchase, manufacture, and distribution of a part; continues with its delivery to a source of repair; and ends with the distribution of the now serviceable asset to retail accounts and maintenance customers in order to return weapon systems to mission capable status. In this environment, key supply chain information exists in multiple data systems. The different systems often present different results to different users. To obtain a complete picture of the status of end items, Air Force supply chain workers must access multiple data systems. Users must log onto each system individually and then navigate to locate the information desired. Often the resulting information is untimely, inconsistent, or inaccurate. As a result, workers are unable to perform their job effectively, which ultimately affects weapon system availability.

To resolve the inaccuracy in the mission critical supply chain, the Department of the Air Force hired Intergraph Solutions Group (ISG) to develop a more reliable and consistent supply chain. ISG devised the Supply Chain Common Operating Picture (SCCOP) that is accessible through the Air Force Portal. SCCOP captures and encapsulates business process rules for all levels of weapon system and supply chain manager (SCM) activity. SCCOP focuses on improving weapon system availability by providing personnel and organizations involved in supply chain support with total visibility of the overall Air Force supply chain. This is accomplished through the retrieval, display, and integration of information captured from multiple data sources. SCCOP provides a common operational view of the total supply chain and provides details on all of the factors that affect weapon system availability. It provides high-level visibility of status information on all assets and requirements, in all conditions, at all locations from a weapon system perspective. In addition, users can drill down to view detailed information about the asset. SCCOP obtains each required data element from the identified authoritative source for this information. This visibility provides users across the supply chain with the information necessary to make quality decisions in a timely manner.

Central to the solution is the creation of business rules that consider the entire supply chain. SCCOP's business rules are built in a process-centric environment considering