A software based solution to facilitate end to end information supply chain visibility

Even though the benefits of supply chain visibility and the consequences of the lack of it have been thoroughly evaluated, the path towards achieving it appears to be murky due to the factors such as unsupportive IT infrastructure, lack of integration mechanisms and the lack of information sharing strategies. This paper introduces a software solution which is developed to overcome this challenge. It promotes process based internal and external integration and produces graphical visualization of the seamless information flow among the processes which enables real time performance monitoring and measurement. The paper takes a two dimensional approach, by means of a critical review of the relevant literature and a case study, to justify the relevance and importance of addressing the challenge of visibility and subsequently to evaluate the success of the solution.

This article was presented at 9th International Conference on Service Systems and Service Management, Shanghai, China, 2-4 July 2012.