Oracle Applications: Oracle Supply Chain Management

Oracle Supply Chain Management (SCM) basically integrates and automates all key supply chain activities starting from design, planning, and procurement to manufacturing and fulfillment. It depends upon how the company or Line managers planning to use these application module in there business line

Let’s understand first what supply chain management is all about.

Supply chain management (SCM) is a systematic approach to manage the seamless flow of information, materials, and services from raw material suppliers through factories and warehouses to the end customer.

Moreover, SCM involves seamless flow of material, information & finance in a network consisting of customers, suppliers, manufacturers, retailers and distributors.

Note:
1. supply chain is product specific, not company specific
2. This does not cover the financial flow with SCM.

You should be clear with Flow that SCM can manage :

The flow of actual materials, the top middle bars

From suppliers : flows of raw materials, intermediate products, finished goods
Reverse material flows : returns, repairs, servicing, recycling, disposal

and the information flows

From suppliers : manufacturing capacity, delivery schedules, promotions they have going to launch for specific timeframe.
Reverse flows : sales, orders, inventory, quality, promotions

And finally, there are financial flows:

From suppliers: Credits, consignment, payment terms, invoice
Reverse Flows : payments, consignment

Supply Chain Management is the management of the entire value-added chain, from the supplier to manufacturer right through to the retailer and the final customer.
SCM has three primary goals: Reduce inventory, increase the transaction speed by exchanging data in real-time, and increase sales by implementing customer requirements more efficiently
The need for SCM is because effective Supply Chain Mgt. is the next logical step towards increased profits and market share.
Supply Chain Management (SCM) in line manager prospective is “let’s-keep-things-moving-efficiently”.

What is Oracle’s SCM Solution for Customer

Oracle Supply Chain Management (SCM) basically integrates and automates all key supply chain activities starting from design, planning, and procurement to manufacturing and fulfillment. It depends upon how the company or Line managers planning to use these application module in there business line. For better understanding from Product point, let’s understood on eight key areas as given in below figure

Here are the details with underline Product which is potentially used.
1. Design:
SCM start with designing & developing new products where Product specifications are created. Few Important applications play major role in this phase.

Oracle Product Life cycle Management
Oracle Advanced product Catalog
Engineering & Bills of Materials

2. Market:
Marketing and Sales generates demand for the Product by publicizing its features and how it would address customer priorities. In the process, Marketing also gets customer feedback and communicates to Product development group. These are application potentially can be used.

Telesales
Trade Management
Incentive Compensation
Order Capture
Oracle sales

3. Plan:
Planning is the strategic portion of SCM. You need a strategy for managing all the resources that go toward meeting customer demand for your product or service.

Advanced Supply Chain Planning
Global Order Promising

4. Sell & Manage Order:
Maintain and manage the customer orders, order holds, notes and release the orders to warehouse for fulfillment based on requested date, product availability and customer credit limit.

Order management
Advanced Pricing
Configurator
iStore

5. Procure:
Here you normally choose the suppliers that will deliver the goods and services you need to create your product. Develop a set of pricing, delivery and payment processes with suppliers and create metrics for monitoring and improving the relationships.

Purchasing
iProcurement

6. Manufacture:
Schedule the manufacturing activities necessary for production, testing, packaging and preparation for delivery.

Cost Management
Process Manufacturing
Project Manufacturing
Quality
Work in Process

7. Fulfill & Release Management :
Coordinate the receipt of orders from customers, develop a network of warehouses, pick carriers to get products to customers and set up an invoicing system to receive payments.

Shipping Execution
Inventory Management
Warehouse Management System
Transportation Execution

8. Service & Maintain:
Create a network for receiving defective and excess products back from customers and supporting customers who have problems with delivered products.

Depot Repair
Field Service
Install Base
Service Contracts

Oracle SCM Solutions
Oracle E-Business Suite does covers each area of SCM as discussed above. Here is how best we can describe involvement of all five key participants. Oracle provides two streams to capture entire supply chain planning.
1. Manufacturing: Consists of Inventory, Bills of Material & Work in process to capture details of every type of manufacturing like discrete, batch, mass production.
2. Distribution: Consists of Inventory, Purchasing, and Order Management to capture entire procure to pay & order to cash business processes.

Within SCM above shown Processes can be fit in Oracle applications called as business process lifecycles

1) Procure to Pay (P2P)

Here is flow that can be best understood with Oracle Modules Involvement. Procure to pay lifecycle captures demands from different applications like Inventory, Order Management, Purchasing & consolidate all demands in the form of requisitions. Requisitions can be optionally converted in to RFQ & Quotations, or else directly converted in Purchase Orders. Approved PO then can be send to suppliers & receipts are generated in different Inventory organizations. Further more Financials applications can be used to capture invoices & process payments for suppliers.

Under this Business Process below Oracle module can be potentially used.

Oracle Purchasing
iProcurement
iSupplier Portal
Inventory
Payables

2) Order to Cash (O2C)

O2C lifecycle starts with entering different types of orders on to customer’s name. Book orders once all relevant scheduling & pricing information of item is reviewed. Booked orders are treated as firm demand to process orders either for manufacturing or fulfilling the demand through supplier networks. Then you pick release & ship confirms these orders to interface data with accounts receivables for further financial transactions.

Under this Business Process Oracle below module can be potentially used.

Oracle Order Management
Oracle Inventory
Shipping Execution
Advanced Pricing
Oracle Configurator
Warehouse Management
Receivables

3) Lead to Service

A lead is an expressed customer interest that a sales agent uses to determine whether there is potential for a after sales service opportunity
Leads are intended to capture the initial contact with potential or existing customers, gathering just enough information to tell a sales organization whether there is sufficient interest on behalf of the buyer to make a lead worth following up.
Under this Business Process Oracle module can be potentially used.

CRM Foundation
Sales Online
Marketing Online
Install Base
Depot Repair
Service Contracts
iStore
Field Service

4) Forecast to Plan

This business flow outlines how a company uses sales order history to produce a forecast, design a production, manufacturing, or distribution plan from that forecast, and how to analyze, revise, and simulate changes to that plan.

Under this Business Process Oracle module can be potentially used as