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Supply Information Management System
Problem:
A government water utility identified the need for real-time information regarding the state of their chemical inventory. With numerous facilities and offices located throughout the country the technical issues to overcome included scalability, and communications. Additionally the system was required to handle product ordering, transfers, automated needs analysis, and interface to their current general ledger and accounts payable systems.
Solution:
The obvious factor was that the system would need to be available through the Internet to facilitate communications across the country. Beacon developed a browser-based, web enabled software package to fit their unique requirements.
Beacon's Enterprise Application Manager (BEAM) was employed to create and secure a combination Internet/Intranet web-site. Implemented as Active Server Pages, BEAM was the framework for user information maintenance and flexible application security.
Windows NT 4.0 servers running Microsoft's Internet Information Service 4.0 were installed to host the application. IBM's Universal DB2 was the database of choice due to the volume of information to be handled.
Developed around an enterprise wide hierarchical structure the application incorporated user-friendly interfaces to facilitate entry and maintenance of inventory data at the facility level including product requests, consumption, adjustments, product received/shipped and physical inventory.
To speed identification of product requirements Beacon developed a "Black Box" process allowing administrative staff to define predetermined stocking levels for comparison to the current state of the company's inventory at any level of the organization. An automated product transfer/receiving process allowed the company to move inventory between facilities. As inventory is depleted an automated purchase order generation system aided in replenishing inventory levels. Product received from vendors is matched to the originating purchase order, which is in turn matched to the invoice received by the administrative offices, all within the system.
Each transaction is carefully entered into an automated auditing system for future review via the reporting system or transfer to the General Ledger and Accounts Payable systems.
As a result the utility's inventory is in a much healthier and more manageable state.
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