Architecture and Functionality of a Supply Chain Enterprise Resources Planning System

The supply chain management (SCM) aims to improve the material flow between linked enterprises by installing information systems and procedures that provide a better coordination in the logistic chain. Planning production and order quantities is a fundamental and decisive process for material flows in a supply chain. Therefore, the coordination of strategies and decisions is of great importance to the efficiency and economy of the latter. One way to improve the coordination is the construction of a central supply chain ERP system. This should complement existing ones used in diverse enterprises in order to attain better coordination of all. This way, too, the distinct scheduling systems used keep their autonomy to a large extent. Akin to "service providers," they are used by the central supply chain-oriented enterprise resources planning system (SC-ERPS), which in this respect aids an information system that loosely links different ERP systems. The required architecture, as well as the needed data and functionality are introduced and discussed here. In particular, problems related to how to handle the intersection parts in a supply chain - the parts that are produced and consumed in different enterprises of the supply chain - are analysed and solutions are discussed. These parts are physically identical but they are also different planning objects in different planning and information systems. The paper will focus on the module for the production planning process because it determines the material flow in the complete supply chain.