Toronto — March 31, 2003 — Sockeye Solutions, a developer of adaptive supply chain collaboration applications, has rolled out the latest version of its Inventory Collaboration Application Template, designed to let business users configure applications to exploit the unique competitive advantage of their multiple extended supply chains.
The application templates are pre-configured software components intended to speed customer deployment of collaborative supply chain applications. Developed using standard supply chain best practices, the templates deliver the functionality required to execute generic collaboration business processes, according to Sockeye. Customers then configure the templates to meet the unique and evolving requirements of their specific supply chains and business relationships.
Version 3.0 of the hosted solution manages inventory targets, monitors inventory projections in real-time and dynamically plans the replenishment and return of parts across a multi-tier supply network.
"The entire process of designing, developing and deploying software applications has changed," said Brian Nickerson, president and CEO of Sockeye Solutions. Nickerson argued that because many supply chain solutions have supposedly required customers to fit their business processes to the applications, the software didn't model the customer's unique supply chain capabilities and, moreover, the resultant information flow didn't support the decision-making required in a dynamic multi-tier supply chain.
"Sockeye's new inventory application allows customers to model the complex and evolving business relationships in their supply chains," Nickerson asserted. "This allows them to collaborate and drive value in the form of improved time to market, reduced inventories and operational costs and increased customer satisfaction."
With the new application template, users can configure the Inventory Collaboration solution to meet their specific needs, Sockeye says. Users can define time periods, multi-party business process rules, data specifications and metrics that apply to their own supply chain initiatives. Through configuration, alerts are defined to automatically signal inventory shortages and other supply chain problems in real time as they occur.
Based upon business rules and definitions determined by the user, distributed Sockeye Software Agents can generate purchase documents and replenishment orders to address inventory problems. The result, the provider said, is that users can focus on managing exceptions in their supply chain as the application handles routine problems, and "what if?" simulation capabilities allow users to collaborate with their partners to determine the best course of action.
The new template allows users to support inventory management and visibility with real-time, event-based inventory projections, target inventory planning, dynamic inventory shortage/overage alerts and buyer/seller inventory simulations, negotiations and commitments.
The template also supports analysis and guided replenishment, with automated replenishment planning implemented by user defined split sourcing rules and remote trading partner inventory availability, as well as vendor-managed inventory, with inventory planning and forecasting, automatic target inventory calculations and distributed agent-based replenishment planning.
