White Paper: Online Logistics and Supply Chain Enhancement

Client's Industry

Transportation and Logistics Management

Business Challenges

• To develop an online logistics and supply chain application between suppliers, agents and customers to enhance communication.
• Improve operational procedures.
• Reduce operating costs.
• Increase marketing efforts and provide global and control access to information that adds a significant value to the company's existing business infrastructure.

Benefits & Results

• Increased profit.
• Streamlined business operations.
• Provided a more efficient means of connecting all aspects of supply chain.
• Enhanced communication.
• Increased productivity.
• Centralized data storage.
• Centralized control over data.
• Reduced costs.
• Manageable and efficient knowledge base for the company.
• Scalable and User-friendly.

Tools Used

• Active X Data Object (ADO)
• AS/400 Technology
• ASP
• COM+
• IBM DB2 Database
• Microsoft Information Server
• Microsoft ODBC Driver
• Microsoft Technology
• Microsoft SQL Server
• VBScript

Solution

Azavar Technologies Corporation integrated the client's customer focused business model with online logistics and supply chain management capabilities.

Internet technology is changing the business landscape at a phenomenal rate, causing shifts in every aspect of the business environment. Traditional brick and mortar companies are now reorganizing their businesses based on customer needs and relationships. In the case of the client outlined in this study, Azavar's user-friendly and secured website interface integrates the client's legacy system and has bridged all gaps between their agents, suppliers and customers. Azavar's solution to the client was to build an application that would facilitate current business operations and also meet demands for future expansion.

Azavar's recommendation was to adopt a customer focused B2B model aimed to solve all aforementioned issues. The philosophy behind this was to use the Internet not only as a marketing function, but to make it a core business function to communicate, coordinate and transact with anyone, anywhere and anytime. This would improve the existing supply chain by connecting business partners on a real-time basis and also create opportunities to attract new customers and additional revenue. The different channels that were involved with the client's business model were its customers, agents and suppliers. These channels were identified based on their functional role. Azavar's strategy was to integrate each component without disrupting the existing infrastructure.

The proposed customer focused model established effective communication and coordination between the channels in real-time, streamlining existing business operations and providing new business opportunities to add significant value to the customer base. This application reduced the company's call center operating costs and has generated additional customer channels.

By providing specific functions for each customer group, the company is now able to cement solid business partnerships by gathering more in-depth knowledge of its customer needs. Improved customer responsiveness, as well as instant and controlled access to its central database, has eliminated operational inefficiencies. Azavar transformed this client into a customer-focused company completely aligned with each customer group.

Technology architects at Azavar realized the importance of the client's legacy system integration with the new application. Our developers designed and implemented technology to handle all complex web-based processes and ensure minimal disruption of the existing technical infrastructure. To accomplish this goal, Azavar used Microsoft technology on an open three-tier client server platform. The company's existing legacy system, residing on an AS400 platform, was integrated using IBM DB2's database driver which provided replicated data for a Microsoft SQL server. The proposed solution was implemented on a Microsoft Windows platform and IIS to host the website.

To provide the functionality for the website, the multi-tier solution was comprised of an ASP powered user interface for the front-end and a three-tier engine that used Visual Basic to interact with a Microsoft SQL server and implement specific criteria. The tiers of this engine were Manager Object, Business Object and the Data Access Layer. Manager Object receives the request from the client and passes this information to the business object, thus triggering the business rules associated with the request. The Data Access Layer is connected to the Microsoft SQL Server using Microsoft ODBC drivers. COM+ accesses the components from the dynamic ASP pages using VBScript for server side programming and JavaScript for client site validation. Active X Data Object is the standard for internal and external data communication.

This new interface has given the company a new identity. There is now no need for agents to contact the call centers as they can track their entire order activity on the Internet. Planning, forecasting, resource allocation and schedules for moving and vehicle location can also be tracked online. Agent registration forms and personnel documents are now submitted online as well. These applications have significantly increased processing efficiency for our client. Our customer centric online logistics and supply chain enhancement technology has connected our client to their business partners in real-time, thus increasing their bottom line.

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