The 3 tier relationship, described above, generated a large volume of associated documentation which has until now remained paper based. The distributor approached Adepteq in order to investigate how the relationships with the supply chain can be strengthened whilst at the same time controlling the storage of documents and improving communication.
Successful supply of fresh produce requires a strong technical partnership between growers and their marketing companies. The distributor offers its growers a level of technical support which is unrivalled within the industry.
With an extremely complex paper-based environment to manage; coupled with difficulty in producing an overview of the status of their supply chain, which is of paramount importance to the distributor, much valuable time was being spent on checking for relevant certification and making paper copies available to potential customers.
They required help in developing a user configurable system which could be maintained in-house, without the need for any programming, whilst enabling exporters to upload the relevant certification data and supporting documentation required by the distributor and its supermarket clients. Adepteq worked with the in-house team to ensure they obtained knowledge of how the system was developed so could easily amend in the future.
“ Adepteq understood our requirement and developed a powerful business tool which protects our position as the predominant supplier to the market ”
By providing this facility to the exporters this enables the exporters to manage and maintain their own certification documentation making the whole process more efficient. These enhancements have resulted in a major improvement to the supply chain communication and visibility which benefits exporters, producers, the distributor and ultimately their valued clients.
The distributor chose Adepteq (a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner) based upon our initial discussions and our meeting to demonstrate a wireframe of the concepts discussed. Adepteq have designed a solution which not only allows the exporters and producers to be managed, but also delivers improved communication internally.
Solution Details
The solution is based around Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 and whilst we have made every effort to keep the solution as simple as possible, it is very scalable. This will allow the distributor to expand the solution to meet the changing needs of their business without the need to use external resources.
Each organisation in the supply chain only has access to the information relevant to them as the authentication and security is managed within the solution.
As a leading intranet solution, the SharePoint platform deployed will also allow the distributor to expand the use of the document management and communication tools across other areas of the business where additional efficiencies will be found.
Please download the Supply Chain Management with SharePoint Case Study in PDF.