Supply chain integration enables organizations to strategically plan and execute tasks related to procurement, production and co-production, sales, and distribution processes in order to achieve the required level of customer service and maximum profitability of delivered products. Supply chain management integrates key business processes of all links in the logistics chain – suppliers and subcontractors, manufacturers, and product recipients, in order to deliver added value to the customer and meet their expectations. The basis of chain integration is the product, which is why electronic catalogs are among the fundamental tools of the electronic economy in supply integration chains. Enterprises, scientific institutes, administrative offices, and similar institutions create electronic catalogs because they want to ensure uniform product identification and unambiguous interpretation by the recipient. Catalogs are also intended to provide the customer with a data package for automatic processing and to make available the widest possible – permissible range of information about products. The organization of the functioning of external catalogs can take many forms. First of all, the catalog can be maintained and operated by a company’s internal IT department, or outsourced to an external company (internet service provider – maintenance and hosting). Enterprises and institutions outsource only the catalog as a tool to ensure its efficient operation 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, or together with the handling of the provided data – their modification, updating, and supplementation, as well as the development of the catalog’s functionality.
The article comes from the magazine “e-Fakty” 2/2004.