What a growing number of today’s enterprises want is a true supply chain management solution that covers the entire process, from procurement, through manufacturing, to transport, distribution and final delivery.
On the one hand, many of your customers will have invested heavily in IT infrastructure to achieve this. But substantial sections of their supply chains are handled by third parties such as carriers and logistics providers and thus remain beyond their control. What the customer needs is information about the progress of their Orders, which can then be integrated back into their own systems.
On the other hand, many of your other customers may only have basic order-processing systems. Nonetheless, they will still want to be kept informed about the progress of their Orders, either actively by performing their own queries on the Web, or passively through the receipt of some form of notification.
ForwardVision is the brand name for FCL’s Supply Chain and Order Management system. It provides complete visibility of Orders throughout their lifecycle, to all of the parties involved in the supply chain. It enables customers’ Sales or Purchase Order information to be recorded, down to line item (SKU) detail. User-defined Milestone “Critical Paths” and “Events” facilitate flexible Order status monitoring and tracking. Using ForwardOffice, the forwarder performs its day-to-day supply chain functions and progresses Orders through to final delivery.
With in-built flexible data exchange facilities, ForwardVision delivers the tools that the freight and logistics operator needs to enter the world of SCM-based electronic transactions. Using the Web, involved parties benefit from world-wide, security-controlled, real-time access to enquire on and update Order information. And with integrated Event Management, status updates can be automatically despatched to any party whenever a Milestone becomes overdue or is completed.
ForwardVision’s inherent flexibility allows the forwarder to tailor a solution around their customers’ specific trade requirements. This can offer a major competitive advantage when tendering for new business. Ultimately, it enables the forwarder to integrate their customers’ systems more closely with their own, providing a pivotal means of locking them in.
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 Key Features:
• ForwardVision is activated selectively for those customers that you choose to provide it to
• Order Information can be maintained through three different interfaces:
• Back-office applications (ForwardOffice)
• Web applications (FCL-ASP)
• XML/EDI data exchange (bi-directional)
• From a growing library of “User Interfaces”, choose the one most appropriate to your customer’s type of trade
• Optionally drill to full Order Item detail
• Define owner and trade-specific Milestone “Critical Paths” for status monitoring, tracking and progress reporting
• Milestones automatically scheduled and re-scheduled as required
• Using XML/EDI data exchange, receive Order information from the owner
• Integrated with ForwardOffice Operations modules, with Orders linked to Consignments at appropriate time in their lifecycle
• Optionally supplement Orders with shipping information and return via XML/EDI
• Optionally exchange Order data with other systems (e.g. stock control and warehousing)
• Order reporting and maintenance, plus Milestone updates, all available via back-office or the Web
• FCL-ASP ForwardVision includes facility to drill to Order Item, Milestone or Shipment detail
• Integrated with “Event Management” - an extremely powerful tool that automates communications to trading partners
• “Events” generate some form of printed, faxed, e-Mail or XML/EDI output
• Any number of “Negative” or “Positive” Events can be linked to a Milestone
• When Milestone becomes overdue or is completed, the relevant Events are queued
• Negative Events include a sophisticated yet user- friendly escalation facility
• Optionally integrated with ForwardOffice Carrier EDI, Partner EDI and Customs interfaces - electronic status messages update Consignment and Order Milestones as required
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