Business process optimization through a web-based supplier information management system (SIMS) / Janero Del Rosario

Year : 2010

Number of Pages : 76 leaves

Adviser : Prof. Nestor O. Rañeses

Executive Summary

Web-based data collection and reporting systems have been proven to be a good solution for evaluation systems and processes. Past studies and projects have used the same solution for scorecard monitoring, performance reviews and similar applications that require data input across multiple sites and possibly diverse computing environments. Having expressed a need to improve its existing process for surveying and evaluating suppliers for its Global Workplace Solutions line of business, Johnson Controls, Inc. (a US Fortune 100 company, ranked 58 in 2009) has employed the assistance of the Global Workplace Knowledge Center based in Makati, Philippines to develop a solution. Previously, it takes 15 working days to collect survey and evaluation questionnaires responses from suppliers-with a high rate of data loss and misplacement (estimated at 40 percent). This old system uses MS Excel-based questionnaires, distributed and collected through e-mail. Individual responses are collected through a centralised mailbox and summarised manually. Therefore, the chances of these files or documents being lost or misplaced are indeed very high. Responding to the call, the submitter of this project report (Janero Del Rosario) has proposed to implement a web-based survey and evaluation system based on a previous software development project dubbed project "Kalantiaw" using open-source web technologies (Java, Spring, Apache). From this project comes SIMS (Sourcing Information Management System), a web-based supplier database and evaluation system that automates many processes associated with supplier surveying, evaluation, requesting new suppliers and guarding against anomalous supplier selection and making sure that the process complies with corporate policies and trade laws. Having secured executive sponsorship by Mr. Shaun Carroll, JCI GWS Global Supply Chain Director and Grant Littlejohns, Contracts and Compliance Manager for Northern Europe region, the system has been developed and went live for pilot operations on November 12, 2009. Using 54 suppliers as the sample set for the initial plot run, the data analysis included in this report demonstrates that the new system has amazingly reduced turnaround time by as much as 67 percent with a defect rate for loss or misplacement of data close to 0.0 percent.

One thing that is unique to this project is that the solution to the business problem is nothing new. The technology employed is just another web application. The beauty of the project is in the novelty of its application, and providing a seamless integration of the technology with a single standardised business process. The project has grown to include other supplier evaluation measures not even previously considered with the old system (equal opportunity employer policies, conflict of interest prevention measures, etc.) The new system has proven to be a huge success in Johnson Controls, Inc. and is now fully implemented in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark (first non-English country to adopt the new system), with the USA, South Africa and the rest of the Nordic countries suited to follow this quarter. As of this writing, it was announced by the JCI Global Sourcing team that they will be putting SIMS for nomination to the annual technology and innovation awards organised by the Chartered Institute for Purchasing and Supply (CIPS).