Supply Chain Management ERP Requirements
Demand forecasting, supplier collaboration, and logistics optimisation. Review our comprehensive checklist to ensure your ERP covers every critical supply chain management capability.
41
Requirements
5
Categories
4
Industries
6
Leading Vendors
Supply Chain Management Requirements Checklist
Transportation & Logistics(8 requirements)
| Requirement | Description |
|---|---|
| Transportation Management (TMS) | Plans, executes, and optimizes the physical movement of goods across inbound, outbound, and intercompany shipments. |
| Carrier Selection & Rate Management | Compares carrier rates, transit times, and service levels to select optimal shipping methods for each order. |
| Shipment Tracking & Visibility | Provides real-time tracking of shipments in transit with estimated arrival times and exception alerts. |
| Freight Cost Allocation | Allocates transportation costs to orders, products, or cost centers for accurate landed cost and profitability analysis. |
| Route Planning & Optimization | Calculates optimal delivery routes considering distance, time windows, vehicle capacity, and traffic patterns. |
| Load Building & Consolidation | Optimizes truck loading by consolidating orders and maximizing trailer utilization to reduce shipping costs. |
| Proof of Delivery & ePOD | Captures electronic proof of delivery with driver signatures, photos, and condition notes at the point of receipt. |
| Freight Audit & Payment | Audits carrier invoices against contracted rates and shipment data to identify overcharges before payment. |
Supply Chain Planning(8 requirements)
| Requirement | Description |
|---|---|
| Demand Sensing & Forecasting | Uses real-time demand signals, POS data, and market indicators to create more accurate short-term demand forecasts. |
| Supply Planning & Allocation | Matches available supply against prioritized demand to determine optimal allocation across channels and customers. |
| Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) | Aligns sales forecasts with production capacity, inventory targets, and financial plans in a cross-functional planning process. |
| Inventory Optimization Across Network | Determines optimal stock levels and positioning across all distribution points to minimize cost while meeting service targets. |
| Supplier Collaboration & Forecast Sharing | Shares demand forecasts with suppliers through portals or EDI to improve lead times and reduce supply variability. |
| What-If Scenario Planning | |
| Capacity & Constraint Planning | Identifies capacity constraints across the supply chain and plans around bottlenecks in production, storage, or transportation. |
| Order Promising & Fulfillment Planning | Determines the best fulfillment source for each order based on inventory availability, cost, and delivery requirements. |
Trade & Compliance(8 requirements)
| Requirement | Description |
|---|---|
| Import & Export Compliance | Ensures all international shipments comply with trade regulations, export controls, and import requirements. |
| Customs Declarations & Documentation | Generates customs documentation including commercial invoices, packing lists, and certificates of origin. |
| Landed Cost Calculation | Calculates the total cost of goods including purchase price, freight, duties, insurance, and handling charges. |
| Tariff & Duty Classification | Classifies products using harmonized tariff codes (HS codes) and calculates applicable duties and taxes. |
| Trade Agreement Management | Tracks free trade agreement eligibility and manages preferential duty rates for qualifying shipments. |
| Denied Party Screening | Screens business partners against government restricted party lists and sanctions databases before transactions. |
| Country of Origin Tracking | Tracks the manufacturing origin of products and components for trade compliance and labeling requirements. |
| Free Trade Zone Management | Manages inventory and operations within foreign trade zones with duty deferral and inverted tariff benefits. |
Supply Chain Visibility(7 requirements)
| Requirement | Description |
|---|---|
| End-to-End Supply Chain Tracking | Provides visibility across the entire supply chain from raw material sourcing through final delivery to customers. |
| Supplier Performance Scorecards | Evaluates and scores suppliers on delivery reliability, quality, responsiveness, and cost competitiveness. |
| Supply Chain Risk Monitoring | Continuously monitors supply chain risks including supplier financial health, geopolitical events, and natural disasters. |
| Inventory Visibility Across Network | Provides unified real-time view of inventory across all warehouses, stores, in-transit, and supplier locations. |
| Control Tower & Exception Management | Centralizes supply chain monitoring with automated exception detection and resolution workflows. |
| Carbon Footprint & Sustainability Tracking | Measures and reports supply chain carbon emissions, sustainability metrics, and environmental impact by supplier and route. |
| Supply Chain Analytics & KPIs | Tracks key supply chain metrics including perfect order rate, cash-to-cash cycle, and total supply chain cost. |
Industry-Specific Supply Chain(10 requirements)
| Requirement | Description |
|---|---|
| Cold Chain Logistics & Monitoring | Manages temperature-controlled transportation with real-time monitoring, alerts, and compliance documentation. |
| Pharmaceutical Distribution & Serialization | Tracks pharmaceutical products with unit-level serialization for DSCSA compliance and anti-counterfeiting. |
| Retail Last-Mile Delivery Optimization | Optimizes final delivery to consumers with dynamic routing, time-window management, and delivery tracking. |
| Construction Material Logistics & Staging | Coordinates material deliveries to construction sites with staging area management and just-in-time scheduling. |
| Automotive Just-in-Time (JIT) Supply Chain | Manages synchronized delivery of components to automotive assembly lines with sequencing and kanban triggers. |
| Food & Beverage Freshness Routing | Routes perishable goods based on remaining shelf life to minimize waste and ensure freshness at delivery. |
| Government & Defense Supply Chain Security | Implements supply chain security measures for government shipments including C-TPAT compliance and chain of custody. |
| Healthcare Medical Supply Distribution | Manages distribution of medical supplies with lot tracking, expiry management, and critical item prioritization. |
| E-Commerce Fulfillment & Returns Logistics | Handles high-volume e-commerce order fulfillment with automated sorting, packing, and reverse logistics for returns. |
| Bulk Commodity & Tanker Logistics | Manages transportation of bulk commodities via tanker, rail, or barge with volume tracking and quality testing. |
Select your Supply Chain Management requirements interactively
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Industries That Need Supply Chain Management
These industries typically require strong supply chain management capabilities in their ERP system:
How to Prioritise Supply Chain Management Requirements
Not every requirement is equally important. Use this phased approach to prioritise:
Phase 1 — Must-Have
Core capabilities required for go-live. These are non-negotiable requirements that your business cannot operate without.
Phase 2 — Should-Have
Important capabilities needed within the first 12 months. Plan to implement these in a second rollout wave.
Future Phase — Nice-to-Have
Advanced capabilities for your long-term roadmap. Ensure the vendor supports these even if you don't need them now.
ERP Vendors with Supply Chain Management Capabilities
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