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 APS system integration: At the beginning (Part I)

Yüksel Çamaş (Nisan 2002)

Materials Management & Distribution (MM&D) - December 2000

 Part II
Integrating an APS system into an existing business application suite may be a complex undertaking and pose many challenges

Supply chain management consists of a wide range of activities, including demand and supply management, production planning, detailed scheduling, transportation, logistics and inventory management. Using linear programming and heuristic techniques for optimization, advanced planning and scheduling (APS) systems can become an integral part of managing these supply chain activities. 

Companies can use these systems to lower costs across the supply chain, maximize efficiency, improve responsiveness to market and increase overall throughput. To conduct business and manage operations, most organizations use an enterprise application suite. The latter is comprised of different solutions assembled from different vendors, as well as solutions created in-house, which often run on different platforms. 

As a result, effective use of an APS system demands proper integration with the existing business application suite. Through a seamless two-way data transfer protocol, this will draw timely and accurate data and synchronize information flow between applications. For effective supply chain planning and optimization, interoperability of the APS system with all other enterprise applications is of vital importance. 

Most modular add-on APS systems provide standard interfaces or data sharing functionality for popular transactional enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications. However, those interfaces are still evolving today. Consequently, integrating an APS system into an existing business application suite may be a complex undertaking and pose many challenges. 

Important Questions 

One of the first steps in such an undertaking must be the evaluation of the business application portfolio. This enables you to identify integration touch points and position the APS system properly within that portfolio of applications. It will require finding answers to questions such as:

  • Which transactional applications (ERP, legacy systems, etc.) do you currently use to accumulate business transactions that are vital for planning?;

  • During the planning process, do you use a customer relationship management (CRM) package to generate sales quotations and/or orders that can be considered as demand?; 

  • Also during the planning process, do you use an e-procurement application to handle purchasing for any of your non-MRO (maintenance, repair and operating) expenses that can be considered as supply?; 

  • Do you use a repair and service management application that can generate spare part requirements?; 

  • Do you employ a quality management system that can block parts in stock or on the shop floor for inspection or defects?; 

  • Do you utilize a sales contract management application that results in sales schedule requirements over a period of time, creating demand for the planning process?; 

  • Do you use a manufacturing execution system to keep track of production order status, operation completions and work-in-process (WIP) levels on the shop floor?; 

  • Do you use a warehouse management system (WMS) to keep track of inventory levels in your warehouses? 

  • Does your business require you to run any industry-specific applications, and if so, what's the impact on the planning process?; and 

  • Did you customize any of your off-the-shelf business application components?

Functional Challenges 

Even if your APS system has its own standard interfaces, it's likely some of those interfaces will lack certain functionality to support all integration touch points, which are necessary to link it to the business application portfolio. As a result, those standard interfaces may need to be revised, or new ones developed, to achieve a perfect fit. 

There are a number of functional challenges of APS integration. These include: bill of materials (BOM) and routings; order types and numbering; units of measure; sales and purchase contract schedules; calendars; and regenerative and net change data collection. In the next issue of MM&D, we'll delve with more detail into these functional challenges. 

Still, it's integral--from the beginning of APS integration through all of the process phases--to make a detailed analysis of any and all APS integration "touch points" with your existing system(s). By doing so, you'll be able to pinpoint potential problems before they arise. You'll also avoid costly re-work to fix unexpected challenges with integration contacts.

Copyright © 2000 Materials Management & Distribution - Article is re-printed here with the permission of Materials Management & Distribution.

for Part II

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