Using Web-services to support collaboration practices along the supply chain

In the last years, collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) has emerged as a promising solution to the increasing need for efficient and effective management of demand in a supply network. However; the current technological framework supporting information sharing and collaboration along the supply chain has a number of limitations, such as the extensive IT restructuring needed for integrating partner information systems and the high cost inherent in the development and deployment of complex collaboration solutions per se. In this paper we suggest a new technological approach for supporting CPFR practices and further suggest an innovative system implementation based entirely on open-source technologies. Our developed prototype facilitates the process of exchanging partner predictions via a host of different operating devices (PC, PDAs, cellphones). The system's backend is supported by various Web-services for automating information flow and collaboration through a supply network.