Managing supply networks: symptom recognition and diagnostic analysis with Web services

As supply chain managers spend well above 60% of their total working time remedying disruptions along the value chain, they require the support of inter-organizational information systems that allow them to focus their attention on the critical problems. In addition, each action they decide on needs to be aligned with the overall network strategy to sustain the supply chain's competitive edge. However, research has only been very limited in this area. Commercially available supply chain event management-suites are the first step into this direction but so far lack important aspects like diagnostic analyses and integration into existing management and controlling frameworks. Based on a network-wide capturing of performance measurement data and alerting mechanisms in case key figures or process metrics do not meet their targets or exceed pre-set limits, this paper describes a computerized symptom-to-therapy cycle starting with recognizing performance deviations all the way to diagnosing the underlying root causes and supplying management with possible reaction measures to steer clear of the problem. At FORWIN this concept has been realized in a Web-based prototype that is presented to show these principles work in practice. The modules for symptom recognition and diagnosis are discussed in detail. The article concludes with a brief outlook on future research.