Need help with Project Management assignments?

ECOM 402- E-Supply Chain Management
ASSIGNMENT-1
Course – ECOM402 Student Name – Ayman Rafa Alamri
Academic Year – 1440-41 Student ID No - 160079583
Semester – IInd Student Marks -
CRN - 20738 Level of the Mark – HIGH / MIDDLE / LOW
Instructor’s Name Dr. Syed Akmal
Question: a. Web Application for Supply Chain Traceability
Answer: In past decade, credibility of schemes related to the safety of the food industry has been
heavily challenged due to various food crises. The need for enough traceability systems for
tackling the crisis shed light on the necessity for updating and reassign the recently implemented
traceability systems in the food sectors like Sainsbury. Thus the effectiveness in physical flow of

products along supply chain along with the assurance of product safety depend on existence of
an effective traceability system. This system is then capable of identifying every unit distributed
and produced from the farm to the fork. The food sector has defined traceability as the capacity
of tracing and following food, feed or substance via all the stages of distribution and production.
The stages of distribution and production indicates any stage from primary production of the
food to reaching final consumer. This represents a new form of regulation on hygiene of the
foodstuffs. The key responsibility is undertaken initially by Hazard Analysis and Critical Control
Point (HACCP) and recently by ISO 22000. According to the directives put forward to the
European Union, food business must possess procedures and systems for identification of other
business to which it supplies products. This regulation do not depend on the specific
methodology and the food companies like Sainsbury can independently choose the mechanisms
that fit the needs and ensures effective traceability of the products.
Nevertheless, effectiveness of the traceability system depends on the capacity of
collecting information regarding the consumer safety and product quality (Lavelli 2013).
Presently, a variety of traceability systems can used presently in the food chains. However, the
IT depended systems has been found to be much in demand in food sector over past few years.
Retailers like Sainsbury have been found to prefer the application of Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID) and bar code technologies in the food chains since these process helped in
reducing the errors linked to the manual handling of data thereby enhancing the feasibility of
tracking. In addition to this, the development of different software system and the various data
bases enhanced the efficiency of transmitting, collecting and analysing huge volumes of quality
based data.
Question: b. Implementation of CRM and SRM

Answer: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) represents a software which is primarily
finds application in the management of the customer details and the profile thereby enabling
maintenance of goodwill with the customers (Khodakarami and Chan 2014). In other words, it
aids in not only tracking the customers but provide necessary customer satisfaction with the
service. The customer relationship management in the retail can enhance customer satisfaction,
reduce the cost and improve the performance of the firm within marketplace. Thus, CRM
software helps in managing the relationship with the individual customers for creating
advantages for both the parties. To enhance its CRM, Sainsbury deployed Interactive Voice
(IVR) system in some of its stores (Kumar and Reinartz 2018). This IVR system remains
integrated into the system of Sainsbury thereby enabling the customers to derive answers they
are looking for without even speaking to the representative thereby helping them to save time for
both the customers. Sainsbury has also put across the need for a management information (MI)
based on real time which enabled it in gaining deeper insight into the journey of the customers.
The Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) represent a software which enables a
business in managing the relationship between the buyers and service contractors and suppliers
through digital tools (Tseng 2014). SRM at Sainsbury however focused on five key areas which
are mentioned as follows (Bradford 2020):
 Improvement in quality of the service or the product offered or those used by colleagues
and customers.
 To look for increasingly sustainable and the environment friendly means of working for
both the suppliers and communities.
 Initiate innovation by introducing new concepts or products from the trusted suppliers

 Ensure risk management and learning about the marketplace of suppliers and the risk that
it faces.
Question: c. Management and Implementation of Cloud Computing in Supply Chain
Management
Answer: Cloud computing puts across the ability in flexibly outsourcing the software for better
collaboration of the supply chain (Wu et al. 2013). Rather than paying and maintaining
maximum the technology puts across a method which allows flexibility based on the business
process and the model of the supply chain. Effective supply chains has been a necessity for
various companies. The cloud based structures are capable of providing a real-time visibility of
the shipments and inventory thereby improving the logistics tracking. Through using the cloud
computing, companies are able to more accurately control the system capacity. The emergence
of the cloud technology allowed the companies in automatically adjusting the capacity based on
the need and thereby scale the computing power based on the demand fluctuations.
When it comes to Sainsbury, the retailer rolled a new software within the supply chain
that would alert the suppliers as well as the supermarket chain about the arousal of potential
problem thereby suggesting a management process in resolving the issue (Owunwanne 2016).
The move is a part of re-plat forming program which it expects to reduce the boosting margins of
operational cost within the competitive market of grocery retailing. The software would also
boost supplier efficiency and relations. It will also manage the performance and progress of all
the products. This implementation on part of Sainsbury reflects an increasing trend in generating
collaboration between the retailers and suppliers.
Question: d. Use of RFID Technologies for e-Enabling Logistics Supply Chains

Answer: The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has been defined as kind of
communication technology and wireless information that possess the ability to record, verify,
identify the data that remains associated with tangible items like physical site for the goods and
the associated variations and movement as well as the intangible tasks like the information
processing and the operations of data execution which remains associated with service
(Michaelides and Forster 2014). The examples of the information and data which pertains to the
tangible goods and remains captured by the RFID systems has been the quantities of inventory
measured against the time, location and date. The other kinds of data measured comprises the
monitoring of the ambient conditions like the pressure or humidity or the temperature that makes
usage of the RFID technology appealing for the various sectors. Therefore, RFID has wider use
in various diverse sectors, ranging from banking to retail predominantly in the areas of inventory
control and management thereby resulting in security and tracking. RFID thus acts as a key for
supporting the operations of e-logistics and the e-supply chain by making it available for
exchanging information with the Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) systems.
Sainsbury however carried out a RFID trial for its chilled goods (Karkkainen 2003). This
trial began with a single meal supplier, single retail store and single depot. Later on the trial
scaled up in encompassing all the chilled products moving to retail store. The trial involved the
application of the RFID tags instead of the plastic crates. Programming for RFID tags had been
accomplished through reading devices that encoded the information on tag memories. This
allowed better and faster control of the stock rotation.
Question e. e) Discuss ERP Implementation Service in Supply Chain
Answer: When ERP is integrated with the management systems of supply chain then it
supplements the supply chain with information related to the company’s sales, process and

finance (Ince et al. 2013). This results in the enrichment of the supply chain with broader view of
the business operations. The integration of ERP in the supply chain results in various benefits for
the manufacturers. This includes (Huang and Handfield 2015):
 Optimization of inventory: When SCM is supported with the data from across the
organization then it helps in making accurate forecasts thereby resulting in optimizing the
inventory. This implies minimization of the holding costs while protecting the schedules
of production from any kind of disruption as a result of low inventory.
 Ensure streamlined workflows: The ERP software helps in aggregating the overall data
of the firm into a single centralized database. When the ERP gets connected to the tools
of the supply chain management then the necessity for the double entry will reduced and
it will lead to streamlining of the workflow through automation.
 Ensure Customer Satisfaction: Increasingly supply chain management through the
integration of the ERP implies in producing higher quality products not only quickly but
also accurately on time. This boost in the performance helps in creating satisfied
customers who seems to place repeated order
Sainsbury however makes use of a complicated Enterprise Resource Planning system
which tried in integrating the transaction based data and the business process across the
organization (Slack 2018). This system based on software employed a pushed and a dependable
demand system for Sainsbury. This ensured the continuity of proper supply and also aided in
avoiding bottle neck situation.

References:
Bradford, N, 2020. Sainsbury’s. [Online]. Available at
https://www.stateofflux.co.uk/getmedia/d74d72d5-c597-41e9-9fa7-7e9863d72701/Sainsbury-s-
SRM-case-study.pdf?ext=.pdf [accessed Mar 25, 2020]
Huang, Y.Y. and Handfield, R.B., 2015. Measuring the benefits of ERP on supply management
maturity model: a “big data” method. International Journal of Operations & Production
Management.
Ince, H., Imamoglu, S.Z., Keskin, H., Akgun, A. and Efe, M.N., 2013. The impact of ERP
systems and supply chain management practices on firm performance: case of Turkish
companies. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 99, pp.1124-1133.
Karkkainen, M, 2003. Increasing efficiency in the supply chain for short shelf life goods using
RFID tagging. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 31 (10), pp. 529-
536.
Khodakarami, F. and Chan, Y.E., 2014. Exploring the role of customer relationship management
(CRM) systems in customer knowledge creation. Information & Management, 51(1), pp.27-42.
Kumar, V. and Reinartz, W., 2018. Impact of CRM on marketing channels. In Customer
Relationship Management (pp. 237-264). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Lavelli, V., 2013. High-warranty traceability system in the poultry meat supply chain: A
medium-sized enterprise case study. Food control, 33(1), pp.148-156.

Michaelides, Z. and Forster, R., 2014. The use of RFID technologies for e-enabling logistics
supply chains. In Crisis management: Concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications (pp.
1145-1164). IGI Global.
Owunwanne, D., 2016. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology: gaining a
competitive value through cloud computing. International Journal of Management &
Information Systems (IJMIS), 20(2), pp.37-44.
Slack, N., 2018. Essentials of operations management. Pearson UK.
Tseng, S.M., 2014. The impact of knowledge management capabilities and supplier relationship
management on corporate performance. International Journal of Production Economics, 154,
pp.39-47.
Wu, Y.U.N., Cegielski, C.G., Hazen, B.T. and Hall, D.J., 2013. Cloud computing in support of
supply chain information system infrastructure: understanding when to go to the cloud. Journal
of Supply Chain Management, 49(3), pp.25-41.