OPUS Solution Environment

The Incident process in the Supply Chain Work Management solution provides three base states for an Incident, including “To Do,” “Under Investigation,” and “Closed.” A manufacturing company might want to add an additional sub-state called “Triage” for one of the process networks to encourage users to create all types of issues. The manufacturing company can then use the “Triage” state to decide if an issue can be resolved quickly or if it requires further detailed investigation.

Say a manufacturer and supplier partner want to better understand why a received item was put on “Quality Hold.” The manufacturer who has deployed Supply Chain Work Management can use OPUS Solution Environment to add an additional field, “Reason for Hold,” to the Incident Management process, helping the supplier more quickly understand what they need to do to resolve the issue and enabling the manufacturing company to use this data more effectively in continuous improvement projects. With a virtually unlimited number of processes that can be supported with the Task Management capabilities of Supply Chain Work Management, expanding shared data makes clear the input data that is expected from partners.

Manufacturing companies may want to adopt an agile methodology to implement the TraceLink Supply Chain Work Management solution, thereby minimizing the risks of waterfall implementation and speeding reaction to changing business needs. Companies can quickly start with the out-of-the box processes included with the Supply Chain Work Management solution and begin by deploying them at a small scale for internal engagement. Business users can then iteratively test the solution, learn from the results, and use OPUS Solution Environment to make custom changes to processes, data attributes, or role-based access, and then expand the solution to external users in measured steps and over time.

A company analysis determined that adding a critical approval step for high-value purchase orders may help stay on budget. A change in their process required the ability to intercept a purchase order when a procurement specialist creates an order with materials exceeding $50,000.

Using OPUS Solution Environment, a workflow step is added to the MINT Purchase Order transaction that requires orders beyond $50,000 to have an additional approval. Approved orders are sent to suppliers, ensuring the fulfillment of essential resources with minimal back-and-forth, while maintaining financial control and organizational oversight.