Supports exception-based management Real-time detection and tracking of supply chain events Online and/or mobile notification of alerts to the right person Proactive response capabilities connected to the alert Escalation of unresolved alerts Inquiry capability to analyze event trends
A host of event types are already preloaded throughout all IBS Enterprise components, but you can also create any number of additional event triggers to best suit your business needs. Business processes that are not included in standard IBS Enterprise software can also be monitored through easy-to-use interfaces. If IBS Alert Management is installed and a purchase order from a supplier is not delivered as anticipated, the system immediately detects this and notifies both the purchaser and the supplier. The purchaser has response capabilities and could reschedule the actual purchase order, so that the system can automatically re-plan the entire supply chain's timeframe. With this approach, important information is automatically circulated to the key roles or employees involved in the process. Appropriate notification is given when a defined event occurs, affording you time to fix the matter before the problem grows.
EVENT DETECTION Different methods can be used to feed IBS Alert Management with new events such as:
Subscription to specific information, e.g. trigger on an object – Various triggers can be activated to do real-time monitoring of a specific object such as status changes on purchase, customer or production orders. Operational events in IBS Enterprise – The creation of events can be pre-defined in different operational programs throughout IBS Enterprise such as exceeded credit limits or notification of rescheduled orders. Batch jobs – Batch jobs monitoring various status levels, such as non-confirmed purchase orders or delayed sales orders, can be scheduled – as often as desired - via job control. Manual entry of an event – Events can also be manually created. If, for example, you wish to have employees notified of a single, delayed operation, you can create an event with parameters that define the operation and specify an alert notification. With this approach, personnel who receive the alert can take direct and immediate action on the delayed operation.
ALERT CREATION A detected event, including its different parameters, is sent to the alert engine, which checks if the event is activated and if the exception is within user-defined limits. Filters can be configured to avoid an overflow of repeated events. This is useful in those instances where an important event requires only one notification message.
MESSAGE CREATION IBS Alert Management plays a role much like a traffic policeman, directing different alerts from specific senders to various recipients. A message can be directed to different users or groups of users through various methods:
Connected roles to the event – Different roles, both inside and outside the company, can be used as the receivers of an alert. For example, alerts can be sent to a role that includes all purchasers connected to an order, thus initiating immediate action.
Included in this role may be the supplier in question, who would receive the same alert, but for informational purposes only. The roles utilize parameters to find signatures associated with the many different routines in IBS Enterprise. Whenever a role is set up as the receiver of an event, IBS Alert Management will use this parameter to determine the specific users to whom the message should be sent.
End-user subscription – It’s also possible for an end-user to manually subscribe to specific events, without being defined as a member of a connected role. However, authority control is in place for this process, ensuring that sensitive information is never erroneously circulated.
MESSAGE RETRIEVAL Each receiver of IBS Enterprise alerts can define different methods of receipt. It’s even possible for each user to have certain messages sent to one client, and other messages to another.
Traditional IBS Enterprise panels, fax, IBS Analyzer panels, email and text messages to mobile phones can all be used as alerts. For instance, alerts can be sent via email, GSM, SMS or IBS Enterprise messaging to personnel, suppliers or customers when credit limit on an order has been exceeded.
Active response capability – One of the benefits of IBS Alert Management is the ability to perform actions directly from an alert. During implementation it’s easy to connect different actions to different events though pre-loaded tables. The event then includes parameters that are used to open different programs. For example, if you are notified that an order has been delayed, you can, while reading the message, access the programs needed to make an inquiry about or maintain orders.
Escalation of alerts – If an alert or business partner request is not answered or acted upon within a predefined timeframe, an escalation program will make certain that it does not remain neglected. Each event can have next-level users defined, along with attached additional clients or contact details. The system has escalation logic built in to all event types, promoting ignored alerts to the next level.
Alerts inquiry – Valuable information can be uncovered through smart alerts inquiry, allowing you to analyze event trends and improve future performance. Smart selections can be based on various parameter values such as alerts with a certain status or those linked to certain recipients, customers, items and suppliers.
