SCMN 2150 FINAL ROBERT STRAW QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS 2026
What are the Goals of Technology for SCM (why is it needed) - Answers - Optimization
Cross-chain visibility
Speed to Market
Agility
Collaboration
Adaptivity
Differentiation
Risk Management
It is needed to have supply chain excellence
Optimization - Answers - Peak performance of a supply chain requires alignment of
resources within and across organizations
Cross Chain Visibility - Answers - visibility to events occurring across the supply chain is
a pre-requisite for effective decision making
speed-to-market - Answers - Properly implemented technologies capture customer
requirements, prioritize them, and recommend alternatives to ensure product velocity
aligns with customer needs
Agility - Answers - Decision support tools provide the ability to model volatility scenarios.
This helps the company sense and respond to changing market conditions
Collaboration - Answers - Access to a common data pools supports collaboration on
strategies, processes, and exception response...linking geographically dispersed supply
chains to achieve seamless information sharing
Adaptability - Answers - Managers must alter the design and capabilities of a supply
chain to meet evolving market conditions
Differentiation - Answers - Technology can help an organization align demand and
supply to optimize profit, understand the cost to serve customers and prioritize service
execution.
Risk Management - Answers - Companies use predictive analytics and risk
management technologies to understand and minimize threats
What are the characteristics of high-quality data that ensure its useful to supply
chainmanagers? - Answers - Accurate - data must be correct and depict reality
, Accessible - data must be readily available for decision making purposes
Relevant - data must contain pertinent details and support analysis
Timely - data must be current
Transferable - data must be portable and readable by multiple systems
Reliable - the data must come from credible sources and be unaltered
Usable - the data must support stronger decision making
What does supply chain planning software do (multiple definitions)? - Answers - -
Strategic network design
- Capacity planning
- Demand planning & forecasting
- Procurement planning
- Production planning & scheduling
- Distribution planning
What do supply chain execution applications do and what are some examples? -
Answers - These tools facilitate the efficient use of resources to control supply chain
costs and achieve the quality and service requirements.
Examples:
- Warehouse management systems (WMS)
- Transportation management systems (TMS)
- Manufacturing execution systems (MES)
- Global trade management tools (GTM)
- Distributed order management tools (OM)
What do supply chain event management systems do - Answers - - Provide visibility of
critical flows and help provide early warning signals of deviations from plans
- Triggers corrective actions or recovery recommendations based on predefined work-
flow rules
- Help decision-makers implement the best alternative in terms of cost, time, and
customer service requirements.
What do Business Intelligence Tools do? - Answers - extract data from execution
systems across the supply chain and provide summaries and data visualization that
enable timely identification of anomalies, opportunities and solutions
What is Business Analytics? - Answers - the combination of skills, technologies,
applications and processes used by organizations to gain insight in to their business
based on data and statistics to drive business planning.
What does ERP stand for and what does it do? - Answers - Enterprise Resource
Planning - business process management software that allows an organization to use a
system of integrated applications to manage the business and automate many back-
office functions related to sales, finance, manufacturing, customers, supply chain, and
human resources.
ANSWERS 2026
What are the Goals of Technology for SCM (why is it needed) - Answers - Optimization
Cross-chain visibility
Speed to Market
Agility
Collaboration
Adaptivity
Differentiation
Risk Management
It is needed to have supply chain excellence
Optimization - Answers - Peak performance of a supply chain requires alignment of
resources within and across organizations
Cross Chain Visibility - Answers - visibility to events occurring across the supply chain is
a pre-requisite for effective decision making
speed-to-market - Answers - Properly implemented technologies capture customer
requirements, prioritize them, and recommend alternatives to ensure product velocity
aligns with customer needs
Agility - Answers - Decision support tools provide the ability to model volatility scenarios.
This helps the company sense and respond to changing market conditions
Collaboration - Answers - Access to a common data pools supports collaboration on
strategies, processes, and exception response...linking geographically dispersed supply
chains to achieve seamless information sharing
Adaptability - Answers - Managers must alter the design and capabilities of a supply
chain to meet evolving market conditions
Differentiation - Answers - Technology can help an organization align demand and
supply to optimize profit, understand the cost to serve customers and prioritize service
execution.
Risk Management - Answers - Companies use predictive analytics and risk
management technologies to understand and minimize threats
What are the characteristics of high-quality data that ensure its useful to supply
chainmanagers? - Answers - Accurate - data must be correct and depict reality
, Accessible - data must be readily available for decision making purposes
Relevant - data must contain pertinent details and support analysis
Timely - data must be current
Transferable - data must be portable and readable by multiple systems
Reliable - the data must come from credible sources and be unaltered
Usable - the data must support stronger decision making
What does supply chain planning software do (multiple definitions)? - Answers - -
Strategic network design
- Capacity planning
- Demand planning & forecasting
- Procurement planning
- Production planning & scheduling
- Distribution planning
What do supply chain execution applications do and what are some examples? -
Answers - These tools facilitate the efficient use of resources to control supply chain
costs and achieve the quality and service requirements.
Examples:
- Warehouse management systems (WMS)
- Transportation management systems (TMS)
- Manufacturing execution systems (MES)
- Global trade management tools (GTM)
- Distributed order management tools (OM)
What do supply chain event management systems do - Answers - - Provide visibility of
critical flows and help provide early warning signals of deviations from plans
- Triggers corrective actions or recovery recommendations based on predefined work-
flow rules
- Help decision-makers implement the best alternative in terms of cost, time, and
customer service requirements.
What do Business Intelligence Tools do? - Answers - extract data from execution
systems across the supply chain and provide summaries and data visualization that
enable timely identification of anomalies, opportunities and solutions
What is Business Analytics? - Answers - the combination of skills, technologies,
applications and processes used by organizations to gain insight in to their business
based on data and statistics to drive business planning.
What does ERP stand for and what does it do? - Answers - Enterprise Resource
Planning - business process management software that allows an organization to use a
system of integrated applications to manage the business and automate many back-
office functions related to sales, finance, manufacturing, customers, supply chain, and
human resources.
