Excel Dashboard For Supply Chain Management should focus on all key activities throughout your supply chain including employees, customers, data and any other resources. The major difference between other excel dashboards and the supply chain excel dashboards is that by nature the supply chain is a system made of numerous processes that convert raw materials, parts and resources in to a final product and service for the customer. Organizing all these processes is a big challenge because all purchasing, outsourcing and any other logistics should be managed and coordinated effectively and efficiently.
Unlike other business management disciplines supply chain management has a role of integrating everything. When each and every activity can be synced efficiently that is the point where the organization can create value for the stakeholders internally and externally. Consequently each of these steps and activities must be evaluated and analyzed carefully for the same of management reporting and each stage needs to have wee-defined and organized metrics and KPIs. These are the metrics used in your excel dashboard.
The fact that there are numerous kinds of supply chains means that your supply chain excel dashboard needs to be planned based on your typical business model and your specific supply chain requirements.
Using process flow charts is a must in analyzing these processes. At any point in your process there will be flow of activities including flow of information that needs to be streamlines and measured. By its nature the effective supply chain management will include an ideal flow of information throughout its processes and this is the point when managers have the ideal insight into the performance – quality, time and efficiency. Once the information is streamlined the process can be further improved on a daily basis and the overall system can be optimized.
Another important issue is that each of your supply chain metrics must be directed towards the overall objective of your system which is satisfying customer demand and needs. For the process that hasn’t been optimized this is the first goal – satisfying customer requirements. Once you are able to take your processes to the next level and once you are able to really have a control and manage them – your goal will become satisfying the customer needs in the most efficient way by optimizing your resources.
Make sure you really define the boundaries of your supply chain operations – for example unlike logistics which is primary all functions within the organization – the supply chain activities will extend beyond your organizational boundaries and include additional stakeholders like your vendors, suppliers, manufacturers, external organization and even government agencies.
If you are just starting creating a brand new excel dashboard for your supply chain you should take a look at your processes and flow charts and simply try to identify the top 3-5 KPIs for each stage. This will further open a new perspective into additional metrics and sources of information. Start by putting your major KPIs on your excel dashboard and daily analyze the performance and add and adjust your metrics.
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