Infor Boosts SRM Offering

Published: January 23, 2007

by Alex Woodie

Midrange ERP giant Infor unveiled new supplier relationship management (SRM) software last week. SupplyWEB version 10 includes new features designed to improve collaboration between customers and suppliers, and brings new tools designed to enhance data accuracy and demand and order management.

SupplyWeb is an internally developed product that's based on technology Infor obtained in its June 2003 acquisition of Future 3 and its December 2002 acquisition of BRAIN North America, an automotive ERP software company, according to Kevin Piotrowski, the company's director of industry and product marketing for the automotive sector. It runs on Windows and Linux, but supports OS/400 ERP products from Infor and other vendors, in addition to ERP products running on other platforms.

One of the biggest uses of SupplyWEB is integrating data from disparate ERP systems to present a common view of the data. "Many of our customers have multiple ERP systems running within their enterprise--some from Infor and some from our competitors--and they use SupplyWEB today to present one face to their suppliers and have one way to communicate and collaborate with their suppliers," Piotrowski says in an e-mail.

With version 10, Infor has bolstered the SRM product with two new modules, including Production Invoicing and Purchase Order Collaboration. The new Production Invoicing module helps improve data accuracy between customers and suppliers, eliminate discrepancies in pricing and payables, and allow more timely payments from the customer. Purchase Order Collaboration, meanwhile, facilitates a purchase order negotiation process, thereby allowing customers and suppliers to set terms before committing to an order, the company says.

Additional enhancements in SupplyWeb 10 includes new supplier cumulative quality management capabilities for better accommodating out-of-order shipping and receiving activities; new "flex fields" that allow users to include shippers, billing, work orders, and problem reporting documents; and receipt reconciliation capabilities, which tie receipts to Advanced Shipment Notices (ASN), thereby ensuring shipments are properly moved to a "received" status within SupplyWeb.

Infor SRM SupplyWeb version 10 is available now. For more information, see www.infor.com.

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