Key Features of Supply Chain Management

Supply chain softwares are robust, feature-rich technology softwares that enhance operations from end-to-end.Today’s popular supply chain softwares can help companies achieve and maintain a competitive edge by empowering them to streamline and enhance their most important supply chain operations from start to finish. With supply chain software in place, organizations can maximize cost-efficiency, increase productivity, and give their bottom line a big boost.This functionality is designed to fully automate and support supply chain processes from end-to-end, and includes:Inventory ManagementWith a supply chain package, companies can significantly improve the way they track and manage their supplies of raw materials and components needed for production, finished goods to satisfy open sales orders, and spare parts required for field service and support. This eliminates excess and waste, frees up valuable real estate for other important purposes, and minimizes related storage costs.Order ManagementSupply chain software can dramatically accelerate the execution of the entire order-to-delivery cycle by helping companies to more productively generate and track sales orders. Supply chain also enables the dynamic scheduling of supplier deliveries to more effectively meet demand, and more rapid creation of pricing and product configurations.ProcurementAll activities and tasks associated with sourcing, purchasing, and payables can be fully automated and streamlined across a company’s entire supplier network with a supply chain software package. As a result, businesses can build stronger relationships with vendors, better assess and manage their performance, and improve negotiations to leverage volume or bulk discounts and other cost-cutting measures.LogisticsAs companies expand globally, their supply chains become more and more complex. This makes the coordination of the numerous warehouses and transportation channels involved quite a challenging endeavor without supply chain software in place. With supply chain, businesses can improve on-time delivery performance and boost customer satisfaction by achieving complete visibility into how finished goods are stored and distributed, regardless of the number of facilities or partners that participate.Forecasting and PlanningWith supply chain software, organizations can more accurately anticipate customer demand, and plan their procurement and production processes accordingly. As a result, they can avoid unnecessary purchases of raw-materials, eliminate manufacturing over-runs, and prevent the need to store excess finished goods, or slash prices to move products off of warehouse shelves.Return ManagementSupply chain software can simplify and accelerate the inspection and handling of defective or broken goods - on both the buy and sell side of the business - and automate the processing of claims with suppliers and distributors, as well as insurance companies.Many supply chain offerings also include add-on options or modules designed to enhance related activities. Through these features, support is provided for a variety of important processes such as contract management, product lifecycle management, capital asset management ,and more.Advantages of SCMSupply chain software provides numerous advantages to organizations, empowering them to improve operations from end-to-end.Key Benefits of Supply Chain Management Software:

• Improve Your Supply Chain Network

• Minimized Delays

• Enhanced Collaboration

• Reduced Costs.

Disadvantages of SCMThe biggest disadvantage of global supply chain management is the heavy investment of time, money, and resources needed to implement and overlook the supply chain.

about biometric security system

Types of Biometrics 

There are basically two types of biometrics:
1. Behavioral biometrics 
2. Physical biometrics 

Behavioral biometric definition : Behavioral biometrics basically measures the characteristics which are acquired naturally over a time. It is generally used for verification. 

Examples of behavioral biometrics include: 

* Speaker Recognition - analyzing vocal behavior 
* Signature - analyzing signature dynamics 
* Keystroke - measuring the time spacing of typed words 

Physical biometric definition : Physical biometrics measures the inherent physical characteristics on an individual. It can be used for either identification or verification. 

Examples of physical biometrics include: 

* Bertillonage - measuring body lengths (no longer used) 
* Fingerprint - analyzing fingertip patterns 
* Facial Recognition - measuring facial characteristics 
* Hand Geometry - measuring the shape of the hand 
* Iris Scan - analyzing features of colored ring of the eye 
* Retinal Scan - analyzing blood vessels in the eye 
* Vascular Patterns - analyzing vein patterns 
* DNA - analyzing genetic makeup

PART 3:Advantages and Disadvantages of Biometrics Systems

Advantages of Biometrics : 

•  Increase security - Provide a convenient and low-cost additional tier of security. 

• Reduce fraud by employing hard-to-forge technologies and materials. For e.g.Minimise the opportunity for ID fraud, buddy punching. 

•  Eliminate problems caused by lost IDs or forgotten passwords by using physiological attributes. For e.g. Prevent unauthorised use of lost, stolen or "borrowed" ID cards. 

• Reduce password administration costs. 

• Replace hard-to-remember passwords which may be shared or observed. 

• Integrate a wide range of biometric solutions and technologies, customer applications and databases into a robust and scalable control solution for facility and network access 

• Make it possible, automatically, to know WHO did WHAT, WHERE and WHEN! 

• Offer significant cost savings or increasing ROI in areas such as Loss Prevention or Time & Attendance. 

•  Unequivocally link an individual to a transaction or event.

• The finger print of those people working in Chemical industries are often affected. Therefore these companies should not use the finger print mode of authentication.

• It is found that with age, the voice of a person differs. Also when the person has flu or throat      infection the voice changes or if there there are too much noise in the environment this method may not authenticate correctly. Therefore this method of verification is not workable all the time

• For people affected with diabetes, the eyes get affected resulting in differences.

• Biometrics is an expensive security solution.

Disadvantages of a biometric system.

PART 2:What are biometric systems used for?

Reliable user authentication is essential. The consequences of insecure authentication in a banking or corporate environment can be catastrophic, with loss of confidential information, money, and compromised data integrity. Many applications in everyday life also require user authentication, including physical access control to offices or buildings, e-commerce, healthcare, immigration and border control, etc.

Currently, the prevailing techniques of user authentication are linked to passwords, user IDs, identification cards and PINs (personal identification numbers). These techniques suffer from several limitations: Passwords and PINs can be guessed, stolen or illicitly acquired by covert observation.

In addition, there is no way to positively link the usage of the system or service to the actual user. A password can be shared, and there is no way for the system to know who the actual user is. A credit card transaction can only validate the credit card number and the PIN, not if the transaction is conducted by the rightful owner of the credit card.

This is where biometrics systems provide a more accurate and reliable user authentication method, as can be summarised in the table underneath:

Existing user authentication techniques include:

• Something you know, e.g. password or PIN. The issue is that many password are easy to guess, and can also be easily forgotten.
• Something you have, e.g. key or car. They can be lost, stolen or duplicated.
• Something you know and have, e.g. card + PIN.
• Something you are, e.g. fingerprint, hand, iris, retina, voice. You cannot lose them, are unique for each individual and are difficult to forge.

PART 3:Types of Business Networks

However, there are many other types of networks commonly found in the business world, including:

Voice: Don’t forget about the POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) connected by miles of copper wire. This has been a very valuable information network within and between businesses for decades now. POTS has even carried digital data between fax machines and computers equipped with modems. Increasingly, business voice communication is being done on mobile phones linked together by cellular networks or on smartphones connected to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) networks.

Financial: There are many types of financial networks. Some allow printed money and checks to flow between individuals and banks, while others enable electronic transfer of funds. Automated Teller Machine (ATM) networks are a familiar example of the former. They may link financial activity within one bank (i.e. Bank of America’s branded ATM machines) or between a consortium of financial institutions (i.e. the CIRRUS network). Businesses are more likely to use the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network, through which their banks transmit electronic payment requests and disbursements. Even financial instruments may be networked through the practice of creating derivative assets, as we learned following the near collapse of the US financial industry in 2008.

Supply: This network type hardly needs an introduction. The last few decades have seen the rise of comprehensive, managed supply chains, through which manufacturers buy the raw materials and fabricated components needed to produce finished goods. Impressive, efficient networks, through which large retailers source the products they sell, have also been built.

Transportation: Networks have long existed to facilitate the movement of physical goods and people. DHL, FedEx, and UPS are well-known examples of package distribution networks. ABF Freight, CSX, and Schumacher transport goods between manufacturers, warehouses, retailers, and buyers. Amtrak, Greyhound, and JetBlue are all in the business of transporting people through networks of destinations.

Retail: There are two types of retail networks, those affiliated with one specific brand and others that sell goods from multiple manufacturers. The former is either owned and operated by the brand itself or franchised to third-party operators. Apple and Nike operate stores that sell primarily their own products. General Motors and McDonalds are well known examples of retail franchises with exclusive brand affiliations. Many retailers, such as BestBuy and Macy’s operate wholly-owned, branded networks of stores that sell merchandise from a wide variety of manufacturers. And many manufacturers, such as Hewlett-Packard and Whirlpool, sell their products through multiple channel partners, many of whom also offer competitors’ wares.

Service: Many businesses have built large networks of wholly-owned or franchised locations where services are sold and performed. Some exist only to service products from a specific manufacturer, such as Maytag or Ford.  Others, such as Jiffy Lube and Geeks On Call, are agnostic to the brand of the product. Other service networks focus on taking care of people; Lahey Clinic and SuperCuts are two examples.

Content: Data, information, and knowledge that we create and consume in the course of doing business flows over physical computing and voice networks. However, content may also distributed to multiple networked nodes of affiliates. Radio and television networks are clear examples of distributing centrally-created content through multiple broadcasting affiliates. Content Distribution Networks are a modern equivalent for digitized content. Content can also be assembled from multiple network nodes and published in a spokes-to-hub model. Within businesses, compound documents take content from multiple individual documents and merge it into a single document. Web content management systems are used by businesses to gather digital text, images, audio, and video from multiple sources and publish it together on web pages.

Social: These days, it seems that the word ‘network’ is most frequently used in reference to the relationships between people, the sum of which is referred to as a social network. While social networks have always been foundational to business, and have even been studied for some time by academics, executives and employees are just now considering what networks of people exist in (and spill outside of) their organization and how those social networks can be used to produce measurable, positive impact business results.

PART 2:What is the Importance of Supply Chain Management?

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is an essential element to operational efficiency. SCM can be applied to customer satisfaction and company success, as well as within societal settings, including medical missions; disaster relief operations and other kinds of emergencies; cultural evolution; and it can help improve quality of life. Because of the vital role SCM plays within organizations, employers seek employees with an abundance of SCM skills and knowledge. Supply chain management is critical to business operations and success for the following reasons:

SCM is Globally Necessary

Basically, the world is one big supply chain. Supply chain management touches major issues, including the rapid growth of multinational corporations and strategic partnerships; global expansion and sourcing; fluctuating gas prices and environmental concerns, each of these issues dramatically affects corporate strategy and bottom line. Because of these emerging trends, supply chain management is the most critical business discipline in the world today.

[Learn the emerging supply chain trends and its impact on business]

Reasons for SCM in Society

Supply chain management is necessary to the foundation and infrastructure within societies. SCM within a well-functioning society creates jobs, decreases pollution, decreases energy use and increases the standard of living. Two examples of the effect of SCM within societies include:

• Hurricane Katrina - 2005
  In 2005, Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans, LA, leaving residents without access to food or clean water. As a result, a massive rescue of the inhabitants had to be made. During the first weekend of the rescue effort, 1.9 million meals and 6.7 million liters of water were delivered.
• Foundation for Economic Growth
  A society with a highly developed supply chain infrastructure that includes interstate highways, a large railroad network, ports and airports is able to trade many goods at low cost. Business and consumers are able to obtain these goods quickly, resulting in economic growth.

Reasons for SCM in Business

Clearly, the impact that SCM has on business is significant and exponential. Two of the main ways SCM affects business include:

• Boosts Customer Service
  SCM impacts customer service by making sure the right product assortment and quantity are delivered in a timely fashion. Additionally, those products must be available in the location that customers expect. Customers should also receive quality after-sale customer support.
• Improves Bottom Line
  SCM has a tremendous impact on the bottom line. Firms value supply chain managers because they decrease the use of large fixed assets such as plants, warehouses and transportation vehicles in the supply chain. Also, cash flow is increased because if delivery of the product can be expedited, profits will also be received quickly.

Supply chain management helps streamline everything from day-to-day product flows to unexpected natural disasters. With the tools and techniques that SCM offers, you’ll have the ability to properly diagnose problems, work around disruptions and determine how to efficiently move products to those in a crisis situation.

PART 1:What does Biometric Security mean?

Biometric Security

Definition - What does Biometric Security mean?

Biometric security is a security mechanism used to authenticate and provide access to a facility or system based on the automatic and instant verification of an individual's physical characteristics. Because biometric security evaluates an individual’s bodily elements or biological data, it is the strongest and most foolproof physical security technique used for identity verification.

detail explains Biometric Security

Biometric security is mainly implemented in environments with critical physical security requirements or that are highly prone to identity theft. Biometric security-based systems or engines store human body characteristics that do not change over an individual's lifetime. These include fingerprints, eye texture, voice, hand patterns and facial recognition.

An individual's body characteristics are pre-stored in a biometric security system or scanner, which may be accessed by authorized personnel. When an individual walks into a facility or tries to gain access to a system, the biometric scanner evaluates his/her physical characteristics, which are matched with stored records. If a match is located, the individual is granted access.