Technology Software engineering: Don’t slice the elephant – create a paradise Often when someone thinks about software engineering, he gets the recommendation to slice the elephant. E.g., you want to design a nice e-commerce pet shop, you need to cut it into individual slices.But for me, slicing the elephant sounds quite strange: An elephant in slices is still difficult to handle – even then those slices would be quite large (even if they are smaller than the original elephant). Moreover, the slices belong only to that specific elephant. (more…)
Industry News Digitalization in procurement – the eighth BME e-solution conference in Düsseldorf On March 14 and 15, 2017, the eighth e-solution conference sponsored by the German Association for Supply Chain Management, Procurement and Logistics (BME) was held in Düsseldorf. This event is one of the largest gatherings for e-procurement and e-sourcing in the German-speaking world. (more…)
SCM Insights · Technology Easy transfer of inspection certificates with the Advance Shipping Notification (ASN) We are frequently approached by customers seeking a solution for transferring quality and production data generated by a supplier as part of the manufacturing and quality assurance processes. As an attachment to SupplyOn's electronic delivery note, the so-called ASN (Advance Shipping Notification) is exactly what they are looking for. Following the transfer, structured electronic certificate data can be seamlessly processed, analyzed and saved. (more…)
Technology Good bait catches fine fish – part 3: How to write a specification for testers We saw in the past blogs, how a specification for customers and specifications for developers look like. But we write specifications even for testers. But what is needed for testers in a specification? (more…)
Technology Good bait catches fine fish – part 2: How to write a specification for developers In my recent blog we saw, how a specification for customers can look like. A specification needs to fulfill many different requirements and at the same time it has to be understood by the customer, testers, and of course also the developer. Which information do developers need?Developers want to know what they have to implement. Usually they want to develop a pretty solution. “Pretty solution” doesn’t mean a nicely designed user interface at all. (more…)
Technology Famous Easter eggs Famous Easter Eggs - based on this title, you would assume that now something comes about Farbergé eggs or other lovely things like those. But I don't want to tell you about that. Instead I want to tell something about Easter eggs created by developers. (more…)
Inside · Technology Agile requirements – highlights from the Ellen Gottesdiener workshop Agile Requirements - Creative Collaborative and Colorful Discovery – was the title of a workshop held on March 16, 2015, at the RE Conf (Requirements Engineering Conference) in Munich. Coach Ellen Gottesdiener (founder of EBG Consulting) is a renowned pioneer in the field of collaborative partnerships for Requirements Engineering and Management. During this workshop we experienced her creative and colorful way of thinking – and were quite impressed by her "retro approach" based on flip charts and colored post-its. (more…)
Technology Good bait catches fine fish: How to write a specification that wins over the customer There is a nice German proverb: Good bacon catches mice. You might think - “So what?” Right, but in German bacon is called “Speck” - pronounced “Shpec” - which can be used as a short word for specification. Therefore I originally called this blog with a spec you catch mice.Unfortunately that wordplay doesn’t work in English quite well. But I hope you catch the meaning :) .When we start a software development project nowadays, we start to write a specification. The specification should fulfill many different requirements and at the same time it has to be understandable by developers, testers, and of course for the customer. They are our mice we want to catch.But how can someone explain complex technical and business combinations in a way that in the end software is created which fulfills the expectations of the customer regarding functionality and quality? In this blog, I want to explain using which models, text patterns, and structures, which group of readers is approachable best. So which mice can be caught best using which bacon :-) . (more…)
SCM Insights · Use Cases Realizing savings potential for indirect purchases In many organizations, the optimization of procurement processes and the resulting savings are primarily sought and found in the purchasing of direct materials. Some people still underestimate indirect purchasing and fail to appreciate its significance: “How can I possibly optimize buying a pencil?”But indirect materials involve much more than pencils, pens, and coffee machines. There are far more important and complex areas, such as the whole of the company’s IT equipment, its office furniture and – not to be underestimated – the procurement of all kinds of services.It really is well worth thinking about possible process optimizations in the procurement of indirect materials, which can achieve significant procurement savings. (more…)
Technology · Use Cases SupplyOn enables requests for quotations with SAP SRM Requests for quotations for indirect materials are on the increase, but the related processes are often not continuous. Many companies wrestle with incompatible media because their process, from sourcing to ordering, uses disparate technologies. A lot of them purchase indirect materials using a standard SAP SRM system. Here, detailed workflow rules enable the person creating the shopping cart to handle everything right down to dispatching their order and logging the goods received. But when it comes to inquiries and requests for quotations, there is no cohesive system at all. SupplyOn has now closed this gap!How does the SupplyOn platform manage to integrate the established RfQ process with your standard in-house SAP SRM system? (more…)
