https://advisory.kpmg.

us/content/dam/advisory/en/pdfs/supply-chain-big-data-part-3-processes-
risk.pdf

Also see 149.pdf, BusinessManag.pdf

https://www.quora.com/How-is-Data-Analysis-used-in-Supply-Chain-Management

Adding to the fact that 90% of the world’s data has been created in the last few years alone, it’s vital
that businesses grasp meaningful insight from data and analytics. Technology’s ability to recognise
patterns can help users to better understand customers and their decision-making, ultimately
helping you to gain more of their business. Machine learning helps take most of the bias out of
decision making by presenting information based on factual data trends. The overall goal should be
to improve decision making with the real-time harvesting of valuable data through machine learning
to allowing companies to make instant changes based on harvesting real insight from big data to
enable actionable supply chain visibility. Supply chains can essentially jump the digital evolution
curve by adopting a networked supply model of operation enabled with advanced analytics instead
of following a more conventional progression based on legacy enterprise resource planning and
supply chain management systems. As organisations integrate big data analytics strategies into their
operations, they will need to update their talent strategy, including upskilling and hiring, or
contracting, talent to leverage the power of analytics. Using analytics to automate more routine
supply chain decision-making related tasks will help free up existing resources in house to upskill
talent to “focus on higher value-added business tasks”. Additionally, automating the ingestion of
massive amounts of data from myriad sources across the supply chain will lead to increased
operational efficiency. Extending out from just mining existing data, predictive analytics seeks to
extract information from current data sets in order to forecast future probabilities with an
acceptable level of reliability, including a few alternative scenarios and risk assessment. Big data and
predictive analytics can help suppliers plan their businesses beyond the next order horizon, and
extend this planning all the way out to 12-18 months. They can do this without taking too many risks
by providing insight into the downstream customer demand and buying behaviour. Providing better
visibility helps customers run their businesses better and suppliers to grow their businesses.

The massive deployment of connected devices such as trucks, mobile devices, RFID readers,
webcams, and sensor networks adds huge volume of autonomous data sources.

Every company already owns a lot of information. With Big Data analytics, companies can
achieve the attitude, skill set, and technology required to become a data factory and create
additional value from their information resources.

In a recent study on supply chain, sixty percent of the respondents stated that they are
planning to invest in Big Data analytics within the next five years.

Big Data can achieve digital transformation of the Supply Chain business across the
following areas,

 Operational Excellence
 Customer Experience
To know more about the use of Big Data Analytics across Supply Chain & Logistics industry
you can read my blog Big Data Phenomenon Across Supply Chain & Logistics Industry

Data is used extensively in Supply Chain  for following

1. Planning, Product Launches to Replenishment planning

2. Scheduling of resources and assets
3. Landed Costing , Transportation Analysis
4. Demand Planning
5. Fulfillment Process Analysis
6. Vendor Analysis
7. Purchase Order Analysis
8. SKU Rationalization
9. Supply Chain Network Design
10. Facility Design, Simulation and Layout Planning

Data analysis can definitely lead the supply chain industry which ultimately can improve the volume
of sales, improve brand strategy, marketing methods or campaigns and much more.

Data Analysis are very helpful in driving efficiency in supply chain management. is cutting through
this complexity in order to create more visibility, agility, and transparency for companies in
successfully managing production and meeting delivery deadlines, and one of the ways planners and
managers can achieve these invaluable insights into their overall supply situation is through the
gathering, analysis, and deployment of data. Data analysis provides greater organisational-wide
insight, enhanced quality of end product and creating & navigating complex supplier network.

Big Data has a positive impact in different domains: helps in reconditioning the supply chain, increasing sales
and marketing, real route optimization etc. [7]. Big data analytics process has been explained from the
perspective of supply chain data [18]. The following section provides the taxonomy of ten main attributes of Big
data applications in Supply Chain management.
1. Volume:

Volume refers to the huge amount of data generated from emails, twitter, photos, and videos every second. In
SCM, Volume can be related to the data generated from the use of Sensors, bar codes, ERP, Transport
management system and database technologies. Previously volume is measured in Gigabytes which is now
measured in Zettabytes (ZB) or even Yottabytes (YB). There are different forms and ways of storing the Big
data generated from supply chain industry [20]. Rational database management system (RDBMS), which is a
structured model employed to see, analyze, manufacture and store the huge amount of supply chain management
data. Also the data clusters in Big data storage includes components like

 Direct attached storage (DAS) - includes different types of hard disks/ hard drives which are attached to
DBMS
 Network storage (NS) – which comes in two forms Network attached storage(NAS) and Storage Area
Network(SAN) [20]
2. Velocity:

It mainly refers to the speed of the data collected, analyzed and transferred. It impacts on the efficiency and
decision making models and algorithms in the field of SCM.
3. Variety:

It refers to the different forms of data like structured, unstructured or semi structured [35]. Also it includes
different types of data from XML to video to SMS. The variety of data in the field of SCM includes data from
diverse sources like retailers, distributors, suppliers, inventory, sales, consumer [9] etc. Big Data collection
process in SCM includes 2 variety of sources: Upstream and downstream sources. The data from upstream
source includes supplier’s side, through intermediate stream or warehouse side. Data from downstream includes
logistics, distribution or retailer side [20].

4. Veracity:

Correctness or trustworthiness of data is referred to as veracity. This verifies the quality of data from SCM,
compliance issues etc.
5. Value:

It refers to monetary worth of data. It is challenging to monitor the value of reports, statistics, impacts on the
insights etc.
6. Variability:

Lack of variability in big data can be defined as the data which is not consistent or liable to vary or change.
Supply Chain variability in terms of information sharing, integration, quality control, unexpected delays in the
supply process etc.
7. Visualization:

Analyzing the data graphically is termed as visualization. Visualization method is more effective in conveying
meaning than spreadsheets and reports or using numbers and formulas in terms of Supply chain data can be
visualized using ERP, custom developed reports or using graphical method.
8. Virality:

It measures speed of data movement from one network to other. From the supply chain management view, it is
very essential for logistics process to be carried out.
9. Viscosity:

It mainly refers to the data latency or the delay in data. It can be easily understood as an element of velocity.

10. Volatility:
How long the data is valid and how long it should be stored. It is mainly associated with old and new data.

Descriptive Analytics:
Descriptive Analytics (DA) is mainly used to analyze “what is happening” now in order to answer the question
of “What happened” in the past. This is the first level of analytics where 90% of organizations apply this
strategy for betterment of the future. DA identifies the historical data and analyzes the pattern. Descriptive
Analytics mainly aims at identifying the problems and opportunities in the field of SCM within the existing
processes and functions [17].
Descriptive Analytics uses the techniques like
 Data Modeling
 Regression Analysis
 Visualization
 OLAP (online analytical processing) operations like drill down, up and across to identify the areas.

Predictive Analytics:
Predictive analytics (PA) use both quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze the real time and historical
data to estimate the past and future levels of integration of business processes among functions or companies, as
well as the associated costs and service levels [9]. Predictive analytics aims at projecting what will happen in the
future and why it may happen [17]. PA includes algorithms/techniques such as [2]
1. Time series methods & Advanced forecasting. These methods are used for predicting the sales in SCM.
2. Statistical algorithms such as Discriminant Analysis, k-NN, Naive Bayes (NB) and Bayes Networks (BN).
3. Decision trees, CART and Random Forests uses the hierarchical sequential structure
4. Clustering algorithms used to group homogeneous elements in a data set.
5. Frequent pattern mining algorithms

Predictive analytics mainly focused on forecasting at strategic, tactic and operational levels, which is based on
the planning process in terms of network design, production planning, inventory management and capacity
planning [14]. Predictive analytics uses mathematical algorithms and programming in order to predict the
patterns within data.

Prescriptive Analytics:

Prescriptive Analytics anticipates on “why it has happened”. It collects the data continuously to re-predict the
events which enable the decision makers to increase the prediction accuracy for taking better decisions.
Prescriptive analytics explains the reasons behind certain events. It is mainly associated with simulation and
optimization [2]. The aim of Prescriptive analytics is to improve the business performance [17]. Three classes of
algorithms used under this analytics method are
 Decision trees
 Fuzzy Rule-Based System
 Switching Neural Networks (Logic Learning Machine)

Prescriptive analytics is focused on the optimization of mathematical and simulation techniques in order to
provide the decision support tools which has been built on descriptive and predictive methods.

Data trends can provide hidden insights to identify problems and help provide alternative
ways of working. Moreover, it can make companies more efficient, productive, and even help
predict future market trends. Data analytics enables employees to view data in context and
make smarter business decisions to achieve improved products and services. Data
visualization tools like Power BI, Tableau, and Logi make it even more delightful by
presenting those insights in various meaningful charts. It allows decision makers to see
connections between multi-dimensional data sets and provides new ways to interpret data
through graphical representations. Data analytics enables both prediction and knowledge
discovery capabilities. It helps in understanding the current state of the business or process
and provides a solid foundation to predict future outcomes. Data analytics enables businesses
to understand the current market scenario and change the process or trigger a need for new
product development that matches the market needs. Data analytics can also help companies
identify other potential opportunities to streamline operations or maximize their profits. It
helps identify potential problems, eliminating the process of waiting for them to occur and
then take actions on the same. This allows companies to see which operations have yielded
the best overall results under various conditions and identify which operational area are error-
prone and which ones need to be improved.

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/big-data-and-the-supply-chain-the-big-
supply-chain-analytics-landscape-part-1

https://cerasis.com/big-data-supply-chain/

https://medium.com/@erpsolutionsoodles/benefits-of-using-big-data-in-supply-chain-management-
1bcc1f6c915f

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2016/04/22/how-big-data-and-analytics-are-transforming-supply-
chain-management/#63b8602539ad
https://www.forbes.com/sites/yasamankazemi/2019/01/29/ai-big-data-advanced-analytics-in-the-supply-
chain/#29084163244f