Module Six Assignment

Emmanuel Mulenga

Graduate School of Business, University of Zambia

OSM5012: Strategic Supply Chain Management

Dr. Rob Shah

30th October, 2022

INTRODUCTION

Business Intelligence Competency Centers, or BICCs, are business-led cross-functional teams

that are aimed at delivering support and direction to any organisation with regards to the

execution and usage of business intelligence processes and technology (Scheierman, 2017).

In short, a Business Intelligence Competency Center or BICC is an organisational entity that

coordinates the activities and resources to ensure a fact-based approach to decision making is

systematically implemented throughout the organization; it has the responsibility for the

governance structure for BI and analytical programs, projects, practices, software, and

architecture; it is responsible for building the plans, priorities, infrastructure, and competencies

that the organisation needs to take forward-looking business decisions by using the BI and

analytical software capabilities that are available (Foster et al., 2015).

Next-generation supply chain tools will emphasize collaboration and information availability

more than speed and efficiency and support three fundamental characteristics: transparency,

flexibility, and simultaneity. As these technologies continue to evolve and supply chain

practitioners become more comfortable with their effectiveness, strategies, processes, and

organizational capabilities will evolve in parallel.

CHARACTERISTICS OF BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE COMPETENCY CENTERS

The characteristics of the BICC include enterprise connectivity, which involves the linkages

between transactional and business systems, thereby allowing data to be seen and transported to

different entities within the supply chain; the other characteristic of a Business Intelligence

Competency Center is distributed decision making, which involves the bidirectional information

flow and defined business rules used to manage ongoing changes in demand and supply

(Shoshanah and Roussel, 2013).

Simultaneity

This entails the parallel operation and implementation of activities in the supply chain as

opposed to the sequentially executed activities in the supply chain. Simultaneity normally results

in transactions being initiated and completed in a speedy manner without the need for additional

inputs. This results in improved and increasing customer responsiveness and reduced transaction

costs. This means that each participant has all the information needed to make decisions at the

moment an event such as a new customer order or replenishment signal occurs; within the

extended supply chain, this information is available both within an enterprise and, for

collaborative practices, between the organisation and its trading partners (Shoshanah and

Roussel, 2013).

Flexibility

Flexibility in the supply chain systems helps to curb the viability of uncertainty. As supply

chains become increasingly lean, cushions of inventory and backup resources used to meet

unexpected demand surges or supply constraints are being called into question and scrutinised

carefully—they’re too costly to serve as buffers. Thus, companies will find new ways to be

flexible without the asset "cushions" of the past. They’ll use a combination of internal flexibility

(e.g., highly configurable products and effective use of postponement strategies), supplier

flexibility, and the ability to substitute highly accurate information for physical inventory.

Transparency

This helps the organisation to have visibility into the end-to-end supply chain. Firms that are able

to observe the position of their supply chain transactions and resources, both from internal and

external perspectives, are well vested and more likely to make appropriate and timely decisions.

Transparency helps organisations to benefit in a number of ways. One is that if managers know
the position of their vital resources, they are going to make good use of the said resources and

optimise the existing balance between supply and demand, thus enhancing efficiency and

productivity and reducing costs. End-to-end visibility can also provide early warning of potential

problems and facilitate root-cause analysis when something goes wrong (Shoshanah and

Roussel, 2013).

FIVE METRICS OF A BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE COMPETENCY CENTRE

Lead Time

Lead time is the amount of time it takes from when a process starts to the point where the

process ends. This matrix can be applied and reviewed across industries for supply chain

management, manufacturing, as well as project management during pre-processing, processing,

and post-processing stages. By comparing results against established benchmarks, firms can be

able to ascertain the exact stage where inefficiencies are (Kenton, 2022).

It can be pointed out that a fall in lead time can help streamline the operations of the firm and

also improve productivity, which can result in high output and increased revenue. On the other

hand, longer lead times have a negative impact on the supply chain process and sales.

Outages

This matrix looks at times when there is a lack of availability of either resources or products that

need to be supplied. It is therefore important to ensure that a backup exists and that the system

can, in a timely manner, detect alternative sources of the needed products or services. Business

intelligence systems should be able to have redundancy systems that will facilitate smooth

operations when there are outages (Scheierman, 2017).

Data

This matrix is important because, without data and information, it is difficult for organisations to

make informed decisions. It is therefore paramount that data and information are always

safeguarded and enhanced so that they can be used in all organisational processes, which may

include tracking customer sales revenue. Tracking sales revenue helps you measure your

financial performance. Using data, organisations can be able to forecast future company

operations and make necessary adjustments to manage perceived risks.

Real-time performance management

This entails real-time, precise information that is readily available to facilitate speedy and up-to-

date decision making. It can be pointed out that the benefit of real-time performance

management is based on the fact that managers can make decisions based on current and real-

time circumstances as opposed to using historically-based accounting metrices.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, it can be acknowledged that the metrics in the Business Intelligence Competency

Center are very important in helping organisations to observe their supply chain operations and

to make real-time decisions. This paper first looked at the characteristics of the Business

Intelligence Competency Center. Secondly, and most importantly, the paper looked at the five

metrics found in the Business Intelligence Competency Center, which included real time

metrices, data, load time, education and outages. The paper also outlined their examples.
REFERENCES

Boyer, J., Frank, B., Green, B., Harris, T., & Van De Vanter, K. (2010). Business intelligence

strategy. A Practical Guide for Achieving BI Excellence, Ketchum, USA.

Cohen, Shoshanah, and Joseph Roussel. (2013). Strategic Supply Chain Management: The Five

Disciplines for Top Performance. New York: McGraw-Hill Education

Foster, K., Smith, G., Ariyachandra, T., & Frolick, M. N. (2015). Business intelligence

competency center: Improving data and decisions. Information Systems

Management, 32(3), 229-233.

Kenton, W. (2022, September, 8). Lead Time: Definition, How it Works, and Example.

Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/leadtime.asp

MacMillan, L. (2008, May 15). Strategies for Building a Successful Business Intelligence

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Applications/Strategies-for-Building-a-Successful-Business-Intelligence-Competency-

Center-(BICC)-52022.aspx

Scheierman, L. (2017, June 29). Business Intelligence Competency Centers Overview and

Guide. KnowledgeLeader. https://info.knowledgeleader.com/business-intelligence-

competency-centers-overview-and-guide