One51 Success Stories

Equipping one of the largest Fast-Food companies with data collaboration and self-service analytics for their Suppliers

Overview

As a major buyer of food and other perishable products, our client spent countless hours managing data sharing across their supplier base. However, they did not efficiently give suppliers the required data to provide a more accurate and timely service according to forecasted demand.

In search of a solution, this global company sought help from One51 to develop a secure Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) data platform.

"Lack of transparency made forecasting difficult for our Suppliers."

With stock availability vital, and delivery costs a significant operational expenditure, our client knew it was time to streamline their supply management.

Their goal was to increase transparency and enable greater collaboration – empowering suppliers with the necessary information to plan stock deliveries ahead of time.

Confidentiality was key to success, as it was imperative that suppliers could only see data related to their operation (for the stores they serve and the products they supply).

Designing the Vendor Managed Inventory Data Platform

After an initial discovery process, One51 set about creating a solution that would meet our clients’ needs.

The business requirements asked for a data platform that would:

Enable data sharing of inventory stock levels and wastage, actual sales, sales forecast and marketing and special events calendars at the store level.

Avoid duplication of data by removing the need of making copies for the VMI requirement.

Allow suppliers to access the data platform with a secure private login.

Enable suppliers with self-service querying and analytics for relevant data.

To achieve this, One51 deployed the VMI solution in Snowflake with a bi-directional data sharing setup. This solution allowed for the centralisation of all data and secure data sharing with suppliers while enabling each of them to share information back with our client (such as delivery timetables that align with stock level forecasts and actual needs).We also configured the system so suppliers could integrate their own data processing and analytics toolsets to support their unique decision-making processes.User experience was another vital element to ensure uptake and provide a practical foundation for future scale. One51’s solution included an intuitive onboarding process; we helped our client’s Supply Chain team redesign the onboarding process for new suppliers. This business process included welcome emails, detailed how-to guidelines, an up-to-date data dictionary and the required ongoing support.