what is the purposes of hard and soft data

For example, if a product is damaged (hard attribute), then the value of the product would decline for the receiving member, or another member's liability (e.g., insurance or logistics company) may go up. These attributes, whether hard or soft, signify potential changes in values or impacts to different members in the supply chain. But both of these parameters – weather and traffic – are directly relevant for logistics operations – impacting the supply chain.

For example, weather conditions are captured for weather forecasts and traffic conditions are captured for helping drivers with navigation. These contexts are captured by systems for purposes other than the supply chain. Environmental context, on the other hand, refers to factors adjacent to the core functions of the supply chain, but have an impact on the efficiency of the supply chain. that can be captured in the system during the execution of various business processes. Business process context refers to the steps in business processes, such as requisition, approval, purchase order, invoice, payment, picking, packing, shipping, storing, etc. We identify two types of soft attribute context: (1) business process context and (2) environmental context. Soft attributes are classified mostly as context.įigure 1: Framework for Supply Chain Visibility Hard attributes are location, condition (vibration/shock, ambient temperature, humidity, pressure), timestamp and count (see Figure 1) that can be captured using sensors. As we described in our earlier blog post, there are two dimensions to visibility – one that involves hard attributes and the other that involves soft attributes. Hard and Soft AttributesĪt its core, supply chain visibility provides the status and location of the raw materials/components, from the suppliers to the factory to logistics to the shop floor to the finished goods in the warehouse and distribution centers, and finally, to consumption. For more on this topic read the whitepaper, A Holistic Approach to Supply Chain Visibility. In this blog post, we discuss the impact of hard and soft attributes on different members in the supply chain, and how blind spots can be eliminated if both the hard and soft attributes are tracked. Then we argue why both hard and soft attribute-based tracking are important and how one complements the other, leading to near-optimal visibility. In this series, we put different tracking approaches on a common foundation and categorize them into that we refer to as hard and soft attribute-based tracking. The Impact of Hard and Soft Attributes in Your Supply Chainīy Dr.

What is the purposes of hard and soft data