Supply Chain Software Tool Deployment

The Challenge

Faced with uncertainties around data quality, system reliability, and adoption rate, a major oil company had to decide which components of the supply chain software (such as demand forecasting, project scheduling, area optimization, refinery blending & scheduling, and information architecture) to deploy in each distributive area. Decision Strategies was brought in to help determine the optimum deployment strategy for the new supply chain software tool.

Our Approach

Our team elicited the cost and benefits of the strategies for deployment of toolsets to all areas, areas with refineries, or areas where SAP is being deployed.  We also determined the value of doing nothing- i.e. using the existing non-enterprise level tools. Further improvements to a promising strategy were also identified based on Value of Control calculations. Important insights gained from the deployment analysis show that:

• Putting all the tools wherever there are refineries substantially improves margins.
• Deploying tools elsewhere covers costs, but no more.
• Adding more support staff would enhance user productivity and system and data reliability.

Results

The client deployed the toolset as indicated by the analysis (deploy staff to refinery areas and add support staff), which led to a $250 million increase in project value.