Catalogue Management Overview
ShipServ’s Catalogue and Contract Management module supports two vital functions for a supplier: sales order management and marketing.
The order management process is made easier through improved data quality, standardization and speed of response, and (where applicable) leveraging of integration technology.
Your company’s marketing effort is improved by taking your information directly to your customers in a way that showcases your products to the people who use them.
In addition, ShipServ has introduced a revolutionary concept called Dynamic Content Management, which utilizes the various elements pictured above in combination to help unlock the efficiencies of e-commerce.
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Catalogue and Contract
Management
ShipServ
Product Information
Streamline
communication
process between
ship, shore and
supplier
Improve
competitiveness
and market
reach
Optimize data
quality
Ensure accurate
product
specification
on orders
electronic
Ship Supply
Management
(eSSM)
Ver 2.0 Oct 05 Page 1Content Manager
The ShipServ ExpertSupplier Catalogue Management module starts with building and maintaining a catalogue. However, unlike traditional catalogue management approaches, establishing the catalogue online does not require that the information be in a format that is distributable to customers. In fact, the catalogue can be published “internally”, or as a reference tool to aid in processing incoming transactions. The catalogue can be loaded by means of a simple Excel spreadsheet or via catalogue integration, so if you already have a parts list, it is a simple task to establish the catalogue on the TradeNet platform.
The catalogue can undergo many revisions after loading to TradeNet. At the point that you are ready to make the catalogue public, either to your entire customer base or to a select group of customers, the Publication Manager (described later in this document) will help you take the next step.
The graphic below shoes a sample catalogue displayed in the SmartSupplier Expert Edition user interface. Note the catalogue hierarchy of the valves, and the lowest level subcategory displayed at the top of the list.
Contract Management
Product Information
Update your
catalogues as
often as you like
Mapping Manager
Many shipping companies have spent years developing their own internal part numbering system. Unfortunately, they may be far less willing to update their system with supplier part numbers. Other shipping companies use either the ISSA or IMPA standard when referring to consumable stores. However, these numbering systems are not necessarily unique because they contain no brand or quality distinction. The result it that each time the buyer orders, the person receiving the order must review the item descriptions and / or apply known customer preferences to determine the exact items to fill the order.
ShipServ’s Mapping Manager allows the numbers by which buyers refer to the items on their requests for quotes or purchase orders to be mapped to your parts list.
The graphic below shows an example mapping of medical supplies relating the buyer’s part numbers to the supplier’s part numbers for corresponding items.
Catalogue and
Contract Management
ShipServ
Product Information
Map your parts
numbers to your
buyers’ numbers
Contract Manager
Few experiences frustrate a sales manager more than investing the time and effort into negotiating a contract with a customer covering a range of items, only to see one or more of the following occur: Customer sends request for quote for contracted items
Order takers do not know the contracted prices
Non-compliance with the contract is missed until it is too late
Purchase orders arrive with incorrect or missing prices for contract items
ShipServ’s Contract Manager can help mitigate these problems. Create customer profiles (also used by the Mapping Manager) to define the customers to the system. Then enter contracts based on:
Discount from list prices List of items under contract Item-specific prices
Vessel-specific prices Contract expiration date
The Contract Manager can even be used to create pricing guidelines. These guidelines function just like contracts, except they can be changed at any time rather than being contractually fixed. As items are received (and mapped where applicable), the system automatically matches the items to the contract and applies the discount or the price as applicable. The order taker or person handling the request for quote can then easily see which items are non-compliant, either from a contract standpoint or a data standpoint.
Create customer
profiles to
manage pricing
guidelines
Publication Manager
Are you ready to take your product information directly to your customers? Your catalogue can be created as a general catalogue (i.e., all available parts) or as a customer, vessel or even contract specific catalogue. Once created, you are ready to publish. ShipServ offers several ways to accomplish this:
ShipCatTM
ShipServ’s ShipCat is the industry’s only standard catalogue data format. Distribute CD’s to any customer or prospect, whether a ShipServ TradeNet Member or not. For more information, see the ShipCat Publisher Product Information Sheet.
Downloadable file
Some customers will want to receive your catalogue data in electronic format. From ShipServ’s buyer interface, the user can request the catalogue to be downloaded as text, CSV, Excel etc. (see sample catalogue selection screen below).
Catalogue and
Contract Management
ShipServ
Product Information
Immediate and
easy access
to updated
catalogue data
Flexible and
versatile data
formats
Create
customer specific
catalogues
Easy to install
and use
Subscription Manager
Would you like to make your catalogue available for distribution on a limited basis? ShipServ’s online Catalogue Subscription Manager permits access to only those catalogues the customer is authorized to download. s part numbers for corresponding items.
Dynamic Content Management
The Content, Mapping, and Contract Manager modules are valuable tools to help speed up the order management process. However, there is still one practical piece missing due to the practical realities of managing data between organisations. We have already established that many customers will not invest the time to put supplier part numbers into their system (assuming the system can save such data). And the use of standard part numbers may be insufficient.
Unfortunately, the amount of work involved in mapping each customer’s part numbers to your own can be very large.
ShipServ’s Dynamic Content ManagementTM is a revolutionary concept that beings together the three key modules in such a way that the system is able to “learn”. As transactions are received, the user performs individual mappings on all items that do not match. Then subsequent transactions start from the point last reached by the previous mapping. As illustrated below the percentage of already mapped items will increase over time, which allows the system to automatically price out requests for quotes and verify purchase orders.
ShipServ is the
exclusive source
of downloadable
version of the
ISSA Catalogue
ShipServ the
exclusive source
of downloadable
version of the
IMPA Guide
Mariner’s Annual
Guide is available
in ShipCat format
Electronically
available
catalogue data
Amount of manual mapping tasks before using Dynamic Content Management Amount of manual mapping tasks when using Dynamic Content ManagementShipServ is the world’s leading provider of maritime e-commerce solutions that bring business benefits to ship owners / managers and suppliers alike, via ShipServ TradeNet e-commerce trading platform.
ShipServ TradeNet and ShipServ's electronic Ship Supply Management (eSSM) solutions allow a simplified and automated procurement process for shipping companies and suppliers alike. Old-fashioned fax and paper transactions are replaced with electronic trade resulting in savings in time and money throughout the supply chain. Moreover, the elimination of manual re-typing as data can be automatically transferred between the vessel, the shipping company’s procurement system and the supplier’s order management system leads to higher quality ship supply management.
Through ShipServ's eSSM, buyers and suppliers alike experience considerable savings in time and money, e.g. an almost 30 percent reduction in the Order Cycle Time.
ShipServ’s eSSM solutions are suitable for participants across the entire range of the marine marketplace, from shipping companies with just a few ships to the largest multinational ship managers; from small local ship chandlers to the largest OEM’s, contract suppliers and trading houses. The result is a very rapid enablement of virtually all of a shipping company’s suppliers, with a goal of near-100% participation for all relevant transactions.
All TradeNet Members are actively taking steps to optimize and improve the ship supply chain by automating the procurement process and making life easier for their employees. Such optimization results in efficiency gains as manual work tasks, e.g. re-typing, manual quote comparison, and clarification communication are eliminated.
