New Processes Supported, Move from Linear to more Network Thinking

The Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model has undergone a major revision here in late 2022, consistent, its authors say, with the digital age of supply chain.

Supply Chain Digest Says...   “Deliver” was split into “Order” (customer orders) and “Fulfill” to give greater detail and emphasis to those activities, practices and metrics. What do you say? Click here to send us your comments   Click here to see reader feedback

The SCOR Model was developed in 1996, the product of a collaboration between then management consulting firm PRTM, and AMR Research (later acquired by Gartner), and endorsed and promoted by an organization called The Supply Chain Council.

For many years companies had to join the Supply Chain Council at the cost of a few thousand dollars to get the SCOR documents. The Council had a challenge, howeverm in that many companies would join the organization, get access to the model, but then not renew their memberships.

The Supply Chain Council was then acquired by supply chain organization APICS (of the well-known APICS certifications) in 2014. In 2019, APICS changed its name to the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM).

The SCOR model lays out hierarchical supply chain processes and associated metrics. The process modeling uses a building block approach, and so can be used to describe supply chains that are very simple or very complex using a common set of definitions.

The original model had four main process components: Plan, Source, Make and Deliver. Later added were Return and then Enable, the latter of which had to do with processes associated with the management of the supply chain.

Now, a major change in the model framework from ASCM.

“The new SCOR DS modernizes the framework to include resilience, economic, and sustainability metrics and benchmarks; process changes supporting retail, omnichannel, strategic sourcing; and overall orchestration of supply chain strategy,” the organization said in a press release last week.

ASCM added that in addition, the new SCOR DS moves end-to-end supply chain thinking from a linear, trading partner orientation to a more dynamic, asynchronous network perspective that focuses on market drivers, visibility, and collaboration.

That change in approach is captured in a new graphic for the model, as seen below:

ASCM says the new SCOR DS model was developed by a diverse group of subject matter experts, and updates processes, metrics, skills and practices. It is designed to support many industry sectors. Additionally, performance metrics and practices have been reviewed and revised to give organizations new ways to measure and improve their supply chains.

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ASCM says that there are updates and new process workflows to be added to the model by the end of the year. It also says that relative to the existing six high level process types, the new SCOR DS includes the following changes:

• The addition of “Orchestrate” to recognize the importance of strategy, business rules, technology and human resources that provide an overarching direction to build a more efficient supply chain.

• “Deliver” was split into “Order” (customer orders) and “Fulfill” to give greater detail and emphasis to those activities, practices and metrics.

• “Make” became “Transform” to widen its applicability to more types of manufacturing and service providers.

“The infinity loop diagram illustrates that supply chains are an ever-moving series of activities, with no artificial starts or stops from process to process,” ASCM added in a press release.

The new SCOR DS model is available for free here: SCOR DS

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