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As stated in my previous blog posting, organizations with multiple processes/activities can be setup in Flex Maritime logistics. Sometimes these organizations have divisions or entities that take care of these activities and processes. In these cases we use of the multi company setup of Dynamics AX 2012. We are fully compliant with Microsoft’s Dynamics AX 2012 new structure and licensing policies.

In our maritime logistics solution we look at activities as perspectives, which can be defined as a point of view towards processes, data and functionality. It is possible to setup each entity as the same, a different or even as a mixed perspective. The idea here is that many times the solution handles the same data, but from a different perspective and that data because of that can flow through the application from entity to entity. Many possible situations can be considered:

• the booking from a forwarder towards a liner agent
• the booking of the liner agent towards a principal
• the booking data of a vessel operator flowing through an owned and self-operated terminal
• the creation of bookings from multiple entities on one vessel / voyage

Because Flex Maritime logistics is  a supply chain solution, this means that we have to consider the fact that organizations can be single, multi or mixed perspective and that this can be in a single or multi entity environment. In other words, we always keep in mind that there are no fixed roles in the supply chain. Many companies need  the same kind of functionality but for different reasons.

A good example in Flex is the support per perspective for stripping and stuffing of containers:

• Forwarder, optimizes revenue by consignment of LCL shipments into the FCL container
• Terminal, as a service for vessel operators or forwarders, in combination with storage and other warehouse services
• Vessel operator, for ships convenience reasons, or to be able to accept LCL shipments
• Bulk logistics provider (3PL), receives FCL containers and strips them as a service to the customer before storing the cargo in their warehouses

In a single perspective situation processes are clear and as Flex maritime logistics, a single best of breed solution could handle this perfectly. However, in complexer situations best of breed solutions can no longer solve the case by itself.  We see more and more operational software islands, different vendors, complexer interfaces, data warehousing solutions etcetera. 

Flex maritime logistics is delivered as one integrated package to span multiple entities, perspectives, activities and processes. This means that all perspectives will be available to the customer, whether for use within one or multiple entities and eliminating the need for one or multiple best of breed solutions. Because of this almost any supply chain scenario, from origin to destination, or from factory to grocery, can be handled by Flex. If situations are non-standard then existing functionality can be reordered or reused (object oriented) and, in certain situations, maintained by customers themselves (open source code), building on the software library that comes with AX / Flex.

Many of our customers and prospects in the maritime supply chain have more than only one role. Often there are different accents or specializations. This can be based on locations, vessel types, cargo types, or available warehouse facilities and therefore different services, etcetera, each creating a different challenge for IT applications. 

Traditionally, but still true today, these challenges were solved by introducing separate software solutions into the company for each operational aspect. Then these software islands would be interfaced with a financial backbone for general ledger and reporting purposes.

What makes it even harder are the situations where services of an organization are carried out by different or multiple entities, located in different countries. This may duplicate data entry, needs more complex interfaces and also means more applications to setup, maintain and support (locally).

We at Ultimate believe that we have a maritime logistics solution, based on the Microsoft’s Dynamics AX 2012 platform, that can handle these challenges. No more islands, but a central model, combined with the multi company ERP functionality of AX. This makes it possible to have different company services in the same solution and database, simply by parameterizing each company for the functionality needed. Now and in the future.

This way an organization that offers for instance transport and forwarding services, but also operates its own terminal can do this in one installation, application and database. Setup and operational data is shared between companies where needed and processes are controlled according validated business rules and workflows.

Benefits for organizations can be huge:

• lower TCO (total cost of ownership)
• no island, no bridges
• seamless flow of information through the system
• much less interfacing trouble
• thorough integration of operational and finance
• organization wide implementation (central model)
• organization wide consolidation and BI
• better control and compliancy
• Dynamics AX / SQL / Office integration
• etcetera

We launch the AX 2012 version of the solution. For more information: sales@ultimatesoftware.nl

We are happy to announce the release of our FlexPort product for Microsoft’s new version, Dynamics AX 2012.

AX2012 is the most innovative business management system and together with our FlexPort solution, it will offer your maritime business the best software to run your business available today.