"Inventory Management 2.0" by flinn

Fri, 4 Aug 2006 15:15:00 EDT

Web 2.0+Inventory Management = Inventory 2.0

With all the buzz lately about Web 2.0, I wanted to take a minute to share my thoughts on what Web 2.0 means to inventory management. Web 2.0 is a hodge-podge of buzz words that typically means that a web site or web application is a little bit more alive than traditional sites. This doesn’t always mean Flash, or screen effects (though it is typical), it can mean simple technologies like tagging, RSS, XML, and other non-visual technologies.

Why are tagging, RSS, XML useful for inventory management?

Tagging Inventory Management

Tagging is a technology that allows you to easily identify content. It’s like placing a keyword on something. Tags can be used to find content, or link similar subjects together.

Tags are perfect for inventory management because they allow you to arbitrarily attach a keyword on to an inventory part, or piece of equipment. These tags create groups that can link together for quick searching, or when part names aren’t as descriptive as they should be.

TRAQInventory provides tagging that will allow users to find items fast. This is one of the biggest complaints I have heard from SAP and other legacy systems. Searches take too long, and are often incorrect. Search is tricky in general, but tagging makes life a lot easier, and everyone can tag, not just system administrators.

RSS Inventory Management Feeds

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication (depending on who you ask). RSS is sometimes referred to simply as a feed. Feeds send notifications when new content is added to a websie, new email hits your inbox, or in the case of TRAQInventory when an inventory level hits the refill level.

TRAQInventory uses RSS (and email) to send notifications for inventory movements, critical refill levels, shipment requests, and a number of other system events.

Open XML Inventory Management

XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is a technology that allows computer programs to speak to each other in the same language. For years now vendors have attempted to lock clients into application using proprietary formats. XML is a response to proprietary file formats. What does all this mean for inventory management?

It means that inventory & asset management software has no excuse for not providing simple access to your information. It means that you can download inventory and asset information from the web in an open format. It also means that third party applications can link up to TRAQInventory issue commands for inventory movement, or even create new parts, locations, shipments, etc.

Your information won’t be locked into or out of TRAQInventory ever.